| MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak | Subscribe to the daily email here. | | WEDNESDAY | 4/23/2025 | | Good Wednesday afternoon.
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> Become a PAID subscriber for $5/mo or $50/yr here. | | | "New Details Revealed in Stabbing of Commissioner Mitchell and Husband,” via Dallas Express -- "New details have come to light in the violent stabbing incident that critically injured Denton County Commissioner Bobbie Mitchell and led to the death of her husband, Fred Mitchell.
Lewisville police responded at about 3:52 a.m. Monday morning to an emergency 911 call in the 1000 block of Springwood Drive. The dispatch operator reported hearing screaming and sounds of a struggle, and the caller reported there was someone in the home with a knife, according to the police affidavit.
Upon arriving, Patrol Officer Howard observed a white four-door vehicle in the street with the driver’s side door open and the lights still illuminated, and heard screaming from inside the house. She entered and observed the male suspect, later identified as 23-year-old Mitchell Blake Reinacher, standing in the hallway over the body of a man. The man was bleeding heavily from knife wounds to his chest. | » BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER: $7/mo | Officer Howard handcuffed the suspect and removed him from the home before re-entering to render aid to the victims. Reinacher was cooperative and surrendered to police without incident, police said at a news conference later in the day.
The wounded man, identified as Fred Mitchell, was transported by Lewisville Fire Ambulance to Medical City in Lewisville, where he died from his injuries. | » BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER: $70/yr | Officers located a second victim, identified as Bobbie Mitchell, inside the residence, and she also had stab wounds to the chest. She told the responding officer that her grandson, Reinacher, had broken into the home and stated that he was going to kill them. He then went to the kitchen and got a knife, and returned to the bedroom and began stabbing the victims, the affidavit states.
Bobbie Mitchell was transported to Medical City in Denton, where she underwent surgery for a knife wound to her heart.
The suspect was read his Miranda rights and did not make a statement to police.
The police affidavit notes that evidence of forced entry was observed at the front door, and a 6-inch serrated steak knife was recovered at the scene. The steak knife had blood on it, and the blade was bent at a 90-degree angle, which indicated that it had been wielded with a great amount of force, per the police report.
The Lewisville Police Department announced the following, in part, on Facebook on April 21:
The female victim has been identified as Bobbie J. Mitchell, Denton County Commissioner for Precinct 3. Commissioner Mitchell currently serves the Lewisville area and is a prominent public servant. She is a former Lewisville City Council member and was the city’s first Black mayor, elected in 1993. She held the office until her resignation in January 2000 to run for her current county position.
Commissioner Mitchell is listed in stable condition and is being treated for stab wounds. Commissioner Mitchell’s husband, Fred Mitchell, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased shortly after 5:00 a.m.
The suspect, Mitchell Blake Reinacher, the grandson of the victims, has been booked into the Lewisville jail and is presently charged with Murder and Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. The crime scene remains active as LPD crime scene investigators and detectives continue processing evidence and working to determine the circumstances that led to the attack.
Reinacher had been residing at the Mitchells’ home since late 2024, but it is unclear what precipitated the attack.
Reinacher has been charged with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is currently being held in the Denton County jail on a $600,000 bond." Dallas Express | | PLEASE NOTE: You are receiving the PAID subscriber version of Must Read Texas — for today only — so you can see what you are missing. | Paid subscriptions are $7/mo or $70/yr here — mustreadtx.substack.com. | | | "Texas measles outbreak could reach 1,000 cases for first time in decades, experts say,” via Houston Chronicle's Evan MacDonald -- "When measles began spreading earlier this year in northwest Texas, it didn’t take long for the state to reach 50 cases for the first time in three decades.
That milestone was a far cry from the 1,097 measles cases that Texas reported back in 1992, but the outbreak has continued to grow. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 624 cases on Tuesday, including the deaths of two school-aged children.
Experts said the outbreak is difficult to forecast for a variety of reasons, but it has not shown any signs of abating. If the virus continues to spread, Texas could reach or exceed 1,000 measles cases in a single year for the first time in more than 30 years.
“I think there’s at least a 50% chance we get up there. Maybe higher,” said Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. “I hope I’m wrong. But we have all the ingredients … for this to just keep burning.”
Texas health officials have reported about 50 new cases of measles per week since Valentine’s Day, aside from a two-week surge in late March and early April, according to DSHS data. The state reported 121 new cases during the week that ended March 21 and 81 new cases during the week that ended April 4.
Additionally, experts have cautioned that measles cases are likely being underreported in Texas and other states. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist said last week that the agency believes "quite a large amount of cases" are not being reported, as many families have not sought testing or treatment.
