The State Fair of Texas is back with a new firearms ban.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a ban on firearms at the sprawling State Fair of Texas, one of the state’s biggest annual celebrations.

It’s cold in Texas!

The number of former Californians who became Texans dropped slightly last year, but some of that slack was picked up by Arizona and Florida.

The Texas Rangers are the only one of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball that aren't hosting Pride Night during a game in June as part of Pride Month.

The mayor of the capital of Texas is acknowledging the frustration of residents shivering for more than a day without power during a winter storm.

The stakes are high for Democrat Beto O’Rourke on Friday night in his only debate against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas.

It should have been the first day of a joyous week for Robb Elementary School students — the start of summer break.

The Energy Department has authorized additional exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from planned terminals in Texas and Louisiana.

Texas abortion providers say their best hope of stopping the nation’s most restrictive abortion law is all but over.

Texas’ primary that put the 2022 midterm election season in full swing saw no significant issues at polling locations.

The Justice Department has sued Texas over its new redistricting maps, saying the plans discriminate against minority voters, particularly Latinos, who have fueled the state’s population boom.

Texas lawmakers are on the brink of finishing redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs.

A Texas law that bans most abortions has providers and advocates preparing for an increasing number of women traveling to other states to end their pregnancies.

A new Texas law allows most people age 21 or older who haven’t been convicted of a felony can carry a holstered handgun in public without undergoing any training or getting a permit.

Millions of students in Florida, Texas and Arizona are being required to wear masks in class as school boards in mostly Democratic locales are imposing anti-COVID mandates in defiance of their Republican governors.

Texas Democrats are starting a second week of holing up in Washington to block new voting laws back home.

A Justice Department attorney says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue an order this week about how migrant children are treated under a public health order that has prevented people from seeking asylum at at the nation’s borders.

With Vice President Kamala Harris planning to visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas is trying to revive hard-line immigration measures used by the Trump administration.

Congress is looking into the cause of the power blackouts across Texas last month. A House panel planned to hear Wednesday, March 24, 2021, from officials who oversee the state's energy industry and electric grid. (AP Photo/LM Otero File)DALLAS – Congress is looking into last month’s massive and deadly power outages across Texas and questioning officials who oversee the state’s energy industry and electric grid. After outages in February 2011, Robb’s group recommended that Texas power plants needed better protection against winter storms. AdHouston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the Texas grid was designed for peak summer heat, and policymakers wrongly believed that the 2011 severe winter storm was an anomaly.

Greg Abbott says Texas is lifting a mask mandate and lifting business capacity limits next week. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)DALLAS – The end of Texas' mask mandate is giving Lucy Alanis second thoughts about one of her occasional indulgences during the coronavirus pandemic: dining in at restaurants. Businesses in Texas shed rules, city leaders plotted new safeguards and the state's 5 million schoolchildren largely remained under orders to keep wearing masks, at least for now. The mask mandate, which has been in place since July, and occupancy limits on restaurants and retail stores end March 10. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said his officers will continue wearing masks.

As temperatures plunged and snow and ice whipped the state, much of Texas' power grid collapsed, followed by its water systems. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)WASHINGTON – The House Oversight Committee is investigating the agency that operates the Texas power grid, seeking information and documents about the lack of preparation for the recent winter storm that caused millions of power outages and dozens of deaths across the state. AdSevere winter storms in Texas “have occurred repeatedly over decades, and ERCOT has been unprepared for them,” Khanna wrote in a letter to ERCOT CEO Bill Magness. Last month's storm followed similar winter storms in 1989 and 2011 that also caused massive outages, Khanna said. “It appears that lessons learned (again) in 2011 were not implemented either, leaving Texas vulnerable to extreme winter weather again in 2021,'' he wrote.

Texas is lifting a COVID-19 mask mandate that was imposed last summer but has only been lightly enforced. Greg Abbotts announcement Tuesday makes Texas the largest state to do away with a face covering order. (AP Photo/LM Otero)AUSTIN, Texas – Texas is lifting its mask mandate, Gov. Abbott, a Republican, has faced sustained criticism from his party in America's biggest red state over the statewide mask mandate — which was imposed eight months ago — as well as business occupancy limits that Texas will also scuttle next week. Target, one of the nation's biggest retailers, said it would continue requiring customers to wear masks in Texas.

