Texas News

A Houston shelter dog named Naco, who spent eight years in care as one of the facility’s longest residents, entered a permanent home after a local family completed his adoption in December 2024. Shelter staff documented his long stay, health status, and repeated promotion through adoption campaigns before his placement. The case highlights challenges for long-term shelter dogs and ongoing efforts by Houston animal welfare groups to find homes for adult and senior animals.

A new study reports that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality faces a backlog of more than 1,000 environmental complaint investigations after years of budget cuts reduced staffing and resources. Researchers say the delays affect air, water and waste cases statewide and link longer resolution times to legislative funding reductions, hiring constraints and limited monitoring capacity. The report details how TCEQ now prioritizes high-risk complaints, outlines internal adjustments to manage workloads and recommends that state officials increase funding, add investigative staff and improve public reporting on complaint status and timelines.

Texas public universities are using artificial intelligence tools to review and rewrite course descriptions, syllabi, and academic materials that reference race and gender in response to new state rules on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Internal records show administrators directing faculty to run course documents through AI platforms, generate alternative language, and standardize revisions under tight deadlines while legal and compliance offices oversee the process. Faculty communications and governance documents detail questions about academic freedom, instructional precision, and the long-term impact of AI mediated changes on curricula, enrollment, and campus policy across multiple disciplines.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire and City Controller Chris Hollins are in a dispute over a proposal to use about $30 million from Houston’s stormwater fund to demolish certain buildings. Whitmire argues the reallocation would address unsafe or problematic structures, while Hollins says city rules restrict the fund to stormwater mitigation and do not permit demolition spending. City Council, legal staff, and budget officials are reviewing the fund’s authorizing language, financial policies, and project lists before any vote.

A state district court in Houston rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit seeking to shut down Harris County’s $1.3 million immigration legal services program for undocumented residents. The ruling allows the county to continue funding nonprofit groups that provide legal representation in federal immigration proceedings amid increased enforcement actions. The attorney general’s office argued the program violated state law and interfered with immigration enforcement, while county lawyers defended it as a lawful use of local funds. The decision keeps the program in place as potential appeals and broader immigration policy debates continue in Texas.

A Texas program allows a limited group of families with eligible 3- and 4-year-olds to use school vouchers for private pre-K instead of free public preschool. The Texas Education Agency oversees the initiative, which restricts participation to children who already qualify for state-funded public pre-K under existing criteria such as income, language status, homelessness, foster care, military affiliation, or prior intervention services. Families must apply, select an approved private provider, and submit documentation to access funds, which the state pays directly to participating schools.

A new report shows that Texas ranks among the worst states in the United States for package theft, even as incidents decline nationwide. The study uses complaint data, insurance claims, and surveys to compare states and finds that major Texas cities and residential areas continue to experience high rates of stolen deliveries from porches, mailrooms, and doorsteps. Researchers identify factors driving Texas’s elevated ranking and outline how residents, delivery companies, and law enforcement respond to persistent package theft across the state.

A pending federal THC ban in the next Farm Bill could force more than 6,000 Texas smoke shops and hemp-related businesses to shut down or overhaul operations by November 2025. The measure would prohibit most hemp-derived THC products, including popular delta-8 items, that currently operate under the 2018 Farm Bill. Texas hemp retailers, manufacturers, and trade groups are mounting a lobbying push to persuade Congress to replace the blanket ban with a regulated framework that sets potency limits, age rules, labeling, and testing standards.