If the outbreak continues at its current pace, Texas could eclipse 1,000 cases by early summer. The total could climb much higher if the outbreak continues to spread throughout 2025, which public health officials have warned is possible.
It’s difficult to predict how the outbreak will evolve for a variety of reasons, said Rémy Pasco, the associated director of modeling for epiENGAGE, an infectious disease modeling partnership led by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. But he believes Texas is likely to reach 1,000 cases, even if that happens gradually over the course of several months.
“When there’s a steady number of cases every week, we don’t know whether we’re close to the end or not,” said Pasco, also a research associate at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “Which is the frustrating part."
Texas routinely reported tens of thousands of measles cases per year before the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was introduced in 1963. Widespread use of the MMR vaccine caused infections to plummet across the United States, but a measles outbreak among school-aged children prompted federal health officials to recommend a second dose in 1989.
Texas reported 4,409 cases of measles in 1990, the state’s highest total in nearly two decades. The statewide total dropped to 294 cases in 1991 before rising to 1,097 in 1992.
Since then, the highest number of cases that Texas reported in a full year had been 49, back in 1996. This year’s outbreak surpassed that total just after Valentine’s Day.
There are no signs the current outbreak is slowing, because the state has been reporting a steady number of new cases each week, said Rebecca Fischer, an assistant professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.
“With measles, that is not a good thing,” Fischer said. “With any contagious disease, we always want to see (case numbers) going down.”
The state also has ongoing measles transmission in 10 counties, and larger cities like Lubbock and El Paso have begun to see infections.
Experts noted that many Texans remain susceptible to measles because they are not protected by the MMR vaccine or a prior infection. Many Texas communities have “pockets” of such individuals at schools, day cares or other settings the virus could spread, experts said.
“I think there’s no shortage of folks, unfortunately, who could get measles,” Troisi said." Houston Chronicle ($)
"A woman hugs the man who fatally shot her brother and 22 more in a racist attack at a Texas Walmart,” Houston Chronicle's John Wayne Ferguson -- "Speaking to the gunman who killed her brother and 22 other people, Yolanda Tinajero did not raise her voice or condemn him for his racist attack at a Walmart in 2019. Instead she told him Tuesday that she forgave him, and wished she could give him a hug.
The judge, in a surprising turn in an El Paso courtroom, allowed her to do just that.
Their brief embrace — while Patrick Crusius was still shackled — was among many emotionally charged moments during two days of impact statements given by victims’ family members and survivors.
Some described their pain and devastation while others assured him the community had met his hatred with love and unity. Later, another person also hugged the man who pleaded guilty in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the U.S.
Crusius, a white community college dropout, had posted online a screed about a Hispanic invasion of Texas before opening fire with an AK-style rifle at the store near the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 3, 2019. Crusius didn’t address the families and survivors at his plea hearing Monday. He will serve multiple life sentences after pleading guilty to capital murder and 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
“We would have opened our doors to you to share a meal, breakfast lunch or dinner, Mexican-style, so then your ugly thoughts of us that have been instilled in you would have turned around,” Tinajero told him.
Tinajero said her brother, 60-year-old Arturo Benavides, was a “kind, sweet-hearted person,” whose wife of over 30 years is broken hearted over her loss.
“Now she lives alone in their home full of memories that she can’t forget,” she said.
“I feel in my heart, to hug you very tight so you could feel my forgiveness, especially my loss, but I know it’s not allowed,” Tinajero said. “I want you to see and feel all of us who have been impacted by your actions.”
Later, the judge asked her: “Ma’am, would it truly bring you peace and comfort if you could hug him?”
’Yes,” she replied.
Her daughter, Melissa Tinajero, told reporters: “I don’t know how she was able to do it. I could not do that. But she showed him something he could not show his victims.”" AP | | | "Texas hemp farmers fear full THC ban would nip industry in the bud,” Texas Tribune's Stephen Simpson -- "Andrew Hill, who studied and farmed hemp in California before it was legal in Texas, was a keynote speaker at the state’s first-ever agricultural hemp expo in Dallas in 2019. Amid considerable hype and excitement that followed the recent federal legalization of hemp, Hill tried to warn farmers that the industry wasn’t as profitable as state officials and seed vendors were pitching.
“There were guys running around telling farmers they could make $2,500 to $3,000 an acre on hemp. Being an actual farmer, not trying to sell seeds or clones, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing,” Hill said. “Everyone looked at me and asked what was so funny, and they gave me the mic and I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll tell you right now — I haven’t seen over $1,000 an acre since 2015.’”
Still, Texas lawmakers embraced the opportunity hemp presented in 2019, legalizing hemp products of the cannabis plant with less than 0.3% of THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana. Hill’s Texas Star Hemp Farms was among those to make the investment necessary to profit from hemp, including owning almost all the means of production and sales and spending millions on seeds, licenses and facilities.
