KTBB News, Weather, Talk

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar will be the next chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, overseeing 11 universities that educate more than 157,000 students and eight state agencies, including the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

The Board of Regents selected Hegar on Friday to succeed Chancellor John Sharp, who has held the job since 2011 and is slated to retire in June. The vote was unanimous.

Hegar is inheriting the system’s reins at an inflection point as Republican leaders scrutinize what they see as progressive policies and curriculum in higher education. He’ll have to contend with continued accusations that public universities are violating the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and navigate intensifying threats to academic freedom.

Hegar, a Republican from Katy, was first elected comptroller in 2015. He previously served as a state representative and then as a state senator, from 2003 to 2014.

The comptroller serves as the state’s chief financial officer, accountant, revenue estimator and treasurer.

As comptroller, Hegar has brought attention to problems that have plagued other states like infrastructure maintenance and state employee pensions. He worked with the Texas Legislature to pay down pension debt. He also helped create the first state-administered precious metals depository and the Texas Bullion Depository.

The Texas Broadband Development Office and how the settlement funds from a lawsuit stemming from the opioid crisis are under the comptroller’s purview. If a school voucher proposal to let families use public funds for their children’s private schooling passes this session, the office could also be responsible for overseeing how the program works.

Hegar infused some conservative politicking into the role when he ran for reelection in 2022 as “a true conservative defending the values of faith, family and freedom.” At the time, his office released a list of financial companies that Hegar said were anti-oil and gas. He also threatened to sanction Harris County for cutting its budget for law enforcement.

In the Legislature, Hegar chaired the Sunset Advisory Commission and has said he eliminated inefficiencies in government and abolished six state agencies, saving taxpayers more than $160 million.

During his last session in the Senate, he chaired the finance subcommittee on state and local revenue matters and has said he helped cut $1 billion worth of taxes.

That year he also sponsored a bill in 2013 that placed additional restrictions on abortion before the Supreme Court outlawed it entirely in 2022. (That bill was the one that launched Democrat Wendy Davis into fame for her 11-hour filibuster). He also authored a bill that allowed students with concealed handgun licenses to store firearms in their vehicles on campus. Now, Texans don’t have to have a concealed handgun license to carry.

Hegar is himself an Aggie, graduating from Texas A&M University in 1993. He later got his master’s and law degrees from St. Mary’s University, a private school in San Antonio, and a master of laws degree from the University of Arkansas.

He has three children with his wife, Dara.

Texas A&M University System Board of Regents also considered other candidates for chancellor, according to a source familiar with the process: Texas A&M Foundation President Tyson Voelkel; University of Alabama President Stuart Bell; State Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin; and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. A second source confirmed four of the five names. Regents met all day Monday in Houston to interview the candidates, mostly behind closed doors.

Hegar’s political trajectory is similar to Sharp’s, who also served as comptroller before he became chancellor in 2011.

Sharp, who ran as a Democrat, also served stints as a state representative, state senator and railroad commissioner. As chancellor, he ushered in an era of prosperity for the system while navigating the changing environment in higher education as campuses became increasingly polarized.

He secured an all-time high of $1 billion in new funding for the system during the same session lawmakers banned diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and training and threatened to eliminate tenure. He is credited with proposing that lawmakers codify the practice instead. Tenure, which offers faculty employment and academic freedom protections, has been instrumental in the state’s rise in the ranks of research.

Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh III should lose his job if he continued allowing faculty to recruit doctoral students at a conference that limited participation to people who are Black, Hispanic or Native American. Welsh was named president after his predecessor, Katherine Banks, resigned over the botched hiring of Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor who some of the university system’s regents worried had a liberal bias. The university also came under fire at that time from faculty and alumni after The Texas Tribune reported a professor was suspended with pay after she was accused by a politically connected student of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during a lecture.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports that st a Thursday hearing at the Capitol, dozens of public school teachers and officials testified that a bill proposing $7.5 billion in school funding does not go far enough. House Bill 2 proposes raising the per-student allotment by $220 to $6,360 a year, but teachers, administrators and advocates told the House Public Education Committee the increase falls short of meeting the needs of the state’s school districts. HB 2’s proposed pay raises for teachers also were panned as inadequate. “The pay teachers receive demonstrates the level of respect afforded to our children,” said Megan Holden, a 10th grade English teacher at an Austin-area high school. “They are getting the message that Texas doesn’t value them or their future.” HB 2 would devote 40% of the basic allotment to teacher pay.

