.png)
Vehicle inspections no longer required
Drivers will no longer be required to get annual safety inspections beginning Jan. 1, the Texas Standard reported. However, drivers in the state’s 17 most populous counties will still be required to get an emissions test in order to register their vehicles.
While mandatory vehicle inspections are going the way of the pay phone and video cassette recorders, drivers will still end up paying a $7.50 “inspection replacement fee” when registering their vehicle and getting a new windshield sticker.
The emissions test required in urban counties consists of an engine and exhaust test to ensure a vehicle isn’t exceeding the state’s legal limits on emitting pollutants.
The counties that require emissions test in order to register a vehicle are Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Ellis, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis and Williamson.
Vehicle owners are urged to keep up with maintenance.
“We urge people to still take care of their vehicles, still check your tires, make sure your brakes are working, headlights, tail lights and mirrors are still safe before you drive,” Sgt. Billy Ray with the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
LONG-TERM CARE ADVOCATES SAY MORE FUNDING NEEDED The state’s lead ombudsman for residents in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, is calling for lawmakers to fund more full-time and part-time positions and make other reforms to a long-term care system that ranks 42nd in the nation for safety and quality, The Texas Tribune reported.
Patty Ducayet, the state ombudsman, works independently from the Texas Health and Human Services Department, which oversees these facilities. She and others are also urging more volunteers to advocate for residents as well as more state funding to hire additional ombudsman.
“We would be lost in the long-term care community without them (volunteers), but they definitely need more support across the board,” said Andrea Earl, the associate state director of advocacy and research for the AARP.
In 2024, the state ombudsman had its highest turnover rate at 255. Ducayet said ideally the state would have one staff member for every 2,000 licensed care facility beds. Right now, the ratio is one person for every 2,514 beds, which would require hiring 22 more fulltime employees as well as increasing the volunteer base.
WASTEWATER LEAKS FROM OIL WELLS POSE DANGER The water that comes up as a byproduct of oil and gas fracking is becoming a bigger headache for the state’s energy operators and those who regulate them, the Houston Chronicle reported. Most of the “produced” water is injected into disposal wells that carry it into geologic formations for containment.
The extremely salty water — nine time saltier than the ocean — also contains a number of carcinogenic chemicals, such as benzene. The practice of wastewater injection is believed to have caused earthquakes across the state and several environmentally damaging and costly blowouts.
One barrel of Permian crude can also produce as many as eight barrels of tainted water. The industry is working to create a new technology to desalinate the water so it doesn’t have to be injected underground and possibly could be reused.
POSTAL SERVICE WARNS OF TEXTING SCAM Christmas is over, but that doesn’t mean scammers have taken a holiday. Officials with the U.S. Postal Service are warning about a scam being sent by text messages, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The scam consists of text messages being sent to cell phone owners that claims a USPS package can’t be delivered because of missing information.
A link is included in the message. Clicking on the link can expose the user’s personal information.
“The criminals want to receive personally identifiable information such as: account usernames and passwords, Social Security Number, date of birth, credit and debit card numbers, personal identification numbers, or other sensitive information,” the news release says.
Postal customers are urged to go to the official USPS page to determine the status of a package: usps.com/ sms-tracking.
TEXAS NOW HOME TO MORE THAN 31 MILLION The Lone Star State added nearly 563,000 residents in the last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Tribune reported the state’s growth has slowed, though the 1.8 percent growth rate is still the third highest in the country, behind Florida and the District of Columbia.
Roughly 40% of the state’s new residents came from net international migration, with 319,569 new residents from abroad, the Census Bureau said. Texas still led the country in migration from other states, adding 85,267 people in the last year who moved here from another state.
The slowing of domestic migration means Texas will likely rely on international migration to meet the labor needs of a booming state economy, according to Lloyd Potter, the state demographer.
“With a growing economy, we have a growing demand for labor,” Potter said. “And if we're seeing a decline in domestic migration, well, that labor probably is going to need to come from immigrants.”
TAKE A HIKE IN STATE PARK TO KICK OFF NEW YEAR The state park system is once again hosting First Day hikes on New Year’s Day, Texas Parks & Wildlife reported. Last year, Texas state parks hosted 177 events in which 8,729 people hiked, biked, swam and paddled a record 17,284 miles, according to TPWD “One of the many reasons that I love Texas is the nice weather that we can have even in the winter, and there is no better way to spend a beautiful winter day than walking with friends and family at a Texas State Park,” said Rodney Franklin, director of Texas State Parks. The agency strongly encourages anyone planning to visit a Texas state park to reserve a day pass in advance, since some parks could reach capacity. You can do so at https://texasstateparks. reserveamerica. com/ at 512-389-- 8900.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION BEGINS ON JAN. 14 The 89th Texas legislative session begins on Jan. 14 with a still-unresolved race for speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
State Reps. David Cook, R-Mansfield and Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, are considered the frontrunners for speaker, but speculation continues as to whether other candidates will throw their hats into the ring.
