MRT 3/16-18/26 ($): Corpus May Be Two Months Away from Water Emergency // School Voucher Program Application Window Extended Until 3/31 // RodeoHouston Increases Security

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BY: @MattMackowiak 

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MONDAY 3/16/2026 - WEDNESDAY 3/18/2026

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• TOP NEWS  

“Federal judge extends school voucher application window for Texas families” via Fort Worth Star-Telegram – Texas parents have an additional two weeks to apply for the state’s new school voucher program after a federal judge in Houston extended the application deadline on Tuesday just hours before the window was set to close.

The extension comes after no Islamic schools in Texas were approved for the program while thousands of other schools have been. U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett called that fact “troubling” before issuing a temporary restraining order to extend the window.

The new deadline to apply for the state voucher program is March 31.

Several Islamic schools in Texas are suing Comptroller Kelly Hancock, claiming the state blocked Islamic schools from the $1 billion private school voucher program because of their religion.

Eric Hudson, an attorney for those suing the state, said Tuesday that the goal of his clients was to ensure the application window did not block parents. (FWST)

“RodeoHouston increasing security after fights cause chaos in carnival area” via KHOU – RodeoHouston is increasing security after fights caused chaos in the carnival area and forced an early closure Saturday. Officials say security responded quickly and are taking steps to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo says it is taking steps to prevent fights that led to chaos and the early closure of the carnival Saturday night.

Videos circulating on social media show large groups fighting in the middle of a crowded carnival area, prompting some guests to run and creating confusion among families attending the event.

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Witnesses said they were unsure what sparked the violence, but officials said security and law enforcement responded quickly.

One of the witnesses who recorded video of the fight, Damion Potts, described the moment the chaos began.

“I seen the dude throw the punch, and then after that it was just — I didn’t know who was with who. I just seen punches thrown, kicks,” Potts said.

Potts said the situation changed quickly once authorities arrived.

“I feel like the police were on alert, and once the horses got there, I think a lot of people scattered,” Potts said.

(KHOU)

“A plan to get more electricity to West Texas may come undone” San Antonio Report’s Carlos Nogueras Ramos, The Texas Tribune – A plan to get more electricity to West Texas may come undone ODESSA — If Texas wants to continue to be a leader in oil, the Permian Basin needs more energy.

That’s the warning influential trade groups representing oil companies have been telling state lawmakers and regulators for years.

A dearth of power plants and transmission lines connecting the region to the rest of the state’s grid means there isn’t enough electricity to power field operations, such as compressors and oil pumps.

In 2023, lawmakers offered a solution that spelled out a dramatic expansion of electricity transmission infrastructure in the Permian Basin, the state’s biggest oil field.

“Texas’ thriving production is driving the state’s success,” the Texas Oil and Gas Association, a statewide trade group whose membership makes up roughly 90% of the state’s crude oil and natural gas market, wrote to regulators charged with designing that plan. “And a reliable electricity supply is crucial to sustaining this industry.”

(SA REPORT)

“Why an East Texas rancher donated part of his water rights to the state” The Texas Tribune’s Alejandra Martinez – Bob Sanders bumps along the dirt roads of his 1,100-acre ranch in a beat up burgundy Chevrolet Suburban, the engine roaring as his sprawling cattle operation, known locally for its wagyu beef, stretches around him. A shotgun rides in the passenger seat and battered binoculars sit on the dashboard.

The sloping pasture where his rust-colored cows graze gives way to trees that flank a narrow ribbon of water. It doesn’t look like much, just a slow-moving channel threading through sweetgums and cypress, but this 2.6-mile stretch of the Big Cypress Bayou carries a lot of weight — it connects Lake O’ the Pines, the region’s main water supply, to Caddo Lake, the state’s only natural lake.

Water feels abundant in the area. But even in this lush corner of the state, water is increasingly top of mind. For Sanders and many of his neighbors, the bayou represents something increasingly fragile in Texas: water that still belongs to the landscape it came from.

That was partly the reason why Sanders took a step few Texans have taken in decades. He donated part of his water rights to the Texas Water Trust, a little-known program that allows people to give their water rights to the state for environmental protection.