Six years after that initial rush, industrial hemp farming in Texas stands on the brink. Senate Bill 3, which would ban any consumable hemp products that contain even trace amounts of THC, could destroy what farmers like Hill have built.
“Now, considering things like hemp hearts, hemp seed oils, salad dressings, and those health products that don’t have any cannabinoids in them to get you high, [they] will still be illegal under this law,” Hill said.
Hill is one of about 450 licensed hemp producers in the Texas Industrial Hemp Program at risk of losing a chunk of their livelihoods as Texas lawmakers have prioritized banning tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC products. Farmers say there is no way they can produce hemp without traces of THC, even for non-consumable products like clothing and paper, meaning SB 3 could deliver a death blow to the industry.
The GOP-controlled Legislature authorized the sale of consumable hemp a year after it was legalized nationwide to boost Texas agriculture by allowing the commercialization of hemp containing trace amounts of non-intoxicating delta-9 THC.
What ensued was a proliferation of hemp products, such as gummies, beverages, vapes and flower buds, sold at dispensaries and convenience stores across the state. Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican who carried the 2019 hemp legalization bill, says such uses exploit a legal loophole and put children in danger.
His SB 3 attempts to correct this by penalizing violators who knowingly possess THC products with a misdemeanor that can carry up to a year in jail and 2 to 10 years in prison for manufacturing or selling them. The measure, which was approved by the Senate, also bars marketing and sales of consumable hemp to minors and requires all legal products to be sold in tamper-evident and child-resistant packaging.
Like SB 3, House Bill 28 would ban synthetic THC and products like gummies and vapes. But the House’s proposal focuses more on tightening regulatory loopholes, allowing hemp-infused beverages and assigning the alcohol industry to regulate products, as well as limiting the consumption of such products to those 21 years or older and implementing advertising regulations.
"This regulatory structure will also maintain the federal restriction on THC of no more than 0.3%, as well as limiting the amount a person can buy in a single day to 10 milligrams,” said state Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, sponsor of the bill.
If the House passes its proposal, the two chambers must reconcile their differences for the legislation to become law. The House hasn’t taken up either of the hemp bills for a vote.
In public hearings, lawmakers heard from parents whose children were sickened by products containing dangerous unregulated forms of THC, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he will move to force an overtime session of the Legislature if lawmakers fail to pass the ban.
"Kids are getting poisoned today," Patrick told the Senate earlier this year." Texas Tribune
"Does nuclear energy hold the key to Texas’ power needs? The state is exploring options,” Dallas Morning News' Philip Jankowski -- "A novel experiment underway in West Texas could help determine whether long-abandoned nuclear technology could be the future of Texas power.
At Abilene Christian University, a research lab is working to create the nation’s first nuclear research reactor in more than 40 years. The intent is to prove small modular reactors are a clean, reliable energy source.
“Our goal is to take this technology and bless the world with it,” said Rusty Towell, an engineering professor at ACU who leads the university’s effort to build a small nuclear reactor.
Nuclear power — once panned as overpriced, overregulated and dangerous — is in the midst of a resurgence, overcoming stigmas associated with disasters at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima. Texas has noticed, and ACU’s NEXT Lab isn’t riding the nuclear wave alone.
Gov. Greg Abbott has signaled strong support for the technology after signing off on recommendations that included a $5 billion fund to develop nuclear power in Texas.
“Texas is the energy capital of the world, and we are ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power,” Abbott said in November.
The CEO who oversees the Texas power grid, Pablo Vegas of ERCOT, sees vast potential for a fast-growing state hustling to meet future power demands.
“I’m very positive about nuclear,” Vegas said in a recent interview. “I’m looking forward to seeing the momentum that has started this last year continue into 2025.”
Nuclear reactors check nearly all the boxes for bipartisan support. Democrats are supportive of an industry that emits virtually no greenhouse gases. Republicans tend to favor nuclear’s ability to produce power that is not affected by weather, unlike solar and wind.
In short, much like batteries, nuclear power can provide relief on two critical fronts. It is a way to slow climate change and its effects, including more frequent devastating weather events and the potential for severe drought. It also is a stable energy source needed to address population growth.
Advocates of nuclear power see Texas as a potential tipping point for a long-dormant energy sector.
Still, the power source does carry risk, including the release of radioactivity in a major emergency, such as the 1986 reactor explosion in Chernobyl or the 2011 tsunami that damaged containment in three reactors in Fukushima, Japan.
The promise of small modular reactors is clouded by financial uncertainty, doubts about their reliability, slow deployment timelines and unresolved nuclear waste issues.
“This technology is unproven … and it may not deliver results to Texas for six to 10 years,” John Umphress, a representative of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said at a recent legislative hearing.