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc., the oldest and biggest generation and transmission power cooperative in Texas has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following last months winter storm that left millions without power. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)The largest and oldest power cooperative in Texas is filing for bankruptcy protection, citing last month’s winter storm that left millions without power, and it is unlikely to be the last utility to seek shelter in the courts. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative serves distributors that supply electricity to more than 1.5 million Texans in 68 counties from the Panhandle to Houston. Brazos said Monday that it was a “financially robust, stable company” before the Arctic freeze that hit Texas between Feb. 13 and Feb. 19. Ed Hirs, who teaches energy economics at the University of Houston, is sure there will be more power company bankruptcies.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)AUSTIN, Texas – Texas' attorney general said Monday he's suing electricity provider Griddy for passing along massive bills to its customers during last month's winter storm. The lawsuit comes days after Texas' power grid manager effectively shut down Griddy by revoking its access to the state's electricity market. But when temperatures plummeted well below freezing last month, wholesale prices spiked and Griddy customers were left with sky-high electricity bills. The unusually heavy winter storm blanketed much of Texas with snow, knocking out electricity to 4 million customers and leaving many struggling to find clean water. Meanwhile, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, shifted about 10,000 Griddy customers to other utilities on Friday.

“When a crisis hits our states, like the one that hit Texas, it’s not a Republican or Democrat that’s hurting," Biden said. With tens of thousands of Houston area residents without safe water, local officials told Biden that many are still struggling. AdThe president's first stop was the Harris County Emergency Operations Center for a briefing from acting FEMA Administrator Bob Fenton and state and local emergency management officials. Some state officials initially blamed the blackouts on renewable energy even though Texas relies heavily on oil and gas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent emergency generators, bottled water, ready-to-eat meals and blankets.

AdFour of the departing board members acknowledged “concerns about out-of-state board leadership" in a letter to grid members and the state's Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT. The board members did not reflect on their own performance in the letter. The other board members are vice chairman Peter Cramton, Terry Bulger and Raymond Hepper. The selection of “unaffiliated” ERCOT board members — like most of those who are resigning — must be approved by the PUC. Hepper also declined comment beyond the resignation letter, and other board members did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

President Joe Biden speaks about the 500,000 Americans that died from COVID-19, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, in Washington. AdHouston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Sunday on CBS' “Face the Nation” the state of Texas should bear those “exorbitant costs," rather than residents. Biden previously tweeted about Texas and the other affected states, received regular updates from his staff and declared states of emergency in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Biden spoke to the governors of the seven states most affected by the winter weather. Biden said last week that he hoped to travel to Texas but he didn't want his presence and the accompanying presidential entourage to distract from the recovery.

Joggers run down a street empty of cars Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Nolensville, Tenn. A second winter storm in a week is bringing more snow to much of Tennessee. A rural hospital in Anahuac, Texas, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Houston, lost both water and power. Memphis, Light, Gas & Water issued a boil-water advisory on Thursday out of concern that low water pressure caused by problems at aging pumping stations and water main ruptures could lead to contamination. That hospital has a water purification system for dialysis and has water reserves for tasks such as cooking and bathing patients, he said. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare also reported problems at some of its Memphis-area facilities due to water pressure problems and the boil advisory.

As temperatures plunged and snow and ice whipped the state, much of Texas' power grid collapsed, followed by its water systems. As temperatures plunged and snow and ice whipped the state, much of Texas’ power grid collapsed, followed by its water systems. The community deserves answers.”___Around 2 a.m. Monday, the full measure of the crisis Texas faced began to be apparent. Most people did not yet know that Texas’ power grid had been on the brink of total failure. AdThe Texas grid isn’t walled off, but there are only a few, small interconnection points with the Eastern U.S. grid and Mexico.

The thaw produced burst pipes throughout the region, adding to the list of woes from severe conditions that were blamed for more than 70 deaths. At its peak, what was the worst ice storm in 40 years knocked out power to more than 350,000 customers. Water woes added misery for people across the South who went without heat or electricity for days after the ice. Prison rights advocates said some correctional facilities across Louisiana had intermittent electricity and frozen pipes, affecting toilets and showers. In many areas, water pressure dropped after lines froze and because people left faucets dripping to prevent pipes from icing, authorities said.