(TX TRIB)

“Texas A&M’s new Fort Worth campus opens this fall. Here’s what to know” via Dallas Morning News – Students will soon be able to study at Texas A&M University’s new Fort Worth campus. The downtown campus, which broke ground in 2023, is opening its first building and starting classes this fall.

The campus will house degree-granting programs from Texas A&M University and Tarleton State University, which is part of the A&M System. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies will have a research presence, and six state agencies will be on campus as well.

Officials say the campus will help fill the region’s growing talent and research needs by collaborating in key area industries including health care, aerospace, and media and entertainment. Fort Worth, Tarrant County and Texas A&M leaders are also working to build a mixed-use innovation district around the campus that will connect companies with the university, startups and other businesses to foster economic development.

(DMN)

• 2026  

“With no Trump endorsement, Cornyn, Paxton let deadline to remove names from ballot pass” Houston Chronicle’s James Osborne – Neither U.S. Sen. John Cornyn nor Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed Tuesday to end their candidacy in the GOP runoff for Texas’ U.S. Senate seat on May 26, meaning both will appear on the ballot regardless of a promised endorsement from President Donald Trump.

Tuesday at 5 p.m. was their last chance to remove their names from the ballot under Texas election law. With still no endorsement in the race from Trump, both candidates signaled Tuesday they were digging in for what is expected to be a savage and costly campaign.

ornyn’s campaign launched ads highlighting reports of Paxton’s infidelity, with the musical refrain, “Ken’s love shack.” The Texas senator told a reporter from Semafor, “if the president decides to endorse, I certainly would welcome that, but we’re not waiting around.”

Meanwhile, Paxton directed attention to a voter ID bill in Congress that Trump has endorsed but Senate Majority Leader John Thune — a Cornyn ally — has said has little chance of passing. Cornyn reversed course last week when he said he supports ending the rule allowing the minority party to filibuster legislation they oppose, but many GOP senators still support the more than century-old practice aimed at creating bipartisan law.

(HOU CHRON)

“Texas primaries spotlight growing perils of polling as forecasts miss the mark” via Dallas Morning News – Pollsters at the University of Texas at Tyler predicted about a week before the primary that U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett would cruise to the Democratic nomination for Senate with 55% of the vote. She lost.

A survey by Emerson College the weekend before the March 3 primary gave Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton a solid lead over Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP Senate showdown. Voters instead left him in second place, sending both to a runoff.

And a poll released on the eve of the primary by YouGov, an online research firm, predicted Cornyn would get barely a third of the Republican vote. He beat that by 10 points.

Such are the perils of polling in which thin samples, shaky turnout guesses and voters who increasingly refuse to answer surveys can produce numbers that look precise but badly misread the electorate.

When those numbers are amplified by campaigns, media and political operatives, they can shape expectations about races that the actual vote quickly shatters.

(DMN)

“Dallas GOP will OK countywide voting sites for May 26 runoff” The Texas Tribune’s Natalia Contreras – Dallas County Republicans will agree to allow voters to cast ballots at countywide voting sites for the May 26 runoff election after a switch to precinct-based voting sites caused chaos, the county party chair said Tuesday.

Allen West, Dallas County Republican Chair, supported the use of precinct-based sites earlier this month, but said using precincts again for the runoff would expose the county party to “increased risk and voter confusion” because the county is planning to use countywide sites for upcoming municipal elections and early voting.

(TX TRIB)

“Binkley drops bid for Texas’ 32nd Congressional District” The Texas Tribune’s Gabby Birenbaum – Richardson businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley on Tuesday withdrew from the GOP primary runoff for a North Texas congressional district redrawn for Republicans, leaving conservative attorney Jace Yarbrough as the GOP nominee and presumptive next congressman.

Ryan Binkley, who ran a quixotic presidential campaign in 2024, finished second in the March 3 Republican primary for Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. He received 22% of the vote to Yarbrough’s 49%, narrowly forcing a runoff.

But hours before the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the May 26 runoff ballot, Binkley announced he would drop out of the race and back Yarbrough.

“Now it is time to come together,” Binkley said. “Our party is strongest when we stand united, and I am committed to doing my part to help us secure a strong showing in November.”