In Texas, nuclear reactors generate power at two sites — Comanche Peak, about 45 miles southwest of Fort Worth, and the South Texas Project, about 100 miles northeast of Corpus Christi. Together, the sites’ four nuclear reactors can power about 1.3 million homes.
One other reactor is in the works as Dow Inc. moves forward with plans to build a nuclear power plant at its Seadrift site along the Texas coast.
ACU hit a significant milestone in September when federal regulators approved its proposal to test a novel small modular reactor design on campus. Instead of connecting to the power grid, its reactor will serve as a research vehicle to prove whether its concept — a molten salt reactor — is viable.
The small reactor, only the second of its kind to receive a permit from federal nuclear regulators, uses a liquid salt mix to cool nuclear fuel instead of the more conventional water mixtures seen in large reactors.
The project is being developed by the university and Natura Resources, a company led by longtime oilman Douglas Robison, who gave more than $30 million to the university to create its advanced nuclear lab.
The Texas A&M University System also is creating a nuclear power proving ground on university land in Bryan to test tech similar to what the NEXT Lab is developing in Abilene.
Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp said massive projected increases in electricity demand drove him to pursue making the system’s 2,300-acre RELLIS Campus a federally approved site for nuclear power.
“What is your answer to the AI power demand, you know, doubling over the next few decades or less than that?” Sharp said. “What’s your answer to, you know, 1,000 people moving into Texas every day? What’s your answer to all this? I mean, there is no answer except for nuclear power.”
The university offers an enticing location because it is tackling the cumbersome and lengthy process of acquiring a site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Projects selected for the site would still need federal approval of their reactor design, but having a preapproved site clears a major regulatory hurdle.
A&M announced in February it had picked four companies for the site, including Natura Resources. Sharp said a reactor could be switched on as early as 2030. ...
Federal regulators have approved only three reactors for power production in the past 28 years. With so few projects, domestic manufacturing and mining industries supporting a nuclear power supply chain have decayed.
The only large nuclear plant developed in the U.S. in the past decade faced billions in cost overruns and major delays. By the time the Georgia nuclear facility Plant Vogtle switched on its first reactor, the project was seven years overdue and $17 billion over budget.
“The U.S. nuclear energy, essentially, has atrophied,” said Jay Yu, president of uranium enrichment company LIS Technologies. “We’ve just been sitting around, not really building up our capabilities.”
Most of the uranium used in domestic power production is imported from Canada and Kazakhstan. Russia had been a leading source, but the U.S. banned Russian uranium after the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.
In South Texas, two companies have leased 10 sites for uranium mining, Inside Climate News reported in December. However, those have largely remained dormant over the past 10 years, despite regulatory approval to begin mining from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
That could change if lofty goals for nuclear power are realized.
In addition to Abbott’s support for the industry, former President Joe Biden set a goal for nuclear power production to triple by 2050, and Trump has said he wants to limit regulations that slow the building process.
Industry experts said the most important signals for a nuclear jump start will come from the government. In Texas, that could take the form of a $2 billion fund of taxpayer cash to bring new nuclear generation to Texas’ power grid by 2035.
House Bill 14 proposes creating a series of grant programs to encourage research and construction of small modular nuclear reactors. The bill is a priority of House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, and is headed toward a vote in the House in coming weeks.
The proposal from Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, has bipartisan support, but has a funding structure that would require an amendment to the Texas Constitution, leaving the ultimate decision up to voters.
Dallas Democratic Rep. Rafael Anchía said that while enthusiasm is high, public support for nuclear remains fragile.
“You’re one bad headline away from a collapse of public support,” Anchía said." DMN ($) | | | “Dallas’ $1.65 billion plan to rebuild Interstate 345 is still unfunded,” Dallas Morning News' Amber Gaudet — "A proposed $1.65 billion rebuild of Interstate 345 in Dallas remains unfunded more than a decade after the Texas Department of Transportation first took a look at the project.
The agency plans to rebuild the highway that runs between downtown and Deep Ellum in a below-grade trench with new street overpasses above. TxDOT officials have said the project will accommodate future growth in the region and help mitigate maintenance costs for the aging stretch of roadway, which carries more than 180,000 vehicles daily.
Despite enthusiasm for the rebuild of the 51-year-old roadway, however, no funds have yet been committed to the project, TxDOT officials told the Dallas Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Tuesday.
“We do not have any funding on the project to date so that will take us time to find that funding,” TxDOT representative Ceason Clemens said. “I’d expect it to take at least 3 to 5 years just to find that magnitude of funding.”
A 2012 feasibility study first examined the 2.8-mile stretch of elevated highway from Interstate 30 to Woodall Rodgers Freeway. A series of follow-up studies and meetings with the City of Dallas, including 2023 Dallas City Council approval of the project, followed.
