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- MRT 4/9-10/26 (free): How Corpus Christi Brought to the Brink of Water Crisis // Talarico Faces ‘Tough Test’ with Black Voters // State Could Face $700M in SNAP Errors by 2027
MRT 4/9-10/26 (free): How Corpus Christi Brought to the Brink of Water Crisis // Talarico Faces ‘Tough Test’ with Black Voters // State Could Face $700M in SNAP Errors by 2027
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
Matt Mackowiak
April 12, 2026
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THURSDAY 4/9/2026 - FRIDAY 4/10/2026
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TOP NEWS
“Years of drought has major energy port of Corpus Christi, Texas, wrestling with water crisis” via AP – In parched southern Texas, a yearslong drought has depleted Corpus Christi’s water reserves so gravely that the city is scrambling to prevent a shortage that could force painful cutbacks for residents and hobble the refineries and petrochemical plants in a major energy port.
Experts said the city didn’t expect such a bad drought, and new sources of reliable water didn’t arrive as expected. Those problems arose as the city increased its water sales to big industrial customers.
“We just have not kept up with water supply and water infrastructure like we should have. And it’s decades in the making,” said Peter Zanoni, the city manager since 2019.
Corpus Christi, a city of about 317,000 people that also supplies water to nearby counties, is closely tied to its oil and gas industry. The region makes everyday essentials like fuel and steel and ships them to the world.
Zanoni said it is highly unlikely the city will run out of water, but without significant rainfall or new sources, residents may face forced cutbacks and industry may have to do with less. At a time when the Iran war is already raising gas prices, the shortage is hitting an area that produces 5% of the U.S. gasoline supply.
Droughts are common, but this one has dragged on for most of the past seven years. Key reservoirs are at their lowest point ever. The quickest fix is different weather.
“We are actively praying for a hurricane,” former city council member David Loeb said, half in jest. Loeb doesn’t want anyone injured, but after wrestling with previous droughts in his time on the council, he feels the lack of rain acutely.
The drought isn’t expected to lift by summer, leaving officials scrambling to tap more groundwater to avoid an emergency.
After the last drought in the early 2010s, the city approved a pipeline extension to bring in more water from the Colorado River and promoted conservation. In the years that followed, water use actually fell. The city, seeing opportunity, added a petrochemical plant and steel mill to its long list of industrial customers.
City officials had allowed for drought in their calculations — just not this kind of drought, Zanoni said. It has hit especially hard because reservoirs never fully recharged after the last one.
And it’s come at a bad time.
After many years, the pipeline extension finally delivered its full capacity only last year. Meanwhile, discussion of building a desalination plant that would remove salt from seawater — a potentially drought-proof solution recommended in 2016 — bogged down over concerns about costs as high as $1.3 billion and environmental impact.
“If the then-city council had followed through on that, we would have had that plant up and running by now,” Zanoni said. (AP)
“Here’s how to cast a ballot in Texas’ May 2 local elections” via The Texas Tribune‘s María Méndez – There’s another election right around the corner for many Texans. Cities and school districts from Arlington to Hays will hold elections May 2.
During the municipal elections, voters in many parts of Texas will select new mayors, city council members and school board trustees. They may also be asked to vote on initiatives that rewrite city policies or take on new debt.
Though some cities and school boards held elections in November, some local governments in Texas hold their elections in May. That’s why some communities will have elections and others will not.
In addition to school boards and cities, some other special districts, which help manage services like water, hospitals and community colleges, may also hold elections. To see if there are any local elections in your community, check your county’s election website for notices of local elections. You can also check out the League of Women Voters’ local chapters to see if they have information about elections in your area. (TX TRIB)
“Immigrants drive San Antonio area population growth” via San Antonio Express-News‘s Molly Smith – San Antonio’s immigrant population has grown faster than its population as a whole, according to a recent report. Just over 344,000 immigrants lived in the San Antonio metro area in 2023, which accounts for about 13% of the population, according to Chelsie Kramer, a Texas state organizer for the nonprofit American Immigration Council.
The city commissioned the American Immigration Council in 2025 to study the demographic and economic impact of immigrants living in the San Antonio area. “This is not a niche population.” Kramer told the City Council’s Community Health Committee at a Tuesday briefing. “Over 10% of your population here in the San Antonio metro area are immigrants, and so this is a very meaningful part of your population.”