(TX TRIB)

“Early voting starts Tuesday for Houston City Council District C race” ABC13 Houston’s None – Early voting starts Tuesday for Houston City Council District C race When District C Councilmember Abbie Kamin resigned to run for Harris County Attorney, she left open a seat that represents much of Houston’s core, including Montrose, the Heights, and Meyerland, 35-square miles with a population of 215,000.

She also sent voters back to the polls early to choose a new council member for her unfinished term.

Nancy Sims is a political science lecturer at the University of Houston.

“I would call this one of the most grassroots campaigns I’ve seen in years,” Sims told ABC13. “The candidates in the race are just real neighborhood-oriented people. They span the cross-section of the district in that they are from different communities.”

There are seven candidates, including four women and three men. All of whom are campaigning for votes, with different experiences and different priorities.

“So, this is for the person who gets your street fixed, your potholes filled, your trash picked up, you know, a day-to-day working city council member,” Sims said.

Whoever wins will fill the unfinished term, which runs until January.

(ABC13 Houston)

• STATE GOVERNMENT  

“DFPS requests court intervention in foster care management in North Texas, 3 years after awarding contract to private group” via WFAA – DFPS requests court intervention in foster care management in North Texas, 3 years after awarding contract to private group WFAA has reported on several issues involving EMPOWER’s leadership in the region. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) filed a request for a court to consider tapping a third-party entity to take over foster care case management in nine North Texas counties on Monday.

It’s been just more than three years since DFPS awarded a contract to EMPOWER to oversee case management for foster children in Dallas, Collin, Ellis, Rockwall, Grayson, Fannin, Navarro, Hunt and Kaufman counties. These counties make up Region 3E, or Metroplex East, in the department’s geographic map.

Once DFPS investigates and determines it is necessary to remove a child from their home, it has been EMPOWER’s responsibility to assign each child a caseworker, find safe placements for each child and maintain oversight of their safety since fully taking over case management in March 2024. It’s part of what DFPS calls community-based care (CBC), a statewide model to contract private groups to manage foster care throughout Texas on a regional level.

(WFAA)

• LOCAL GOVERNMENT  

“Corpus Christi water emergency may be just two months away, city leaders say” The Texas Tribune’s Alejandra Martinez – Corpus Christi leaders on Tuesday unveiled new projections suggesting that the city could be just two months away from triggering emergency water measures.

At a marathon city council meeting that stretched for 10 hours, Nick Winkelmann, interim chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water, outlined five potential scenarios — two of which would push the city into a level one water emergency by May. At that point, the city’s water supply would be projected to fall short of demand within 180 days.

When pressed by council member Kaylynn Paxson on which scenario the city is preparing to follow, staffers at the water utility said they expect to narrow the possibilities down to two or three in the coming weeks as more data becomes available.

Meanwhile, Greg Abbott — who sharply criticized Corpus Christi leaders for their handling of the crisis recently — has ordered agencies to suspend normal procedures in an effort to buy the city more time.

(TX TRIB)

“Dallas mayor calls City Hall debate ‘silly games,’ defends review of options” via Dallas Morning News – Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson pushed back Sunday against friction over City Hall’s future as “silly games” meant to “muddy the waters,” saying exploring relocation options is routine due diligence, not a backroom scheme.

In his weekly newsletter, Johnson outlined his most detailed case yet for studying whether Dallas should move City Hall, saying speculation and sensational coverage have distorted the debate.

“Those who are more interested in muddying the waters than dealing in facts are working overtime, trying to make normal stuff sound nefarious,” Johnson said.

The mayor said the core issue is simple: the I.M. Pei-designed City Hall is aging, expensive to maintain and ill-suited for modern government operations.

“Dallas City Hall isn’t in good shape,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t meet the needs of a modern big-city government — or, really, of any modern workplace.”

He said the building’s design anchors a government district that leaves a large stretch of downtown underused and does not serve the city’s current needs.

(DMN)

“Who could be named Fort Worth ISD superintendent? TEA keeps details at a minimum” via Fort Worth Star-Telegram – Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath recently announced he’s planning to share his Fort Worth ISD appointments for the board of managers and a new superintendent “in the coming weeks.” The replacement of district leaders comes after a 10-month saga involving appeals from the district attempting to stop state intervention, which was triggered by a campus receiving five failed accountability ratings in a row from the state.

