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TYLER – East Texans are starting to feel relief at the gas pump this week as the statewide average per gallon has dropped following Memorial Day weekend. According to AAA Texas, the average price of gas is currently $3.92 per gallon, 17 cents lower than last week. However, the average price of gas is currently $1.18 higher than it was at this time last year. In East Texas, Tyler residents are paying an average of $3.88 per gallon of regular gas, while Longview residents are paying $3.93 per gallon. San Augustine County residents are paying the most, with an average of $4.16 per gallon. In major cities across the state, El Paso residents are currently paying the most to fill up their tanks at $4.10 per gallon while drivers in McAllen are paying only $3.74 per gallon to fill up their cars according to AAA. Nationally, the average price of gas is $1.26 higher than it was on this day last year and 14 cents lower than last week.

AUSTIN (AP) – A new state policy that bans prison inmates from receiving hardback books and used books will curb contrabands that enter into facilities, according to state officials, but advocates and some inmates say the latest policy significantly expands the thousands of books already banned from prisoners.

“My concern is that they are restricting access to really, really important things, information, ideas to prisoners as a way to say they’re doing something,” said Laney Hawes, co-founder of Texas Freedom to Read Project.

TDCJ is no longer accepting any donated books, instead funneling donations through Windham school district hardback books, which provides educational services to prisoners. Additionally, inmates can no longer receive hardback or used books sent directly to them unless they are first reviewed and distributed by the district, which book and criminal justice advocates say will result in fewer material reaching inmates.

“Windham School District’s book donation process includes review of hardcover, softback and used books,” district spokesperson Danielle Nicholes said. “Windham reviews books for quality and suitability.”

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice implemented the policy in April after 385 books that entered prisons tested positive for synthetic drugs last year. Those drugs included meth, fentanyl, marijuana, and PCP, which can be turned into liquid and sprayed on books and sniffed.

The agency is banning hardback books because they are harder to scan for contraband and in used books, officials sometimes can’t detect the difference between a coffee stain and tampered pages with the testing kits and software they use. TDCJ received 450,000 books last year — many of them are donated or sent in by family members.

“This is literally a matter of life and death for us here at the agency, we had to look at every single step that we could take to prevent that dangerous contraband from coming in, taking more lives and hurting more folks, and that’s both staff and incarcerated individuals,” said Timothy Fitzpatrick, director of classification and records at TDCJ.

In 2025, there were 129 overdoses of inmates; it’s not clear how many of those overdoses involved drugs found in books.

Book and prison advocates say such a blanket measure is unnecessary because nonprofits, such as Austin-based Inside Book Project, inspect their books closely for contraband before they donate them or send them directly to inmates. The inmates they work with say the policy unfairly punishes them because TDCJ staff also are responsible for bringing in contraband. TDCJ officials said none of the 385 books flagged last year were brought in by staff.

Advocates say the latest policy is a book ban cloaked as a safety measure.

“But one of the biggest concerns we had is, did they bring in all the solutions they could, or did they just say, let’s just make the easiest solution we can and just say this and this,” Hawes said.

Texas bans 10,827 book titles from prisoners, including The Color Purple, Alex Cross, and ’Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky. Banned categories include books that facilitate an escape and criminal schemes; demonstrate how to manufacture weapons, explosives, or drugs; incite violence; and contain nudity or sex.

Fitzpatrick said banning those titles as well as curbing hardback books and used books is to ensure that incarcerated individuals aren’t exposed to dangerous information or substances.

TDCJ developed the list “through literally decades of review and discussion and consideration,” Fitzpatrick said.

Inside Book Project sends between 30,000 and 40,000 books per year to TDCJ and about 80% of them are donated from the public. Most of the books the organization sends to inmates are used and about 15% of them are hardcover. The organization has already turned away hundreds of donated books because of the new policy.

“It’s going to mean we’re going to be spending a lot more money purchasing books, and also going to be forced to restrict what we’re sending people like a lot of trade books are hardcover, a lot of legal books are hardcover and textbooks,” said Scott Odierno, the organization’s coordinator.

He said his organization checks books twice before sending them to TDCJ and his group rarely finds contraband hidden in the pages. But, TDCJ destroys many of Inside Book Project’s donated books over discolored pages and “unknown substances” without the agency saying if it ever verified that the books contained illicit chemicals, Odierno said.

“We have a very rigid policy of checking all of our books for any contraband and things like that. So, we’ve gone above and beyond what they’ve required for years, but it feels like they take advantage of the resources we provide,” Odierno said.

According to TDCJ, in addition to inspections by mailroom staff and K9s, books sent to inmates are also placed in a machine that looks for abnormalities within the cover and pages, such as a stain or items hidden inside the book, according to TDCJ. Books with abnormalities are then further inspected and tested for illegal substances.

Some of the letters that Odierno have received from inmates and reviewed by The Texas Tribune include complaints about how under the new measure, prisoners with more money can afford to buy new books while indigent inmates will not, creating inequities. Inmates can buy digital books that they can read on tablets.

Another complained that the measure punishes inmates for the actions of “a few,” including TDCJ staff who inmates accuse of smuggling in contraband as well.

Contraband can enter facilities from being tossed over the perimeter fencing, smuggled in by visitors and through the mail. In the past, they have often come from TDCJ staff, although none were caught sneaking in contraband with books last year, according to agency spokesperson Amanda Hernandez.

“We know that some (contraband is) coming in through our staff, and when we find them doing it, they are walked off a unit, arrested for all of those things,” she said.