About 260,000 homes and businesses in the Tennessee county that includes Memphis were told to boil water because of water main ruptures and pumping station problems. And water pressure problems prompted Memphis International Airport to cancel all incoming and outgoing Friday flights. Paul Lee Davis got to the front of the line at a water station set up by city officials only to have the water run out. Water service was restored Friday to two Houston Methodist community hospitals, but officials still were bringing in drinking water and some elective surgeries were canceled, spokeswoman Gale Smith said. AdMore than 192,000 Louisiana residents -- some still struggling to recover from last August's Hurricane Laura -- had no water service Friday, according to the state health department.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)DALLAS – Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said his family vacation to Mexico was “obviously a mistake” as he returned stateside Thursday following an uproar over his disappearance during a deadly winter storm. Ad“Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon,” Cruz wrote. “It was obviously a mistake, and in hindsight, I wouldn't have done it," he said. While the situation will not help Cruz's political future, the two-term senator is not in any immediate political danger. Cruz checked in for his return flight Thursday afternoon in Cancun and walked briskly through the terminal pulling a roller bag to security.

Another man died at a health-care facility after a lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible. ___OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt pleaded with residents Thursday to limit water usage after city officials said some hospitals faced what Holt called a crisis because of a sharp drop in water pressure. Integris Baptist lost water pressure at two of its hospitals, according to city utilities director Chris Browning. The drop in water pressure was due largely to customers running faucets to prevent frozen and burst water lines, and nearly tripling the amount of water used, according to city utilities director Chris Browning. She says “‘Frozen’ is always a good choice.”Ad___AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Gov.

Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. But the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, where many people still lacked safe drinking water. The next phase of the state’s disaster response will be to test drinking water from systems knocked offline by the cold. Power was cut to a New Orleans facility that pumps drinking water from the Mississippi River and generators were used until electricity was restored. Drinking water was made available at fire stations throughout Jackson and officials also planned to set up bottled water pickup sites.

Ad“Every one of our sources of power supply underperformed," Daniel Cohan, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University in Houston, tweeted. The staggering imbalance between Texas' energy supply and demand also caused prices to skyrocket from roughly $20 per megawatt hour to $9,000 per megawatt hour in the state's freewheeling wholesale power market. Grid operators say rolling blackouts are a last resort when power demand overwhelms supply and threatens to create a wider collapse of the whole power system. In Texas this week, grid operators and utilities knew about the dire weather forecast for at least a week. Texas, which has a grid largely disconnected from others to avoid federal regulation, may have to rethink the go-it-alone strategy.

But hours after those assurances, the number of outages in Texas only rose, at one point exceeding 4 million customers. Forcing controlled outages was the only way to avert an even more dire blackout in Texas, Magness said. The outages are the widest Texas' grid has suffered but hardly a first in winter. A decade ago, another deep February freeze created power shortages in Texas the same week the Super Bowl was played in Arlington. A federal report later flagged failures in the system, including power plants that are unable to stand up to extreme cold.

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)The Latest on winter weather across the U.S. (all times local):OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Gov. Stitt’s disaster declaration request for all 77 Oklahoma counties comes a day after the governor spoke with Biden by phone. ___NEW ORLEANS — Rolling power blackouts necessitated by severe winter weather hit water systems in at least two Louisiana cities. He implored residents to stop running water, noting that temperatures had risen above the freezing mark___RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. — The Louisiana Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed three deaths related to winter weather this week.

AdBut hours after those assurances, the number of outages in Texas only rose, at one point exceeding 4 million customers. The outages are the widest Texas' grid has suffered but hardly a first in winter. A decade ago, another deep February freeze created power shortages in Texas the same week the Super Bowl was played in Arlington. AdOn Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Texas had requested 60 generators and that hospitals and nursing homes would get priority. “There’s a serious lack of preparation on the part of the energy companies to not be ready,” Murdoch said.

State officials said surging demand, driven by people trying to keep their homes warm, and cold weather knocking some power stations offline had pushed Texas' system beyond the limits. “This event was well beyond the design parameters for a typical, or even an extreme, Texas winter that you would normally plan for. At DFW, the temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius) — 3 degrees (-16 degrees) colder than Moscow. In Houston, officials said Bush Intercontinental Airport runways would remain closed until at least 1 p.m. Tuesday, a day longer than previously expected. The southern Plains had been gearing up for the winter weather for the better part of the weekend.

In September, top employees of Paxton’s office reported him to federal authorities for alleged crimes they say he committed in assisting Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. Paxton’s office and a lawyer for Paul did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Last week, Paul said in a deposition that Paxton recommended a woman for her job with the developer’s company. The outside lawyer obtained 39 grand jury subpoenas that were beyond “the appropriate scope” of the case, the complaint states. They've also asked local prosecutors to fine Paxton $15,000 for each violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act.