The project would restitch Deep Ellum and southern Dallas with the city center. Locals have pointed to the highway as an example of government-sanctioned segregation, where freeways bisected or walled off historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods like Deep Ellum.
Committee members on Tuesday commended the agency for extensive community outreach for the project, including two public hearings this week.
TxDOT staff made several changes to plans based on public feedback. Those include removing a planned highway connection onto Allen Street after the nearby neighborhood raised concerns about traffic impacts, and reconfiguring Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
“You’ve not only gone out to the community and listened to them, you actually then made changes based on what you heard…so thank you for that part,” councilmember Carla Mendelsohn said Tuesday.
“I don’t know where you’re going to find the $1.6 billion dollars, but I do think that when we get to construction, it’s going to be difficult, having lived through a lot of construction in my district over the past couple years. When it’s concentrated like this in one area, it’s really hard.”
Environmental assessment is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2025, according to TxDOT." DMN ($) | | | “Texas may study the impact of immigration again, but focus only on costs,” Texas Tribune's Abby Church — "Texas is one step closer to studying the impact of immigration on the state for the first time in almost two decades, but might exclude from the assessment the benefits that undocumented immigrants contribute to the state’s economy through labor, taxes and businesses.
The state Senate on Tuesday gave initial approval to a bill from state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, that would require the governor's office to conduct a biannual study on the economic, environmental and financial effects of illegal immigration in the state.
Senate Bill 825 seeks to provide state lawmakers with current statistics that could instruct public policy that addresses the costs and consequences of illegal immigration, according to Middleton’s office.
During a debate on the Senate floor Tuesday, Democratic senators grilled Middleton about the fairness and accuracy of the prospective assessment if it only focuses on costs borne by the state, which is home to an estimated 1.6 million undocumented immigrants, or about 11% of the national total — the second-most in the country after California.
Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat, asked whether the study would assess any benefits from such immigrants, pointing to the first and last time the state conducted such a review, when then-state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican, found that undocumented Texans contributed more to the state’s economy than they cost the state.
“We’re not in the habit in this chamber to spend taxpayer dollars to study the benefit of breaking our laws,” Middleton said. “Is that what you’re suggesting here?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Gutierrez responded, “Why don’t you ask the farmers and your constituents that utilize migrant labor — both legal and illegal?”
Middleton offered the same response to other Democratic senators who had similar lines of questioning. Ultimately senators gave the bill initial approval in a 24-7 vote; Democratic Sens. Carol Alvarado of Houston, Molly Cook of Houston, Sarah Eckhardt of Austin, Gutierrez, Nathan Johnson of Dallas, José Menéndez of San Antonio, and Borris Miles of Houston voted against the measure.
Texas state lawmakers have contemplated requiring such an assessment during previous sessions but the efforts have stalled.
Strayhorn’s analysis, released in 2006, estimated that the absence of 1.4 million undocumented immigrants living in Texas in 2005 would have cost the state about $17.7 billion in gross domestic product, which is a measure of the value of goods and services produced in the state.
While the state has not updated the review since, similar studies by universities and nonprofits have reached similar conclusions.
Senators must give the measure a final vote before it goes to the House for consideration." Texas Tribune
“Texas AG Ken Paxton seeks records from Plano ISD as part of EPIC City investigation,” Dallas Morning News' Nick Wooten, Adrian Ashord and Lilly Kersh — "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has requested documents from the Plano Independent School District as part of his investigation into EPIC City, a planned Muslim-centric neighborhood in northern Dallas-Fort Worth.
Paxton said in a news release Wednesday that his office was “made aware of comments” by Plano Mayor John Muns about facilitating talks between city school officials and members of the mosque, which is affiliated with EPIC City.
Community Capital Partners, formed by some members of the East Plano Islamic Center, has said it hopes to build more than 1,000 homes, a K-12 faith-based school, a mosque, elderly and assisted living, apartments, clinics, retail shops, a community college and sports fields on 402 acres near Josephine, about 30 miles northeast of downtown Dallas.
The release does not specify what Muns said that prompted the latest request. Muns and Collin County Commissioner Duncan Webb visited the EPIC mosque in October 2022 for a question and answer segment.
Muns offered to have school board members meet with members of the East Plano Islamic Center during the appearance. Muns’ comments came following a question from Yasir Qadhi, resident scholar at the East Plano Islamic Center, on matters related to the district’s curriculum on “family, mortality and sexuality.”
“We have no interest in politicizing our educational system,” Muns said during the 2022 public segment.
Attempts to contact representatives for the mosque, Community Capital Partners, Plano ISD, Muns and Paxton were not immediately returned. This story will be updated with their responses.