Under the new policy, if inmates receive a hardback or used book, they will have 90 days to send the books elsewhere or the books will be destroyed.

Any book donations will now need to be sent to Windham where they have a process in place to accept, deny, and distribute donated books.

Although TDCJ says it’s been collaborating more with advocacy groups in recent years, Texas Freedom to Read and Inside Books Project, which has worked with the state for 27 years, want more conversations with the agency before it implements more policies that reduce literature and learning materials to inmates.

“If books really are changing lives, then this prevents some of that rehabilitation. This prevents some of that growth,” Hawes said. “This prevents some of the solace and the safety and the peace. In a place that may not have a whole lot of that, and we want to find ways to give more of that and not less.”

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

AUSTIN, Texas (The Texas Tribune) — Texas’ law requiring app marketplace operators like Google and Apple to verify all users’ ages and seek parental permission before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases can go into effect for now, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a temporary injunction issued by a federal district judge in Austin, who wrote in December that the restrictions in Texas’ law likely violated the First Amendment. The 5th Circuit panel did not explain its reasoning for issuing the decision, which can still be reversed by the appeals court in the future.

Senate Bill 2420, which was supposed to activate on Jan. 1, establishes age verification requirements and mandates parental consent before a person under the age of 18 is allowed to download or make purchases within apps. The law also requires app developers to say whether their apps are appropriate for people in four categories: children under 13, teens aged 13-15, older teens aged 16-17 or adults 18 or older.

Its supporters say the law is needed to protect children as they navigate social media and online spaces, while critics say it would violate free speech rights. Louisiana and Utah have passed similar laws that have not yet gone into effect.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, a tech trade group, and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, an advocacy group, filed separate lawsuits in October challenging the law, both arguing it violates the First Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman sided with the plaintiffs in December, finding the law likely violates the First Amendment and issuing the temporary injunction blocking the law while the full case plays out in the district court.

“The Act is akin to a law that would require every bookstore to verify the age of every customer at the door and, for minors, require parental consent before the child or teen could enter and again when they try to purchase a book,” Pitman wrote in a 20-page ruling at the time.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office appealed the temporary injunction in late December.

Paxton earlier this month urged the appeals court to allow enforcement of the law, arguing the state has the right to regulate transactions between minors and app marketplaces that take place in the state, according to court filings.

Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The plaintiffs earlier this week urged the court to uphold Pitman’s injunction, arguing SB 2420 “restricts an enormous amount of online speech” in violation of the First Amendment.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thursday’s ruling is only an administrative stay, temporarily blocking the lower court’s injunction of the law until a further review by the 5th Circuit.

DALLAS (AP) — An explosion and massive fire at a Dallas apartment building Thursday killed a child and at least two other people following a blast that shook nearby homes and happened while firefighters were rushing to a reported gas leak, officials said.

At least five people also went to hospitals with injuries, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans said. It was unclear how many residents lived in the two-story complex in the Oak Cliff neighborhood south of downtown Dallas, where a towering plume of black smoke was visible for miles.

Evans did not rule out that more victims could be found as crews continued to sift through the charred remains of the building. By late Thursday, Evans said firefighters had searched less than half of the scene by hand and that some areas would require excavation.

“This was enormous,” Evans said of the fire.

As dozens of firefighters swarmed to the neighborhood, some residents’ friends and relatives worried as they tried unsuccessfully to reach each loved ones. Dozens of firefighters searched through the smoldering rubble of the building even as colleagues continued to drench the blackened debris.

Berry said firefighters were responding to a call of a gas leak when an explosion happened.

“We had the cavalry coming,” Dallas Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Berry said. “But the explosion had already taken place.”

Atmos Energy, a natural gas provider, said in a statement they were told by fire officials that a construction crew unrelated to the company had damaged a pipeline near the site of the fire.

Kacee Proctor, a resident of the apartment building, said her mother had smelled gas inside a day earlier, but Proctor didn’t think much of it at the time.

She wasn’t home during the blast and was devastated that her cat, Shirley, was stuck inside.

“I’ve been sitting over there crying for several hours. I don’t know what to do. This is all I have right here,” Proctor said, gesturing to the clothes she was wearing.

She spent the afternoon chatting with neighbors who had evacuated, including a girl who was home babysitting her little sister and carried both the child and their dog to safety.

Natural gas service to the area remained shut off, and company officials were working with investigators on-site, the company said.

Authorities set up a family reunification center at a nearby high school. Several hours after the blaze, Frances Rizo was still trying to find her friend who lived in the building.

“She’s not answering her phone,” Rizo said.

Firefighters rushed to the scene as flames and black smoke billowed into the sky. Some trained their hoses on piles of smoking debris while others removed lumber and other burned wreckage to look for anyone trapped underneath. Little more than a blackened shell of the original building remained.

“The fire is contained, but our members are still working on the scene to do primary searches,” said Dallas Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief James Russ.

Julie Jensen said she was at home less than a block from the burning building when she heard a noise like an explosion that left her ears ringing.

“I was sitting on my couch watching TV — stuff flew off our walls,” Jensen said.

Jensen said she saw rising smoke and neighbors running when she looked out the window. She grabbed her family’s cat and left, finding a nearby parking lot to wait until she knew it was safe to return.

Sal De La Rosa was at work at a nearby auto repair shop when “all of a sudden we just heard and felt this huge boom.”

“We felt where the building kind of shook a little bit,” De La Rosa said.

He said a co-worker went outside and saw thick, black smoke rising into the air.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Frances Rizo’s last name in one instance. It is Rizo, not Rizzo.

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Associated Press journalists Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.