The basic allotment would need to rise by $1,300 to keep up with inflation since 2019, when the Legislature last increased the payment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The proposed $220 increase is also less than half of the $500 increase that was proposed in 2023 but died after Gov. Greg Abbott said he would veto any bill increasing school funding that did not create a program allowing public money to be spent on private schools. HB 2 includes other mechanisms that provide money to public schools but in more targeted fashions aimed at special education and pay boosts for high-performing teachers. The House’s proposal to raise teacher pay is part of a “Texas two step” Republicans have proposed in tandem with a voucher-style school choice proposal. Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, is the author of the school funding bill, the voucher proposal and another bill that would scale back the STAAR test and replace it with a different standardized testing system.

BROWNSVILLE (AP) – Nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos, SpaceX launched another mammoth Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down and broke apart.

This time, wreckage from the latest explosion was seen streaming from the skies over Florida. It was not immediately known whether the spacecraft’s self-destruct system had kicked in to blow it up.

The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket blasted off from Texas. SpaceX caught the first-stage booster back at the pad with giant mechanical arms, but engines on the spacecraft on top started shutting down as it streaked eastward for what was supposed to be a controlled entry over the Indian Ocean, half a world away. Contact was lost less than 10 minutes into the flight as the spacecraft went into an out-of-control spin.

Starship reached nearly 90 miles (150 kilometers) in altitude before trouble struck and before four mock satellites could be deployed. It was not immediately clear where it came down, but images of flaming debris were captured from Florida, including near Cape Canaveral, and posted online.

The space-skimming flight was supposed to last an hour. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would require SpaceX to investigate the accident.

“Unfortunately this happened last time too, so we have some practice at this now,” SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot said from the launch site.

SpaceX later confirmed that the spacecraft experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly” during the ascent engine firing and said it alerted safety officials.

Flights were briefly grounded at Orlando International Airport “due to space launch debris in the area,” the airport posted on X.

Starship didn’t make it quite as high or as far as last time.

NASA has booked Starship to land its astronauts on the moon later this decade. SpaceX’s Elon Musk is aiming for Mars with Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket.

Like last time, Starship had mock satellites to release once the craft reached space on this eighth test flight as a practice for future missions. They resembled SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites, thousands of which currently orbit Earth, and were meant to fall back down following their brief taste of space.

Starship’s flaps, computers and fuel system were redesigned in preparation for the next big step: returning the spacecraft to the launch site just like the booster.

During the last demo, SpaceX captured the booster at the launch pad, but the spacecraft blew up several minutes later over the Atlantic. No injuries or major damage were reported.

According to an investigation that remains ongoing, leaking fuel triggered a series of fires that shut down the spacecraft’s engines. The on-board self-destruct system kicked in as planned.

SpaceX said it made several improvements to the spacecraft following the accident, and the Federal Aviation Administration recently cleared Starship once more for launch.

Starships soar out of the southernmost tip of Texas near the Mexican border. SpaceX is building another Starship complex at Cape Canaveral, home to the company’s smaller Falcon rockets that ferry astronauts and satellites to orbit.

AUSTIN – The Texas Senate on Wednesday advanced to the House a bill that would create America’s largest brain health research center.

Senate Bill 5, by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, would create the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Senate Joint Resolution 3, which would require voter approval if passed by the Legislature, would fund it with $3 billion in surplus revenue. This funding is intended to attract physicians, researchers, and experts in the field of dementia to Texas. This institute would research all brain diseases, not just dementia.

Under the bill, the institute would be governed by a board of physicians and scientists with expertise in dementia research. Grants could be awarded for projects addressing the causes, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of dementia patients, as well as new medicines and facilities to help treat patients. Following the initial $3 billion in general revenue, future appropriations into the institute would be capped at $300 million annually.

“I can’t think as a body, as a Legislature, that we could make a wiser, more prudent, better investment for the people of Texas and future generations,” Huffman said from the Senate floor prior to the vote.