“My office is demanding documents from Plano ISD officials who may have communication with individuals involved with EPIC City as part of our ongoing investigation into this development,” Paxton said in a statement. “We will thoroughly review the records we receive and hold anyone who violates Texas law accountable.”
Paxton’s latest request adds to the list of probes into the planned development. His office submitted records requests to governments in Josephine, Plano, Richardson and Wylie earlier this month for communications between city leaders, the mosque and the developer.
There are at least five ongoing investigations into EPIC City and the East Plano Islamic Center, one of North Texas’ largest mosques. The first investigations were announced last month.
The probes are being led by Paxton, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas State Board of Securities, the Texas Rangers and the Texas Funeral Service Commission. Abbott previously said in an X post that a “dozen” state agencies were investigating." DMN ($)
“Texas Space Commission awards $26M in its third round of grants,” San Antonio Express-News' Brandon Lingle — "Four Houston-area companies and an Austin firm that makes 3D-printed homes will get a combined $26 million in state funds from the Texas Space Commission in its third batch of grants.
The funding approved last week will go toward developing space-based manufacturing capabilities, materials that mimic lunar dirt, a center of excellence at the Texas A&M Space Institute, power-saving technologies for spacecraft and a rocket engine test site at the Houston Spaceport.
The awards bring the commission’s investment to $95.3 million of the $150 million that the Texas Legislature appropriated in 2023 for the state’s Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research fund.
“This is a pivotal moment in strengthening and accelerating the Texas space economy,” said Gwen Griffin, chair of the Texas Space Commission’s board. “The projects awarded funding today will each play a critical role in ensuring Texas’ place as a leader in the emerging space economy while expanding our capabilities as a nation.”
In addition to Austin’s Icon Technology Inc., grant money also will go to three Houston companies—Aegis Aerospace Inc., Interlune Corp. and Venus Aerospace Corp. — and KULR Technology Group Inc. of Webster. Some of the companies have direct connections to the commission.
Icon Technology
Icon will get up to $694,000 to renovate a dedicated facility to produce material that mimics the moon’s soil, known as lunar regolith simulants. The 3D-printed homebuilder uses robots to construct structures using its proprietary CarbonX material that’s like concrete.
Icon also is working with NASA on the Artemis Program to return astronauts to the Moon. As part of Project Olympus, Icon is developing a space-based construction system. The $57.2 million project that began in 2020 will help build landing pads, roads and structures on the lunar surface.
In January, the company laid off 114 employees, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Aegis Aerospace
Aegis will get up to $10 million to design and build an advanced material manufacturing platform. The automated facility will offer in-space manufacturing capabilities.
The project aims to create “a pathway for manufacturing in zero gravity” for space and research companies to use, according to the commission.
Interlune Corp.
Interlune will get up to $4.8 million to create a Lunar Regolith Simulant Center of Excellence at the Texas A&M University Space Institute at Johnson Space Center.
The center will include labs and specialized equipment for production and testing. It will be part of A&M’s new, $200 million space institute that broke ground in November 2024.
Venus Aerospace
Venus, a developer of hypersonic engine technologies, will get up to $3.9 million to build a rocket engine test site at the Houston Spaceport at Ellington Field.
“The facility will provide testing capability for other aerospace companies and universities,” the commission said.
KULR Technology Group
KULR will get up to $6.7 million to develop technologies that reduces the power needed to keep batteries warm and functioning on spacecraft while traveling through the coldness of space.
The technology “reduces battery heater power consumption by increasing performance in low temperature ranges,” the commission said.
$54.7 million to go
Since it opened the application process in September, the commission has received at least 284 grant requests from 140 entities seeking $3.46 billion — including pitches from San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute, the University of Texas at San Antonio and Astroport Space Technologies, the privately held San Antonio space construction and materials company.
It has only $54.7 million left to award. The commission is expected to seek additional funds during the current legislative session.
In its first round of grants in January, the commission awarded $21.5 million for two projects.
The largest chunk — nearly $20 million — went to El Paso economic development group the Borderplex Alliance for a U.S. Space Force facility to work with classified information.
Another $800,000 is going to El Paso County and $500,000 each to the Concho Valley Council of Governments in San Angelo and the South Plains Association of Governments in Lubbock to study the feasibility of establishing a West Texas spaceflight corridor and launch site.
In February, the commission doled out another $47.7 million with $7.5 million going to Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the construction of a new vertical integration facility at its South Texas Starbase.
A grant of $15 million went to Starlab Space to develop “a systems integration lab that can be used by multiple entities within the commercial space station ecosystem.”
Cedar Park’s Firefly Aerospace got $8.2 million to expand its production and test facility near Briggs and grow internships with the University of Texas System.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin got $7 million to expand its engine test facility at the New Shephard spacecraft launch site in Van Horn.