The study coincides with the Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement. The city first collected immigration data in 2019 and uses it to develop policies and ensure immigrants have access to city services, said Jennifer Mata, director of the city’s Compliance, Opportunity and Access Department.
The report defines an immigrant as anyone born outside of the United States to non-citizen parents. That includes green card holders, refugees and asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, among others. The majority of immigrants in San Antonio — 58% — are from Mexico, with about 3% each coming from India and the Philippines. (SAEN)
“Texas saw a $50 billion future in clean energy. Then the political winds shifted.” via Texas Standard – Renewables brought income to ranchers and tax revenue to counties long buffeted by boom-and-bust oil cycles. Policy changes in Washington and unease on the ground threaten that momentum.
On an unseasonably warm January day, Duff Hallman’s goats and sheep wandered unhurried through the rocky hills of his ranch 30 miles south of San Angelo, unbothered by the long shadows that swept over the ground. The shadows fell from wind turbines towering 250 feet above, their blades spinning like clock hands over land that has been in Hallman’s family for four generations. From a shady spot in his backyard, Hallman can almost nod off watching them turn. “It slows your pace down a bit,” he said.
At 74, Hallman still feels honored to work the 9,200-acre ranch he owns with his brother and sister, sometimes putting in as much as 15 hours a day. The labor starts at dawn—mending fences, clearing pastures, tending horses, and livestock—and is far from lucrative. He doesn’t do it for the money, but out of gratitude to those who kept the ranch going before him. “Somebody worked their tail off to make it happen,” he said. “And I have worked my tail off, too.”
Standing beneath a live oak, his ballcap shielding tired eyes, Hallman spoke of bluebonnets that carpet the pastures each spring and moonrises that “knock your socks off”—one so bright he thought it was a spaceship. His great-grandfather Sam Henderson, a Texas Ranger, bought the land in 1916; it straddles Tom Green, Schleicher, and Irion counties about four hours west of Austin. Hallman spent his childhood summers there, learning his way around. (Texas Standard)
“How anti-AI forces help Texas win the future | Opinion” via Houston Chronicle‘s Van Taylor – Two centuries after English weavers tried to smash the Industrial Revolution out of existence, their intellectual heirs have turned their hammers on artificial intelligence. The original Luddites torched factories and destroyed looms. They did not stop mechanized fabric from conquering global markets, but they did manage to delay progress for the communities that listened to them.
By weaponizing permitting, lawsuits, and energy scarcity against AI data centers, today’s Luddites will not stop progress — they will simply drive billions in investment, jobs, and innovation to places like Texas. My lifelong passion for AI began not in a corporate boardroom, but in a high school computer club in the 1980s. It was there I first learned how the organizers of a 1956 Dartmouth workshop coined the term “artificial intelligence.”
I saw the early promise of computing then, and later, fresh out of Harvard Business School in 2001, I worked on a data center project in Dallas for my first real estate deal. Since then, I have carried technology legislation in the Texas Capitol and served on the AI Task Force for the House Financial Services Committee.
In 2018, former president of Google China Kai-Fu Lee’s best-selling <i>AI Superpowers</i> laid out a chilling case for how China could win the global AI race through sheer data volume and state-backed infrastructure. In Congress, we acted to ensure that the United States, not Beijing, would dominate this century. I helped shepherd hundreds of pages of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence recommendations — the “Schmidt Report” — into the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act. (HOU CHRON)
2026
“Texas Democrat Talarico faces tough test with Black voters in Senate race” via Reuters‘s Bianca Flowers – A coalition of white, college-educated Democrats and Latino voters delivered Texas state Representative James Talarico the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate last month. But his chance of winning the seat in November may hinge on a group that he did not capture much support from: Black voters.
Talarico, a white Presbyterian seminarian who has emphasized his Christian faith, defeated U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Black woman whose sharp criticism of President Donald Trump and Republicans made her a prominent figure in the party.
Texans haven’t elected a Democrat statewide since 1994, so for Talarico to get there, he’ll have to win over a significant percentage of Crockett’s voters, some of whom felt slighted by his supporters questioning her electability versus a Republican in November.
While Crockett’s late bid lacked the campaign infrastructure and fundraising abilities of her opponent, some of her voters saw the notion that a white state representative was more electable than a Black congresswoman as rooted in racism and sexism. (Reuters)
“State Rep. proposes changes to state law surrounding precinct-based voting” via WFAA‘s Teresa Woodard – During the March primary in Dallas County, voters were forced to cast ballots in locations miles away from their traditional polling place. Because the Dallas County Republican Party chose to institute precinct-based voting on Election Day, the Dallas County Democratic Party had to follow suit. Local political parties administer primary elections, and must administer them the same way, according to Texas law.