The Republican caucus is split between those who oppose appointing any Democrat to chair a House committee and those who contend it's essential to work across the aisle to get the state’s business done in a biennial five-month session. Historically, a few chairmanships have gone to members of the minority party.
In the wake of the November elections, the makeup of the 150-member Texas House is 87 Republicans and 63 Democrats.
School vouchers will again be on the legislative plate since they are a top priority for Gov. Greg Abbott. His efforts to pass what are also called Education Savings Accounts failed numerous attempts in 2023, including several special sessions.
Legislative watchers predict more bills aimed at property tax relief but geared more toward business owners, since those passed in the 2023 session were primarily aimed at homeowners.
Another issue that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has prioritized is banning the sale of all THC products in Texas. Since the state legalized the growth of hemp, some stores have begun selling products containing previously illegal levels of THC, the compound that gives marijuana its “high.'
GOP BILLS SEEK TO REGULATE WIND, SOLAR AND BATTERY POWER PROJECTS Several Republican lawmakers have filed bills to increase government oversight over renewable energy projects, The Dallas Morning News reported. Proposals include requiring property buffers between the projects and neighboring properties. Another bill would require environmental fees and studies for any new renewable projects.
The News reported that wind, solar and batteries account for about 46% of electric generation capacity for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which controls nearly all of the state’s power grid.
“Currently, renewable energy facilities do not have statewide guidelines for permitting and decommissioning, leading to variations in how the installations are installed,” said state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco and sponsor of one of the bills.
FBI PROBES REPORTED THREATS AGAINST SPACEX The FBI is investigating reported threats made against SpaceX’s Starbase Facility near Brownsville, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The bureau’s San Antonio office confirmed that it is investigating “possible bomb threats in South Texas in recent weeks.”
“While we are working to carefully vet and investigate the information we have received, we want to reiterate that the safety and security of the American people is the FBI’s highest concern,” the bureau said in a statement late last week.
A frequent camper near the launch site reported five male passengers in a vehicle talked of blowing up a SpaceX space vehicle.
The probe comes as the company is working toward a planned test flight on Jan. 10 of its second-generation Starship.
The company has come under fire in recent months for its environmental record. Several Rio Grande Valley groups have sued the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for allowing SpaceX to discharge wastewater from its launch platform without a permit.
TEXAS LOSING ITS CLOUT IN CONGRESS THIS SESSION There are fewer Texans in leadership in Congress in the session that just began, largely because of retirements of several GOP members, the Houston Chronicle reported.
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who led the powerful Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, RPilot Point, who led the Rules Committee and was the second-ranked Republican on the Commerce Committee, both retired from Congress this year.
Eighteen of the 25 Texas Republicans in the House have been there for three full terms or fewer. Another incumbent, Michael McCaul, R-Austin, is no longer heading the House Foreign Affairs Committee because of term limits.
STATE STARTS 2025 WITH 2.9 MILLION BUSINESS ENTITIES
Texas rang in the New Year with more than 2.9 million business entities actively registered with the secretary of state’s office to conduct business here. That is up more than 125,000 from a year ago, according to Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
“The economic climate in Texas continues to be strong as entrepreneurs grow and create businesses in our state and more out-of-state entities want to expand to Texas,” Nelson said.
That number includes both businesses incorporated in Texas and out-of-state companies conducting business here.
STATE’S CITRUS INDUSTRY ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER The state’s citrus industry is reeling after a pair of natural disasters — the deadly winter storm of February 2021 and a severe drought, The Texas Tribune reported. Nearly four years after that winter storm, production levels have not recovered.
The state’s citrus industry is located entirely in the Valley and has an economic impact of more than $300 million annually.
'We are not a large physical footprint anymore, but we still pack enough economic punch,' said Dale Murden, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, a nonprofit trade association that represents the interests of commercial citrus growers.
Farmers in the Valley largely depend on surface water from the Rio Grande. A mature citrus tree needs between 40 and 50 inches of water a year, according to the Texas A&M Agrilife Research Center. About half of that amount must be supplied by irrigation. Drought conditions and Mexico falling behind on delivering water under a 1944 treaty are blamed for the drop in citrus production.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected]