The final $10 million went to Houston’s Intuitive Machines to develop “a commercial orbital return vehicle.” SAEN ($) | | | “Musk says he’ll spend less time in Washington and more time running Tesla after its profit plunges,” San Antonio Express-News' Madison Iszler — "Elon Musk says he’ll be spending less time in Washington slashing government costs and more time running Tesla after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits.
Musk said on a conference call with analysts Tuesday that “now that the major work of establishing Department of Government Efficiency is done,” that he will be “allocating far more of my time to Tesla” starting in May. Musk said he now expects to spend just “a day or two per week on government matters"
Tesla struggled to sell vehicles as it faced angry protests over Musk’s leadership of DOGE, a jobs-cutting group that has divided the country. The Austin, Texas, company reported a 71% drop in profits and a 9% decline in revenue for the first quarter.
“Investors wanted to see him recommit to Tesla,” said Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives. “This is a big step in the right direction.”
Investors sent Tesla shares up more than 5% in after-hours trading, although they are still down more than 40% for the year.
The company reconfirmed that it expects to roll out a cheaper version of its best-selling vehicle, the Model Y sport utility vehicle, in the first half of this year. It also stuck with its predictions that it will be able to launch a paid driverless robotaxi service in Austin in June and have much of its fleet operating by itself next year.
“There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of the year,” Musk said in a conference call after the results were announced. He later added about the personal use of autonomous vehicles, “Can you go to sleep in our cars and wake up at your destination? I’m confident that will be available in many cities in the U.S. by the end of this year.”
Auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid at Telemetry Insight said he doubts Musk’s predictions.
“The system is not robust enough to operate unsupervised. It still makes far too many errors,” he said. “It will suddenly make mistakes that will lead to a crash.”
The planned rollout of the robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals comes as federal regulators still have open investigations into whether the technology that Tesla hopes will allow cars to drive themselves is completely safe.
Tesla’s driver-assistance technology that can steer or stop a car but still requires humans to take over at any time — its so-called Autopilot — is being probed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for whether it alerts drivers sufficiently when their attention wanders. And the company’s Full Self-Driving, which is only partial self-driving and has drawn criticism for misleading drivers with the name, has come under scrutiny for its tie to accidents in low-visibility conditions like when there is sun glare.
Another challenge to Tesla, which once dominated the EV business: It is facing fierce competition for the first time.
Earlier this year, Chinese EV maker BYD announced it had developed an electric battery that can charge within minutes. And Tesla’s European rivals have begun offering new models with advanced technology that is making them real Tesla alternatives just as popular opinion has turned against Musk. The Tesla CEO has alienated potential buyers in Europe by publicly supporting far-right politicians there.
Tesla said Tuesday that quarterly profits fell from $1.39 billion to $409 million, or 12 cents a share. That’s far below analyst estimates. Tesla’s revenue fell from $21.3 billion to $19.3 billion in the January through March period, also below Wall Street’s forecast. Tesla’s gross margins, a measure of earnings for each dollar of revenue, fell from 17.4% to 16.3%.
Tesla has said it will be hurt less by the Trump administration’s tariffs than most U.S. car companies because it makes most of its U.S. cars domestically. But it won’t be completely unscathed. It sources some materials for its vehicles from abroad that will now face import taxes.
Tesla warned in announcing its results that tariffs will hit its energy storage business, too." AP
“PGA of America’s new CEO Derek Sprague positioning North Texas as golf’s epicenter,” Dallas Morning News' Brad Townsend — "PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague has been a North Texan for two months, but the proverbial welcome wagon keeps stopping by, making him feel all the more at home. | How about dinner? Need theater tickets? On his 16th day in the PGA of America’s three-year-old, $33.5 million Frisco headquarters, Sprague by invitation drove nine miles down the Dallas North Tollway to Cowboys HQ, The Star.
There he joined a D Magazine-organized panel of North Texas sports leaders. Sprague, in turn, recently hosted at PGA HQ Dallas Regional Chamber members, many seeing the state-of-the-art facilities for the first time.
“It’s incredible, the human spirit,” Sprague says. “People love to be appreciated. Love to be wanted. The community has been over the top on all those boxes.”
So why is Sprague, 58, sitting down with The Dallas Morning News for a profile interview not in Frisco, but 950 miles away at Augusta National Golf Club?
The time and location actually are fitting. It’s 9 a.m., about an hour into the season’s first major, the 89th Masters, Sprague’s first time as PGA CEO at a gathering of world golf leaders.
Sitting at a table outside Augusta National’s clubhouse as the world’s best players tee off the nearby first hole, Sprague expresses excitement about two fast-approaching PGA tournaments.