A similar situation unfolded in Williamson County. Now, State Rep. John Bucy, a Democrat from Austin, wants to modify the law. “We just want to make sure one party doesn’t get to dictate what another party does,” he said in an interview with WFAA’s Jason Whitely for Inside Texas Politics.
Bucy’s proposed legislation would allow parties to make independent decisions on primary elections. “I think about Lubbock County, a very red county, the first one to implement countywide polling,” Bucy said. “If the small group of Democrats there wanted to mess with the Republicans, they could say we want to go to precinct voting and force their hand right now. It shouldn’t work that way.”
The next legislative session won’t get underway until January 2027, but Bucy said he’s floated his idea to members of both parties and has not received any pushback. “If Democrats want to do county-wide voting and Republicans want to do precinct-level voting, they’ll be allowed to do that on their own accord,” he said. “I think people think it’s a practical decision to say, your party can do it the way you want, and our party will do it the way we want.” (WFAA)
STATE GOVERNMENT
“Texas expected to pay $700 million in penalties to the feds for SNAP errors by 2027” via The Texas Tribune‘s Terri Langford – New Trump administration rules designed to cut waste in the nation’s food stamp program mean Texas taxpayers will have to pay the federal government $700 million more each year to participate, state officials told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Texas Health and Human Services officials disclosed the cost in a presentation to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, which met to discuss how Texas curbs fraud in welfare programs.
Federal officials announced the new rules last year during the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The rules force each state to improve the number of times officials overpay or underpay recipients in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or SNAP, program. States, including Texas, have until 2027 to improve their SNAP error rate or face financial penalties.
Almost 9% of Texas’ SNAP payments had an error, better than the national rate of 11%, putting it in the middle of the pack compared to other states. But under the new rules, the state would be penalized more unless it can bring down that error rate to below 6%. Texas has until October 2027 to bring its error rate down or it can face $709 million in penalties. An error rate is based on unintentional mistakes by the agency or the client receiving the benefits that results in an overpayment or underpayment. Monthly changes in a SNAP recipient’s financial situation can result in an overpayment or underpayment. (TX TRIB)
#TXLEGE
“Who pays for Texas’ data center surge? Lawmakers press for answers” via Houston Chronicle‘s Claire Hao – Texas lawmakers spent hours Wednesday grilling grid officials, data center developers and energy companies on the potential impacts of the state’s data center boom, as public backlash grows over its heavy demands on water and power. But state representatives also seemed sympathetic to concerns raised by data center companies that various rules being debated in Texas, such as a nonrefundable fee meant to weed out speculative projects and lower electric rates, could stymie new investment.
In one exchange, state Reps. John McQueeney and Charlie Geren repeatedly pressed grid officials about why one developer, a friend of theirs, was purportedly asked to pay a $30 million deposit before knowing how much power the company would receive — or when. “How do you justify that?” McQueeney asked. It was a reflection of the pressure that Texas politicians are facing from both sides — angry residents and wealthy, impatient tech companies — as the state emerges as the fastest-growing data center market in the world.
In their testimony, data center companies framed their facilities as critical infrastructure for the modern digital world. Texas might be the “only place in the free world” able to compete with China in developing artificial intelligence, said Haynes Strader, chief development officer of Skybox Data Centers, because of the state’s abundant natural resources and business-friendly environment. “Data centers have become this physical thing to be mad about if you’re afraid of AI,” Strader said. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be. There’s a lot of scary stuff having to do with it.”
“But the reality is … we want the U.S. to lead in that. And frankly, we want it here in Texas being regulated. If it’s happening in China and you can’t control it in any way, it’s going to happen with or without us,” Strader said. (HOU CHRON)
“Hemp leaders file lawsuit to block Texas intoxicating smokables ban” via KXAN Austin‘s James Phillips – Hemp industry leaders in Texas have sued the state in an effort to block new regulations governing legal hemp products. The suit, filed by the Texas Hemp Business Council, Hemp Industry Farmers of America and several Texas-based hemp companies, comes in response to new state rules on hemp that tighten testing standards, increase licensing fees and impose stricter limits on THC levels in consumable products. David Sergi, an attorney who is representing the plaintiffs, said that the current regulations could strangle the nearly $8-billion industry.