One of the institute’s primary duties will be awarding grants. All grant proposals must undergo a peer review, and the oversight committee must approve final grant awards to ensure fairness in the grant-making process.

Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, during the discussion of the bill on Wednesday, shared that his father lived eight years with dementia before passing away last year, and it’s a disease he wouldn’t wish on anyone. He said that despite his personal experience, he didn’t believe funding a dementia center was the government’s role.

“My vote is not a vote of support. It’s just a vote of recognizing that we need to focus on other things as a government, and it concerns me as we add some of these on,” said Hancock, who joined Sen. Bob Hall, R-Galveston, in voting against the legislation.

Huffman responded by saying she understood his point, but she believes the fund is worthy of investment from the state’s surplus of dollars.

“There are people living today because of some of the research breakthroughs in cancer. If we can do the same thing with this and help prevention and research, it seems like it could be the best money we’re spending,” she said.

Government spending has become a hot topic in the state and the nation as President Donald Trump’s administration has attempted to cut medical research funding.

In February, the National Institute of Health released a notice of an updated policy that would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars and place a 15% indirect cost rate on all new and existing grant awards received by research institutions.

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from cutting medical research after a litany of lawsuits, including one filed by 22 state attorneys general along with universities, hospitals, and research institutions nationwide to stop the cuts, saying they would endanger patients. Texas was not among the plaintiffs.

“While other research opportunities may diminish, the creation and funding of (the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas) will position Texas to be a leader in dementia-related research,” Huffman said in an emailed statement to The Texas Tribune on Thursday.

The dementia program is modeled after the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas which voters approved in 2009 with $3.7 billion and voters again approved in 2019 an additional $3 billion. The $6 billion cancer research institute is the largest cancer research organization in the country and the second largest worldwide.

The institute issues up to $300 million annually for cancer research and prevention projects, according to Kristen Doyle, CEO of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute. It has recruited 324 researchers to Texas; supported the establishment, expansion, or relocation of 74 companies to Texas; and has provided 10 million prevention services, reaching all Texas counties.

“I believe we can follow this success and position Texas as a national leader in combating dementia and related disorders, accelerating groundbreaking research and improving the lives of millions of Texans,” Huffman told fellow lawmakers.

In 2012, allegations arose that millions of taxpayer dollars were distributed in grants without proper peer review, briefly engulfing the cancer institute in scandal.

Huffman said lawmakers have learned lessons from creating the cancer research institute, which should make creating a dementia institute much smoother.

“Everyone who was around will admit that the (cancer institute) had a rocky start, but those problems were resolved with legislation and oversight, and all of that has been incorporated in this legislation,” she said. “We worked closely with the (cancer institute) as we wrote this bill and took suggestions from them so we can go full speed right off the starting gate.”

Doyle said the merit-based, peer-reviewed grant process is central to their national reputation for integrity and transparency in funding groundbreaking projects.

Huffman said that Texas already has the third-most dementia patients in the country, almost half a million, and last year, state Medicare costs for dementia care alone topped $4 billion.

“There is no better place than Texas to take on this challenge,” Huffman said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made the research institute a top bill for the session. He says that Texas’ size and economic strength allow it to take on big projects like this.

“Texas, with our vast resources, has an opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of millions,” he said in a news release.

Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disease, is the most common form of dementia, accounting for about 80% of cases, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Alzheimer’s symptoms — memory loss and the inability to perform simple tasks — tend to develop in the mid-to-late 60s and occur when clumps of abnormal proteins block the communication of brain cells. Symptoms can be mild at first and worsen over time.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that 459,000 Texans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, about 12% of the state’s population over the age of 65. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, this has cost the state approximately $24 billion in caregiver time.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has postponed 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war. The White House insists its tariffs are about stopping the smuggling of fentanyl, but the taxes proposed by Trump have caused a gaping wound in the decades-old North American trade partnership. Trump’s tariff plans have also caused the stock market to sink and alarmed U.S. consumers.

AUSTIN – A few weeks after Elon Musk waved a chainsaw at a conservative gathering touting the Department of Government Efficiency’s federal cost cutting efforts, the Texas House kicked off the first meeting for its own version of DOGE.