Amid a pending state takeover of the Fort Worth Independent School District, the Texas Education Agency has declined to release similar background information for superintendent candidates that it had already released for board of managers candidates.

Although some information about board of managers applicants has been released, details on superintendent candidates have mostly remained under wraps. In early March, Morath announced current Superintendent Karen Molinar, who applied to keep her job amid the takeover, will be replaced.

(FWST)

“Injured Fort Worth police, firefighters say city is hindering medical care” via Fort Worth Star-Telegram – Firefighter Caleb Halvorson was injured in a Fort Worth house fire in September. His stepfather, firefighter Bobbie Cook, said the city of Fort Worth made it hard for Halvorson to get treatment for his injuries.

In July 2024, Fort Worth police officer Bobbie Sanchez was working a vehicle burglary detail when she was elbowed in the face by a suspect she was apprehending. The force of the blow dislocated Sanchez’s jaw, permanently damaging both her temporomandibular joints, which connect the jawbone to the skull.

For nearly two years, Sanchez has lived with pain in her head, jaw, neck and shoulders, and it’s likely she’ll never be the same.

That much Sanchez has accepted. What she can’t accept are the hoops she said she and other police officers and firefighters have had to jump through to get medical care under the city of Fort Worth’s workers’ compensation program.

“What I want people to hear most is that my horrible experience is not unique,” Sanchez wrote in a message to the Star-Telegram.

(FWST)

• TEXANS IN DC  

“Rep. Jasmine Crockett confirms security team member killed by Dallas police in standoff” The Texas Tribune’s Ayden Runnels – Jasmine Crockett, Democratic U.S. Representative, on Monday confirmed that a 39-year-old man who was killed in a standoff with Dallas officers last week was a member of her security team who had been using a fraudulent identity. Diamon Mazairre Robinson lived as “Mike King” for years, during which he operated security businesses that hired off-duty officers, Dallas police said during a Monday press conference.

Robinson’s real identity was exposed after Irving police put out a bulletin for a vehicle with stolen government plates, which a Dallas officer had seen while working with Robinson on a security job six months earlier.

Robinson fled Dallas police, who attempted to pull him over on March 11, escaping a brief chase before being located once more in a hospital parking garage, officials said. After an hours-long standoff with police, Robinson was killed.

(TX TRIB)

• EXTRA POINTS 

Recent Texas sports scores:
Mon
> NBA: San Antonio 119, LA Clippers 115
> NBA: LA Lakers 100, Houston 92
> NBA: New Orleans 129, Dallas 111
> NHL: Utah 6, Dallas 3

Tues
> NBA: San Antonio 1325, Sacramento 104
> NCAAM: 11 Texas 68, 11 NC State 66

Wed
> NBA: LA Lakers 124, Houston 116
> NBA: Atlanta 135, Dallas 120
> NHL: Dallas 2, Colorado 1
> NCAAM: 11 Miami (OH) 89, SMU 79

Today’s Texas sports schedule:
> 11:15am: NCAAM: 9 TCU vs. 8 Ohio State (CBS)
> 6:20pm: NCAAM: 11 Texas vs. 6 BYU (TBS)
> 6:35pm: NCAAM: 10 Texas A&M vs. 7 St. Mary’s (truTV)
> 7pm: NBA: Phoenix at San Antonio
> 9:10pm: NCAAM: 15 Idaho vs. 2 Houston (truTV)
> 11:15am: NCAAM: 9 TCU vs. 8 Ohio State (CBS)

Tomorrow’s Texas sports schedule:
> 11:40am: NCAAM: 12 Akron vs. 5 Texas Tech (truTV)
> 7pm: NBA: Atlanta at Houston
> 8:25pm: NCAAM: 16 Prairie View A&M vs. 1 Florida (TNT)

• TEXAS SPORTS HEADLINES / LINKS:

TEXAS RANGERS: “3 Texas Rangers observations: A part-time DH battle, Marc Church returns and more” DMN

DALLAS COWBOYS: “Have Dallas Cowboys, George Pickens made any new progress toward a long-term deal?” DMN

TEXAS MEN’S BASKETBALL: “Tramon Mark’s late jumper gives Texas a 68-66 win over NC State in the First Four” AP