Publications

Early voting begins October 19, and both top Texas races are within three points in the polling averages. Texas polls have missed by more than that before. In Houston, Harris County takes up license plate readers, and three companies race to run driverless trucks up I-45.

Texas moves to stop taxing app fees, and diesel sets a record at $5.97 a gallon. In Houston, Harris County gets another year on its Harvey flood projects, and a year of delayed voter registrations reaches the county less than two weeks before the October 5 deadline.

Grace & McEwan Consulting is now Grey Havens Strategies, with three promotions and the same three offices.

Interim hearings this week turn to costs Texans carry: home insurance premiums, oilfield theft and screwworm. In Houston, Greenspoint Mall has buyers, and Harris County’s toll authority will study new corridors.

The week’s story is where the money sits. Six companies told New York they are moving their stock to Dallas, the Comptroller closed the books $1.6 billion ahead of his office’s estimate, and Harris County settled on the rate that covers its shortfall.

Nearly four in ten Texas homesteads now pay no school property tax, the Senate takes up prediction markets Tuesday, and Harris County votes Thursday on one of the largest rate increases in its history.

A note before we begin: no six items this morning. It is Labor Day, offices are closed, and Harris County Commissioners Court does not meet until tomorrow. So we are using the quiet to tell a different story: about how Texas learned to work. Most of it happened along one bay, and some of it a long way from any water. The usual format returns next Monday.

Texas’s business court begins its third year with a deadline lifted, the Senate race is turning into a contest about money, and 16 state agencies come up for their Sunset review.

The state spent the week hitting the brakes: broadband grants frozen, data-center hookups paused. Then, right on schedule, it released the new school ratings.

The state paused the data-center queue, Harris County’s proposed budget arrived this morning, and Sunset comments close at 5 p.m. Houston City Council meets Tuesday and Wednesday.

Polling season arrived early, the Sunset cycle opens Wednesday, and Harris County’s budget lands August 17. Houston City Council returns Tuesday.

Austin spent the week on data centers: the Public Utility Commission opened its transmission-cost work, the Senate put a $3.3 billion tax exemption on the table, and protesters took the Capitol steps. On the coast, the windstorm insurer votes Tuesday, and at Houston City Hall, the inspection era begins.

Texas has a new chief election officer, the data center memo is out and the next deadline lands Friday, and Harris County opened budget season with a big gap. The rest of the week’s business is below.

We begin in the Hill Country this morning, where neighbors watched the rivers rise again a year after the Fourth of July flood, and where the safeguards built since then faced their first test. The week brought plenty else: the data center memo, Senate campaign finance reports, budget instructions for every state agency, and a farewell to the World Cup.

The regular format returns this morning, with a twist: all six items are stories the Brief has not told before. New money, new courts, new construction, from schoolhouse accounts to icebreakers on the Island. The World Cup takes its Texas bow this week; the dates are below.

A note before we begin: no five things this morning. Saturday carried two anniversaries in Texas. The country turned 250, and the Hill Country marked one year since the Guadalupe rose in the dark and took more than 130 of our neighbors. This edition honors both. Before the week’s agendas take over, we want to walk you through what the Fourth of July looks like from here. Not from Philadelphia. From Texas, where the same river runs through the whole story. The usual format returns next Monday.

The Senate race is suddenly a dead heat, Brazil plays a World Cup knockout at Houston Stadium on Monday, and Saturday brings a convergence: Independence Day, the Round of 16 here, and one year since the Hill Country floods. Here’s what’s on the radar.

Nearly a year after the July 4 Hill Country floods, state investigators delivered their final report on Camp Mystic last week. Hurricane season is open, the World Cup runs here through a July 4 knockout match, and a few deadlines are coming due. Here’s what’s on the radar.

A full week on every front. The Houston City Council adopted the FY2027 budget, a livestock pest the U.S. hadn’t seen since the Johnson administration turned up in South Texas, the Governor gave state regulators a data-center assignment due in July, and the World Cup and the Texas GOP convention shared downtown Houston for one crowded weekend. Two comment windows close this week — here’s what’s on the radar.

A milestone week for the city: Council votes on the FY2027 budget Wednesday, the FIFA Fan Festival opens Thursday, and Houston’s first World Cup match kicks off Sunday at noon. Here’s what’s on the radar.

The statewide and Houston-area primary runoffs are decided; results are below. This week the City Council takes up the FY2027 budget, and the World Cup is two weeks out. Here’s what’s on the radar.

A short holiday week with a long Tuesday. Government offices are closed today for Memorial Day; tomorrow brings statewide and Houston-area primary runoffs. Here’s what’s on the radar.