Leaders of the Delivery of Government Efficiency committee in the House are following in Musk’s footsteps, promising sweeping changes and reductions to the size of state government. Committee Chair Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, told The Texas Tribune that DOGE in Texas share’s goals with its federal namesake in trying to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in government.

“We’re going to make long-term changes in how we operate here for the state,” Capriglione said. “This is about, ‘How do we fundamentally change the way the state operates so you can do it in a much more efficient way?’”

So far, Musk’s operation in the nation’s capital has fired more than 30,000 federal employees with more layoffs to come, drawing sharp pushback from Democrats and some concerns from Republicans. DOGE’s website has claimed to cut about $105 billion as of Monday, though that amount is unverifiable and is expected to be much lower.

Asked about statewide layoffs, Capriglione said the committee “doesn’t have the authority to go and terminate employees,” though members may recommend funding reductions to agencies that yield staffing cuts.

Democrats on the committee say they’re optimistic about the opportunity to find inefficiencies, but are wary of their colleagues trying to emulate the rapidfire layoffs and cuts happening at the federal level. What Musk’s DOGE has done is “completely terrifying,” and is putting the health and safety of millions of Americans at risk, said Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, one of the five Democrats on the committee. She doesn’t want Texas to replicate what DOGE is doing in Washington, D.C.

“I would be the fiercest fighter against that, because what they’re doing at the federal level is just outrageous and the consequences are going to be harmful for decades,” said Rodríguez Ramos, who is the chair of the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus.

DOGE committee Vice Chair Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, said during DOGE’s first hearing Wednesday that the committee must avoid “partisan rhetoric.” He said that unlike Congress, members of the Texas legislature work in a bipartisan manner and he expects that will be the case with the state’s version of DOGE.

“Texas can lead the way with responsible and efficient government,” Bhojani said during the hearing. “But let me be clear, my focus is not about cutting essential services or devaluing hardworking public servants. I’m here to work with you, not against you, to improve how we serve Texans.”

Some of Musk’s efforts with DOGE have sparked chaos in federal agencies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently fired some employees who were working to address bird flu, only to since request those employees come back. The Trump administration has also had to reverse the layoffs of hundreds of federal employees who work on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs.

As a legislative committee, there’s a “fundamental difference” between what the Texas and federal versions of DOGE are capable of doing, Capriglione said. Rather than focusing on public staffing cuts, in its early days, committee leaders will focus on finding areas to recommend for modernizing outdated state technology systems and auditing government agencies.

According to the House resolution that created Texas’ DOGE, the committee’s jurisdiction includes topics like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and “emerging technology.” The committee will also likely hear bills on similar topics, Capriglione said. So far, 27 bills have been referred to the committee, including proposals related to auditing state agencies and increasing government pay transparency.

He added that Texas’ DOGE aims to be a “one-stop shop” for Texans to bring forward their grievances about state government services. In an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News published last week, Capriglione said that reducing government spending is a “central part of [his] political career.”

“This committee will operate with precision,” Capriglione said during Wednesday’s hearing. “At times, we will use a scalpel, carefully dissecting inefficiencies to make government work smarter. At other times, we will wield a sledgehammer, tearing down systemic waste and corruption that may have gone unchallenged.”

The committee has 13 members, including Capriglione, with eight Republicans and five Democrats. Like other committees, DOGE will hear public testimony on proposed legislation and vote those bills out of committee so they can receive a vote on the House floor.

Texas isn’t the only state that has followed in the federal government’s footsteps by creating its own DOGE. Some other Republican-led states, including Florida and Iowa, have created their own versions, with some in the form of legislative committees and others created as additional government divisions.

Rep. David Cook, a Mansfield Republican, said the bipartisan nature of the committee and its inclusion of elected officials represent the biggest difference between the Texas DOGE and the Washington, D.C. operation. But he added that the “goals will be similar” between the two.

“This is an example of where the federal government came up with a really good idea,” Cook said. “[Texans] want their government to be efficient and implement good, common sense policies.”

Texas already has another legislative commission that is responsible for reviewing waste and inefficiency in state government. The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission — made up of two members of the public, and five members of the House and Senate alike — has abolished 95 state agencies since its inception in 1977. According to the commission’s website, it will review about 130 agencies over the next 12 years.