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas became America's first state Wednesday with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, as sporting events were canceled and the border city of El Paso added mobile morgues in anticipation of virus deaths overwhelming hospitals for weeks. Only Illinois has averaged more new cases than Texas over the past two weeks. Texas recently surpassed California, the most populous state, in recording the highest number of positive coronavirus tests. El Paso County officials this week announced plans to add four additional morgue trailers, bringing the total number there to 10. In Lubbock County, home of Texas Tech University, health officials reported a surge of nearly 3,400 new cases last week.

Texas' early votes exceeded the 8.9-plus million overall votes four the election years ago by Friday morning, according to an Associated Press tally. This year’s numbers were aided by Democratic activists challenging in court for, and winning, the right to extend early voting by one week amid the coronavirus pandemic. Texas voters don’t register by party affiliation. Early voting turnout in Hidalgo County, which includes McAllen, was just over 44%. Joining Harris was former Texas Democratic congressman and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who knocked on doors trying to increase turnout.

However, the move doesn't allow Texas bars to fully reopen, nor everywhere. Texas' largest counties are controlled by Democrats, many of whom have accused Abbott of reopening the state too quickly. Hundreds of Texas bars have added kitchens or food service during the lockdown as a way of getting around the closure order. An industry group for Texas bar owners blasted the move, accusing Abbott of punting the tough decision on bar reopenings to counties. He's officially passed the buck,” the Texas Bar & Nightclub Alliance said in a statement.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Before Thursday’s game between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs, the two teams utilized their platforms to call for social justice reform. The Houston Texans wanted to take the anthem out of the equation as part of their statement and remained in the locker room. Players from both teams talked after the game about that moment, and the displeasure voiced by some of the fans. “We made a team decision.

Listen, the first game is always that way, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, because you're never quite sure what they're going to do. Even with preseason games, the first few games are up in the air. If we would have had our four normal preseason games then we wouldve seen 25 to 30 snaps of their first group. But the speed of practice never quite matches that of a preseason game, and the speed of a preseason game never quite matches a regular-season one. But without preseason games to work on such fundamentals, the Chiefs had to tweak the way they approached tackling.

AUSTIN, Texas Texas Gov. Abbott, who had pushed Texas' aggressive reopening of the state economy in May, had previously said the government could not order individuals to wear masks. But faced with dramatically rising numbers of both newly confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus and the number of patients so sick they needed to be hospitalized, Abbott changed course with the mask order. The move to mandate facemasks comes far too little, far too late for Governor Abbott," Texas Democratic Party Communications Director Abhi Rahman said. ___This story has been corrected to remove references to it being a statewide mask order.

Hostess Carla Alexander disinfects a table at the Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Friday, June 26, 2020, in Houston. Texas was a terrible, terrible experiment because it experimented with peoples lives and this is where we are, Neff said. During a news conference Monday, Abbott said the goal has always been to reduce cases and keep people out of hospitals. But the first operation by the state to suspend the alcohol permits of establishments that ignored rules didnt happen until a week ago. Neff said he is worried about losing his bar and has worked to find other revenue streams, including selling cocktails to go, starting a podcast and holding a nightly virtual bar livestream.

Cases of COVID-19 have spiked in Texas and the governor of Texas is encouraging people to wear masks in public and stay home if possible. Greg Abbott on Thursday halted elective surgeries in Texas' biggest counties and said the state would pause its aggressive re-opening as it deals with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations that has made it one of the nation's virus hotspots. The suspension of elective surgeries is designed to protect hospital space in the Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio areas. Texas has reported more than 11,000 new cases in the previous two days alone. The pause on further re-openings does not roll back previous orders that already allowed much of the economy to reopen.

They confirmed their names and told the judge how they were connecting to the court: on laptops, tablets and iPhones. The coronavirus pandemic has crippled courts nationwide, putting many cases on indefinite hold and leaving judges trying to manage some hearings via videoconferencing. According to the National Center for State Courts, which has tracked court functions during the pandemic, its the first remote jury trial ever in the United States. It would just be too difficult, too many constitutional hurdles to clear for a defendant to be brought to a virtual trial, said Randy Gioia of Massachusetts public defender agency. And Miskel suggested courts might blend in-person and online doing trials over video but bringing jurors into to court to deliberate.