The next men’s major, and world golf leadership gathering, is the May 15-18 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club. Soon after is the PGA’s women’s major, the June 19-22 KPMG Championship on the Omni PGA Frisco’s East Course.
“Among the highest growth rates in golf right now are women and children,” Sprague says. “You’ll have the best female golfers in the world come to the Dallas market to expose young kids, particularly girls, to the game.
“You hear countless stories about how people start playing the game. They might not be playing now, but when they go with their parents to watch the best female golfers in the world they’ll say, ‘Mommy and Daddy, I want to do that.’”
It’s no wonder Sprague and the PGA of America quickly are assimilating to and growing in stature among North Texas’ crowded, power-packed professional, college, high school and youth sports landscape — the PGA as the entity that best encompasses all levels.
Sprague’s predecessor from 2018 to last June, Seth Waugh, oversaw the PGA’s August 2022 move from its home since 1981, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., having predicted in 2018 that Omni PGA Frisco would become the Silicon Valley of Golf." DMN ($) | | | > FWST: "Lockheed Martin, maker of F-35s in Fort Worth, gives outlook amid potential tariffs" FWST | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Texas Senate bill would nearly double property tax exemption for seniors, people with disabilities" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > TPR: "Early voting starts today; Process to elect a new pope explained; Texas Parasport Games begin this week" TPR | > THE TEXAN: "Bill Criminalizing Abortion As Murder 'Yanked' From Texas House Committee Hearing" THE TEXAN | > AAS: "Senate panel OKs revised version of abortion ban clarification bill. Here's what changed." AAS | > THE TEXAN: "Two North Central Texas Localities Adopt Ordinances to Prevent Abortion Trafficking" THE TEXAN | > KXAN: "Texas Speaker pulls constitutional amendments after reported Democratic threat" KXAN | > THE TEXAN: "Texas House Gives Initial Approval to Priority Nuclear Power Legislation" THE TEXAN | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "What’s trending in Bastrop government: 5 key stories" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > AAS: "Women affected by Texas abortion ban bills speak out at news conference in downtown Austin" AAS | > AAS: "Who is running in Central Texas school board elections? Meet the candidates before voting." AAS | > SAEN: "While Pope Benedict XVI resigned, Francis saw his duty to be 'ad vitam'" SAEN | > SA REPORT: "Listen: 6 mayoral candidates on the future of San Antonio" SA REPORT | > TPR: "Small and rural libraries are feeling the cuts from President Trump's executive order" TPR | > AAS: "Early voting in Texas: See map of voting locations in Austin area" AAS | > TX TRIB: "Texas man convicted of killing ex-classmate set to be executed" TX TRIB | > TX TRIB: "Financial hardships shutter East Texas hospital 14 months after reopening" TX TRIB | > SAEN: "USAA reports blockbuster 2024, adds members, posts near-record profit" SAEN | > MRT: "The Texas Lottery's top executive resigns as scrutiny over big jackpot winners intensifies" MRT | > MRT: "Texas reports 624 measles cases, 64 hospitalizations reported" MRT | > MY RGV: "Donna ISD employee resigns after improper relationship with student arrest" MY RGV | > FWST: "North Texas storm update: NWS confirms at least 9 tornadoes touched down" FWST | > MRT: "Texas man set to be executed for the 2004 strangling and stabbing death of a young mother" MRT | > AAS: "'I turned into the devil': Texas death row inmate Moises Mendoza to be executed Wednesday" AAS | > MRT: "Aphasia Center's annual concert raises awareness, funds" MRT | > THE TEXAN: "U.S. Supreme Court Hears Appointments Clause-Centered HIV Drug Case from Texas" THE TEXAN | > AAS: "H-E-B to give away 274,000 reusable bags for Earth Day – how to get one" AAS | | | Last night's Texas sports scores:
> MLB: Houston 5, Toronto 1
> MLB: Texas 8, Oakland 5
Tonight's Texas sports schedule:
> 6:40pm: MLB: Toronto at Houston
> 8:30pm: NBA: Golden State at Houston (TNT)
> 8:30pm: NHL: Colorado at Dallas (ESPN)
> 9:05pm: MLB: Texas at Oakland
Tomorrow's Texas sports schedule:
> 9:05pm: MLB: Texas at Oakland
DALLAS COWBOYS: "Cowboys are fishing with dynamite when it comes to filling a need with first-round pick" DMN ($)
HOUSTON TEXANS: "How Nick Caserio helped the Houston Texans finally find stability. Patience and hiring the right coach" Houston Chronicle ($)
TEXAS RANGERS: "Texas Rangers' COrey Seager scheduled for MRI after early exit from series opener vs. A's" DMN ($)
DALLAS WINGS: "Watch: Paige Bueckers’ introductory news conference with Dallas Wings" DMN ($) |
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