Poncho Nevárez, a former Democratic state representative and past member of the commission, said since the Sunset Advisory Commission does not review each agency every legislative session, the DOGE committee could help fill that gap. If an agency is not scheduled to be reviewed by the commission during a particular session, then the DOGE committee might have the ability to look into that agency, he added. But Nevárez is still wary that the Texas DOGE will try to “slash and burn” funding like Musk is doing in Washington.

He noted the irony of Republicans railing about waste when they have had control of every statewide office and the Legislature for decades. The last time a Democrat won statewide office in Texas was 1994.

“Well… who’s been running that government for almost 30 years?” Nevárez said. “They act like all of these agencies have been running on their own. But all those are Republican appointees.”

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

Four years ago, after all electricity sources struggled to keep Texans’ lights on during Winter Storm Uri, the state’s top Republican leaders singled out solar and wind energy for scorn as they worked to goose natural gas-powered generation.

After decades of growth in solar and wind put Texas among the nation’s top producers of renewable energy, the state’s leaders turned against renewables as they began to compete more fiercely with coal and gas-fueled power.

At the same time, anti-renewables rhetoric swelled nationally as well as part of a broader fight over combating climate change — which climate scientists say has led to more severe weather in Texas and increased risks to life and property.

But with this year’s legislative session underway, the political tides around energy are quietly turning in the country’s biggest oil and gas state.

Texas faces a massive surge in demand for electricity due to an increase of large users like crypto mining facilities, in addition to population growth and more extreme weather. And policymakers are recognizing that in order to meet that demand, the state will need all the generation it can get — from every source.

“Here in Texas, we believe in an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy approach,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in December, touting Texas as the fourth-largest oil producer in the world and the leading state for wind and large-scale solar generation. “We will increase capacity of our grid to ensure that every Texan has affordable, reliable power and unleash the full potential of Texas’ nuclear industry. And we will produce enough energy power on the grid to make sure that every home, every business and every location is going to have access to the power they need.”

The recent expansion of renewable energy in Texas has helped stave off crises since the grid came close to catastrophic collapse in February 2021 when Uri plunged millions of Texans into darkness and left hundreds of people dead.

Texas increased its energy supply by 35% over the last four years, Abbott said in his State of the State address in February. A whopping 92% of that new supply, according to energy consultant Doug Lewin, came from solar, wind and battery storage.

Texas added more battery storage capacity than any other state last year, and, excluding California, now has more battery capacity than the rest of the country combined. The state installed around 9,700 megawatts of new solar generation last year and 1,735 megawatts of wind power, according to a January report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Solar power and battery storage set records last summer, providing nearly 25% of electricity needs in the middle of the day, according to the Dallas Fed’s report.

Texas also added 3,410 megawatts of gas-fueled power last year after losing 2,172 megawatts in 2023. The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s main grid operator, estimates that 1 megawatt of electricity can power around 250 homes.

These additions meant that ERCOT didn’t have to issue a single emergency alert last year during the sixth-hottest summer on record in Texas. In 2023, during the state’s second-hottest summer, ERCOT issued 11 alerts asking Texans to conserve energy.

The grid also made it through several cold snaps this winter with plenty of supply on hand — though experts warn that solar plays a smaller role in meeting peak demand during the winter. Weatherization requirements the Public Utility Commission imposed on power plants after Winter Storm Uri also contributed to greater resiliency on the grid.

On top of increased reliability, renewable energy resources saved Texas power consumers around $11 billion in the last two years, according to a report by IdeaSmiths LLC, an energy analytics firm, that was funded by pro-renewables trade groups.

“These resources materially contribute to having enough power on the system and also being able to do it most affordably,” said Bryn Baker, senior director of policy innovation at the Texas Energy Buyers Alliance. “Being able to maintain the ability for all resources to play in the market is critical for Texas to maintain its energy leadership, as well as economic leadership.”
Energy demand expected to soar

Despite those gains, ERCOT predicts that Texas’ energy demand will nearly double by 2030, with power supply projected to fall short of peak demand in a worst-case scenario beginning in summer 2026.

That surge in demand is being driven by population demand, more extreme heat and cold, and an influx of large power users, such as crypto mining facilities, artificial intelligence-related data centers and electrifying oil and gas field operations.