“We’ve been seeing massive declines in sales and we’ve been seeing massive effects,” Sergi said. “I was at a meeting last night and I had probably five or six veterans come up to me and say, I can’t get the smokeable flower that I wanted to get... it’s next to impossible to get the stuff delivered in a timely basis, and these are veterans with PTSD. They need it now.”
While marijuana has remained illegal in Texas for decades, hemp — defined by the state as cannabis containing no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight — is technically legal. The new Texas hemp rules change how THC is calculated by including compounds like THCA, expand testing and transportation restrictions and sharply increase licensing fees — raising manufacturer costs from about $250 to $10,000 and retail fees from about $150 to $5,000.
While hemp remains legal, the stricter THC formula and dramatically raised fees effectively makes many previously compliant products and sellers illegal, Sergi said. “If Lt. Gov. Patrick had done perhaps what the governor had wanted and suggested, then [adding] THCA into the calculation would be law,” Sergi said. “But Lt. Gov. Patrick stood in the way didn’t want to have a clean bill that would reasonably regulate this, and now... people are going out in the black market and buying it because they can’t get it, and so it’s totally counterproductive what they’re trying to do.” (KXAN)
“Texas summer camps sue to block new internet rule, saying it threatens their ability to operate” via ABC13 Houston‘s Emily Foxhall – Nineteen camps in Texas have filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a new state requirement for them to install ‘end-to-end fiber optic facilities in order to operate this summer’.
The requirement that the camps install fiber optic internet does not make their properties safer, violates the state constitution and state law, and could prevent them from opening, the lawsuit said.
The group of camps, which includes Camp Champions, Camp Longhorn, and Tejas Ministries, said in the suit that companies advised them that the service either could not be supplied, could not be confirmed as “end-to-end” - a term the lawsuit said isn’t defined - or would cost an amount “that greatly exceeded their resources.”
The suit, filed in a Travis County state district court, offered examples: Camp Liberty, in one extreme, received a quote of $1 million in upfront costs plus a $3,500 monthly service fee over five years. Camp Longhorn received a quote of more than $1.2 million. (ABC13 Houston)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
“Houston City Council approves new HPD-ICE policy intended to curtail coordination on immigration enforcement” via Houston Public Media – The ordinance marked a first-of-its-kind challenge to Mayor John Whitmire’s policy. In a 12-5 vote on Wednesday, the Houston City Council approved an ordinance intended to cut back on coordination between the Houston Police Department (HPD) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Spearheaded by council member Alejandra Salinas with support from council members Abbie Kamin and Edward Pollard, the ordinance will prohibit officers from detaining people or prolonging traffic stops due to civil immigration warrants. It will also require regular reports from Mayor John Whitmire’s administration on local immigration enforcement.
“I think this is a positive step forward,” Salinas said. “I hope we continue to take steps forward to improve our position and reducing our cooperation with ICE to the bare minimum that’s required under state law.”
The Houston Police Officers’ Union opposed the measure, as did ICE. Union president Douglas Griffith declared, “Why don’t you ask us?” as he exited the city council chambers after the vote. An ICE spokesperson said the new change will “not only undermine the rule of law in this country but also endanger public safety.” (Houston Public Media)
“$10 billion Fort Worth data center’s developers get win from city amid pushback” via Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘s Emily Holshouser – The Fort Worth Zoning Commission at its meeting on April 8 unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council approve a request from Black Mountain — a Fort Worth-based energy consortium looking to develop a $10 billion data center on Fort Worth’s southwest edge — to amend parts of its development proposal.
Black Mountain has already petitioned Fort Worth to rezone roughly 431 acres for the data center, even as public opposition to the project has grown. Two rezoning requests for roughly 87 acres are scheduled to go before the Fort Worth City Council in June after questions from city leaders stalled the development’s progress.
On Wednesday, the Zoning Commission reviewed the site plan for the data center portion of the development for the first time. The 187-acre site, at the corner of Lon Stephenson Road and Forest Hill Drive, was initially rezoned by the Fort Worth City Council in 2025.
