CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS
The number of people still missing in the July 4 Kerr County flood dropped to two after another body was recovered last week, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
These numbers were accurate at press time.
The two still missing are a child and an adult who were at Camp Mystic, where at least 27 campers and counselors died.
The death toll in Kerr County now totals 108. Statewide, the death toll has reached at least 136. Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered disaster declarations for 30 Texas counties, making them eligible for both state and federal assistance.
“Texas remains relentless in our efforts to help impacted Texans and communities rebuild,” Abbott said.
The counties included in Abbott’s state-level declaration include Bandera, Bexar, Burnet, Caldwell, Coke, Comal, Concho, Edwards, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, Lampasas, Llano, Mason, Maverick, McCulloch, Menard, Real, Reeves, San Saba, Schleicher, Sutton, Tom Green, Travis, Uvalde and Williamson.
River authority blasted for not upgrading systems
State lawmakers from both parties ripped into Kerr County’s river authority for choosing to cut property taxes rather than modernizing a flood-warning system, the Statesman reported.
The hearing last week before 18 Texas Senate and House members came during the first week of the special session.
Tara Bushnoe, general manager of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, testified before the panel. State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, called the decision “extremely disturbing.”
A report published last week by the Houston Chronicle found the river authority was only willing to spend about $100,000 to upgrade its flood-warning system after a 2016 engineering study found a $1 million overhaul was needed. The authority also turned down an interest- free loan from the Texas Water Development Board spanning 30 years for the upgrade.
“You had the resources to deploy this system absent any (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grant, absent any water-development loan and I guess that’s troubling because you had the money but not the will,” said state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo.
Bushnoe said the authority has funded other critical projects, including gauges used by the National Weather Service to predict floods.
However, she said, “I agree there’s much room for improvement and we are working toward that.”
Ban on hemp-derived THC gaining traction in Austin
Backers of a move to ban synthetic hemp-derived THC hope to build support for the state’s recently expanded medical marijuana program, arguing it is a safer and more effective alternative to the unregulated vapes and gummies sold across the state, The Dallas Morning News reported.
“Cannabis is what has saved the lives of so many veterans in this country, but this unregulated version of cannabis is dangerous,” said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio.
A proposal to outlaw most of the consumable products containing THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis plants, is gaining speed in the Senate despite a similar measure having been vetoed by Abbott after the regular session. The governor placed regulating hemp products on the special session agenda.
Legislation to impose age limits, along with other regulations, is expected to be filed soon in the House. Abbott has said he would support such a plan.
Medical marijuana is provided legally through the Texas Compassionate Use Program and has about 116,000 active participants. During the regular session, bills were passed increasing the number of medical marijuana licensees from three to 15 and increasing the number of dispensary and storage sites.
GOP redistricting plans draw ire of Dems, others
The first hearing of a Republican plan to redraw Texas congressional maps drew plenty of criticism at the state House redistricting committee’s first public meeting, The Texas Tribune reported.
“The effort to change these districts at this time has nothing to do with representing people better,” said Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, and vice chairman of the House committee in charge of redistricting. “It’s the opposite of that. It’s a power grab at the expense of Black and brown communities.”
The attempt to redraw the congressional map at mid-decade comes at the behest of President Donald Trump in hopes of increasing the GOP’s narrow majority in the U.S. House in the 2026 midterms. The current map, drawn in 2021, has yielded 25 Republican seats and 13 for Democrats.
No proposed revisions of the current map have been released to date.
Paxton claims three houses as his primary residence
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, are claiming three separate houses as primary residences, allowing them to get lower mortgage interest rates and save on property taxes, the Associated Press reported.
Doing so may be a potential violation of both federal and state laws.
Documents reviewed by the Associated Press show the Paxtons hold mortgages on three homes — one in suburban Dallas and two in Austin, with each listed as their primary residence.
The couple is now estranged after Angela Paxton filed for divorce earlier this month. Ken Paxton is running against incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary next March. Neither responded to multiple requests to comment before the story was published.
Cornyn quickly criticized his opponent, who leads in early polls.
“It’s a violation, in all likelihood, of state and federal law,” Cornyn said last week.
After the story was published, Ken Paxton posted on X that, “John Cornyn and his establishment Swamp allies pushed this fake news to slander me, and Cornyn even called for the feds to take me down.”
5,000-person detention camp to be built outside El Paso
The federal government has awarded a contract to build an immigration detention center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, The News reported. The tent camp would be the largest immigration detention facility in the United States.
Acquisition Logistics, a Virginia- based company, was awarded the $232 million contract. The facility would be used to house single immigrant adults.
Immigrant advocates say using tents for detention is unlikely to meet federal standards.
“All the reasons why you and I live not in tents but in homes are going to inevitably come up in a facility that doesn’t offer people walls and floors and insulation,” said Emma Winger, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council.
Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin, and Cedar Park. Email:gborders@texaspress. com.
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