State lawmakers have looked to boost natural gas-fueled generation — in 2023 they established the $5 billion Texas Energy Fund, which offers low-interest taxpayer funded loans to incentivize construction of new gas-powered plants. But those plants take years to build. New advanced nuclear technology at scale is also years away, even as the state’s top leaders throw their support behind the burgeoning industry.

As a result, experts warned, Texas can’t afford to block any forms of generation, including renewables.

“We’re going to need every megawatt that we can get, from every generation resource that we can get,” Michael Jewell, an energy attorney and expert, said. “Legislative proposals that would discourage the continued development of every resource — that’s anti-energy.”

Renewable energy advocates hope that message is getting through to lawmakers as they grapple with how to meet soaring demand this legislative session. They emphasize that they are not against gas-fueled generation, and that Texas needs a mix of resources to grow its grid.

“I think, and I hope, and I pray that the conversation has changed,” said Matthew Boms, executive director of the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance. “With those kind of numbers, the whole conversation changes from, ‘What should the mix look like?’ to a different conversation, which is how we’re going to meet all of this load growth.”
Renewable energy projects benefit lawmakers’ districts

Renewables proponents also point to the millions of dollars in tax revenue that solar, wind and battery storage projects funnel into local school districts and communities — many of them in the districts of key lawmakers.

In House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ district — which includes parts of Lubbock and its surrounding counties — existing solar, wind and storage projects are projected to pay around $94 million in local tax revenues over their lifetimes, according to the IdeaSmiths report.

The district of Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown and chair of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, is poised to see $499 million in local tax revenues from existing solar and storage projects. And Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo and chair of the House Energy Resources Committee, represents a district expected to see $293 million in local tax revenues from renewable energy.

Those dynamics — demand growth, the role of renewables and storage on the grid and the economic impacts of the industry — suggest that the Legislature may be less inclined to clamp down on solar and wind this year as lawmakers have tried to do in previous sessions.

“We are actively exploring and promoting advanced technology, including small modular nuclear reactors, larger duration battery storage and geothermal energy,” Schwertner said at the ERCOT Market Summit last month. “These technologies and others offer unique advantages in providing stable, dispatchable power, and Texas is committed to leading in their deployment.”
Anti-renewables bills resurface

Still, anti-renewables sentiment has not gone away in the Capitol.

“There’s certainly ideological opposition. It’s very serious,” Lewin said. “The Legislature walked right up to the edge of really kneecapping the renewable industry last session. I’m sure those discussions will be weighty this session — but I hope not.”

Lawmakers have filed a number of bills that would restrict the development of renewable energy or favor natural gas generation in the energy market.

For example, a proposal by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham — and co-sponsored by state Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the vice chair of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee — aims to reduce the impact of wind and solar projects on residential neighbors and the local environment by imposing strict permitting and siting requirements and restricting tax abatements for those projects.

The bill, Senate Bill 819, would not apply those standards to other energy facilities, such as natural gas or coal plants. A near-identical bill passed the Senate in 2023 but failed to advance in the House.

Renewables advocates warned that the bill would sharply curtail new wind and solar development, unduly interfere with the energy market and step on the private property rights of landowners to lease their land out for energy projects.

Senate Bill 388, filed by King, aims to offset the impact of federal incentives to build wind and solar projects by requiring 50% of new generation to be “dispatchable” — namely, natural gas and coal.

Dispatchable generation can be turned on at any point and does not rely on intermittent resources like sun and wind. Lawmakers have emphasized a need for dispatchable resources to offer greater reliability when grid conditions are tight.

But at least one lawmaker, in addition to industry trade groups, expressed skepticism at a Senate Business and Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday that the bill would effectively boost natural gas and increase reliability.

The bill represents “a heavy-handed, prescriptive recipe for what the market should build,” Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, said, “cutting off the investment and innovation that the private sector can bring to this market.”

Mark Stover, executive director of the Texas Solar + Storage Association, testified to the committee that the bill would have a “destabilizing effect” on the energy market.

“While the bill may seem straightforward,” Stover said, “we believe it could produce unintended consequences that could actually increase costs on consumers and undermine reliability.”

Other legislative proposals would specifically tax renewable energy projects and bar offshore wind facilities from connecting to the grid.
Lawmakers aim to boost grid’s growth

Beyond legislation related to the type of energy on the grid, lawmakers are more broadly focused on how to meet demand growth.