The site plan was discussed with residents in Forest Hill at a tense meeting March 11. The data center campus, standing 68 feet tall, would encompass 232.5 acres, with four buildings, according to the site plan. There would be 2.2 million square feet of enclosed space with an Oncor electricity substation in the center of the property. The site would also include roughly 300 parking spaces. Buildings would be made out of concrete, glass and metal. (FWST)
BUSINESS NEWS
“Tesla loses some of its tax breaks for Gigafactory Texas for noncompliance with agreement” via San Antonio Express-News‘s Andrea Guzmán – Travis County is withholding a chunk of the millions of dollars in tax breaks it agreed to give Tesla Inc. for Gigafactory Texas after finding the company isn’t holding up its end of the deal. Because of non-compliance with some terms laid out in the economic development performance agreement the county and Tesla reached in 2020, the Elon Musk-led company will not receive 9% of scheduled rebates for 2020, 2021 and 2022. Commissioners voted 4-0 with one abstention to withhold that part of the funds the county offered for construction of the sprawling complex east of Austin where the company builds electric vehicles and batteries.
The dollar amount of the rebates being yanked was unclear Wednesday, though terms of the agreement suggest it could total more than $4 million. County Judge Andy Brown said Tesla provided “significant but incomplete documentation” regarding its green building program, minimum hourly wage and compensation for contractors providing janitorial and food services. Another provision that lacked documentation involved construction site safety, which requires Tesla to inform subcontractors about requirements to provide water breaks for workers. “That’s very important to me and to Travis County,” Brown said after Tuesday’s vote.
Tesla also is required to ensure that its insurance plan includes an accident and injury prevention program with provisions for rest breaks and requires a third-party administrator to monitor compliance across continuing construction projects, along with safety training. According to the agreement, if Tesla meets minimum performance requirements, its rebates would total roughly $14 million in the first decade. The deal was designed to scale upward, with the county refunding up to 80% of property taxes if Tesla’s investment exceeds $2 billion. As of the end of 2022, Tesla’s investment was more than $5.8 billion.
Tesla’s deal with the county drew criticism last year as residents faced property tax increases of 9.12% while the automaker had an avenue to pay less. The company did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview after Tuesday’s vote, Brown noted that the county’s agreement with Tesla was passed months before he became county judge. “There’s a lot of provisions in the contract, and we evaluated that they had not complied with 9% of that contract is kind of why we went there,” Brown said of the decision to withhold rebates. “And, important to me, was basically complete compliance on the water break notification issue to subcontractors.” (SAEN)
“SpaceX begins installing equipment at Texas facility, eyes year-end production, sources say” via Reuters‘ Wen-Yee Lee – SpaceX has begun installing equipment at its advanced chip packaging facility in Bastrop, Texas, as the satellite and rocket company aims to begin production there by the end of this year, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
One of the sources said the timeline had seen some delays, but the company was still targeting a start of production before the year-end.
The facility will package radio frequency (RF) chips used in products related to SpaceX’s satellite-based internet system Starlink, the sources said, declining to be named as the information is not public.
The RF chips to be packaged in Bastrop are currently packaged by external providers, but SpaceX plans to bring at least part of the packaging process in-house once the facility is ready, according to one of the sources and a third source. (Reuters)
“Will Native American tribes build Dallas-Fort Worth’s first casino resort?” via Dallas Morning News – Texas is widely regarded as the most lucrative untapped gaming market in the nation. And Dallas-Fort Worth might well be the crown jewel — the nation’s most opportune area for a Las Vegas-style casino resort.
A growing number of interests are pushing hard to expand gambling in Texas, including business leaders, developers, local government officials and some local and state lawmakers — who all see economic and employment boosts — and gambling enthusiasts who desire a thrill closer to home.
Perhaps no one is pushing more strategically than the Native American tribes in Oklahoma.
For decades, those tribes, as well as the three federally recognized tribes in Texas, have been growing in political clout and trying to position themselves to open Texas’ first Las Vegas casino if and when the state broadly expands gambling.
The Choctaw and Chickasaw, in particular, have been working behind the scenes to build trust with North Texas leaders and city officials. That effort has been occurring on multiple fronts, where the trend is partly driven organically by the region’s proximity to Oklahoma, one of the nation’s largest tribal gaming markets — and home to some of the nation’s most respected gaming operators.
“I’d put our industry’s innovation and efficiency up against anyone,” said Matthew L. Morgan, special envoy for the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association. “We do a really great job.”
The tribes’ slow and deliberate long-game strategy sits in stark contrast with their most fierce competitor in the race to build Dallas-Fort Worth’s first casino and expand gambling throughout Texas: the Las Vegas-based Sands Corp.
The international gambling superpower made its intentions clear over the last two consecutive legislative sessions, wooing influential state leaders with overt displays of wealth and power.