Senate Bill 6 — a priority bill of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate and wields enormous power over which legislation is approved — aims to firm up the state’s energy demand forecast, more fairly allocate the costs of building out necessary transmission infrastructure and ensure that existing generation is not removed from the grid to serve large industrial users. House Bill 2678 looks to support the development of advanced nuclear technology in the state, in line with Abbott’s and Patrick’s priorities.

Lawmakers have also proposed measures to increase consumer protections, including by tightening oversight of third-party solar panel sellers, re-establishing a low-income electricity bill assistance fund and requiring that new battery storage projects have safe removal and disposal plans at the end of their lives.

As the clock ticks on the remaining months of session, Lewin said, lawmakers will have to decide whether they want to focus on pushing down, or building up, certain resources.

“There’s only 140 days — you don’t really have enough time to do both,” he said. “Building up a nuclear industry in Texas will take a lot of good legislative thinking and focus and attention. I hope that they focus on stuff like that — and not on punching down at renewables.”

___

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

DALLAS (AP) — A large balloon used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for surveillance along the Texas border broke free and traveled about 600 miles (966 kilometers) to the north before crashing as high winds swept through the state, officials said.

On Monday afternoon, the aerostat system broke free from its tether during a “severe wind event” on South Padre Island and contact was lost, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. The agency said it was located the next day in Hunt County, about 30 miles east of Dallas.

“All the neighbors were over there. Nobody knew what it was,” Clay Hinton told WFAA television station.

Then, he said, officials began arriving. “I was like, oh, OK it’s not just a tarp or anything,” he said. “That’s something!”

A storm system that moved through the Dallas area early Tuesday brought wind gusts over 75 mph (120 kph), and on Monday afternoon wind gusts in South Padre Island and the surrounding area had ranged from around 20 mph (32 kph) to 30 mph (48 kph), National Weather Service officials said.

A fact sheet from Customs and Border Protection says it uses the Tethered Aerostat Radar System to detect low-altitude aircraft. The hull of the aerostat consists of an upper chamber filled with helium, and the lower chamber is a pressurized air compartment.

Customs and Border Protection said it will work with federal, state and local officials to investigate the incident.

NEW MEXICO (AP) – An adult who was infected with measles has died in New Mexico, state health officials announced Thursday, though the virus has not been confirmed as the cause.

The person who died was unvaccinated and did not seek medical care, a state health department spokesperson said in a statement. The person’s exact age and other details were not immediately released.

The person was from Lea County, just across the state line from the West Texas region where 159 measles cases have been identified and a school-age child died last week. New Mexico health officials have not linked the outbreak there to the Texas cases.

The person is the 10th in Lea County to have a confirmed measles infection. Seven were unvaccinated. The vaccination status of the other three is unknown. Six of the cases are in adults and the rest are in children younger than 17.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that they were sending a team to Texas to help local public health officials respond to the outbreak, which began in late January.

Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the CDC.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.

“We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” said Dr. Chad Smelser, the deputy state epidemiologist. “The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is the best protection against this serious disease.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Siemens plans to invest $285 million in manufacturing in the United States, the tech company said Thursday, including two new facilities in California and Texas.

The U.S. is the largest market for the company. The recent investments in the Siemens’ U.S. manufacturing footprint and the planned acquisition of Altair, a Michigan-based software company, mark more than $10 billion in investment in the U.S.

“We believe in the innovation and strength of America’s industry. That’s why Siemens has invested over $90 billion in the country in the last 20 years. This year’s investment will bring this number to over $100 billion,” Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG, said in a statement. “We are bringing more jobs, more technology and a boost to America’s AI capabilities.”

Siemens’ announcement comes as chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it plans to invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S., on top of $65 billion in investments the company had previously said it would make. That investment will be for three more chip manufacturing plants, along with two packaging facilities, in Arizona.

Siemens said it plans to open two manufacturing facilities for electrical products in Fort Worth, Texas, and Pomona, Calif. The company said it expects its latest investment to create more than 900 skilled manufacturing jobs, with the equipment produced in those factories supporting the U.S. commercial, industrial and construction sectors. The move will also allow the company to power AI data centers.