A hundred lobbyists strode into Austin’s chambers and made lawmakers flush with campaign contributions. The company became even more tied to Dallas when its controlling shareholder Miriam Adelson purchased a majority stake in the NBA’s Mavericks in late 2023. Adelson has spent about $29 million on Texas political activity aimed at opening the door to casino resorts, including contributions to candidates who support gaming.
Multiple Texas governors and other high-profile leaders since 1994 have fended off any attempts to expand gambling in Texas, pointing to the well-documented harm of gambling addiction. The pushback is especially true of any effort to allow casino gaming such as blackjack, table poker, traditional slot machines and other house games.
“A lot of really bad things come with casinos and legalized gambling,” said state Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, “and Texans don’t want it.”
Now the state is reckoning with what some leaders and officials say is an unprecedented confluence of forces to legalize gambling in Texas.
“Texas is a state where you have a large population, a large untapped market, a large appetite in big-time sports, with so many different franchises, and with that burgeoning interest in sports betting after the pandemic just like there’s been across the U.S.,” said Steven Andrew Light, a professor of political science and public administration in the Indian Nations and Gaming Governance Program at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“Then there’s that growth of tribal markets in border states nearby, like Oklahoma of course, alongside that, you have vocal proponents of the spread of legalized gambling and sports betting with some of those very high-profile team owners and other folks like Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones or Adelson.
“So that creates the big picture question: If Texas expands gambling, what would that look like? What could it look like? How much of that would be a commercial market? What opportunities for tribes would there be and so on?” (DMN)
“New renderings show $180M Toyota Center renovation that will transform arena” via Houston Chronicle‘s Matt Young – Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, is getting a $180 million facelift beginning this summer that will include the addition of a nearly 20,000-square foot atrium with a glass façade, creating a covered outdoor gathering space that will change the look of the front door of the downtown arena.
Mayor John Whitmire, who said the new look “will completely transform the arena,” hailed the project as one that will come “at no cost to Houston taxpayers” with $95 million coming from the state in form of a grant from the Texas Department of Economic Development and Tourism for upgrades to the arena that were necessary for it to host the 2028 Republican National Convention. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is footing the rest of the bill for what is being dubbed Toyota Center Reimagined.
Work will begin at some point this summer after the conclusion of the current Rockets season and is expected to be done by the fall of 2027, which will be in time for the Rockets’ 2027-28 season and the Republican convention, which was awarded to the city in 2024.
“It is definitely not an incremental tax,” Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr said of the funding. “The money was in the (state’s) budget and allocated for a grant and I’m very thankful for the state of Texas that they’re investing in the largest city in the state and the fastest-growing one and showing the importance of making sure our biggest cities are vibrant.” (HOU CHRON)
“Houston-based Whitestone REIT to be acquired for $1.7 billion” via Houston Chronicle‘s Maliya Ellis – Houston real estate investment trust Whitestone REIT will be acquired by Ares Management Corporation in a $1.7 billion cash deal announced Thursday. Ares, a multibillion-dollar investment management company, will take over Whitestone’s portfolio of 56 properties and 4.9 million square feet across major Texas and Arizona metro areas.
That portfolio includes 10 retail and mixed-use properties in Houston, The Woodlands, Pasadena and Sugar Land, among them the Whole Foods-anchored BLVD Place in Uptown and an ALDI-anchored shopping center in North Houston. “Our investment strategy is designed to allow businesses to fuel connection and convenience within thriving, dynamic communities,” said Whitestone CEO Dave Holeman in a statement. “We believe this transaction with Ares is a testament to the value that strategy has created for our business and, ultimately, for our shareholders.”
Spokespeople for Whitestone and Ares did not immediately respond to questions about how the acquisition would affect Whitestone’s Houston properties, tenants and employees. Whitestone will no longer be publicly traded after the acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter. The acquisition will add to the $623 billion in assets under management Ares held at the end of 2025, according to the company.
“Whitestone’s portfolio provides an attractive opportunity to further diversify Ares Real Estate’s footprint with necessity-based retail centers in high-demand, supply-constrained metro regions across Arizona and Texas,” said David Roth, global head of real estate strategy and growth for Ares Real Estate, in a statement. (HOU CHRON)
QUICK LINKS
AAS: “Planning a trip? 2 Texas national parks rank among best in US” AAS
HOU CHRON: “AI, prediction markets endangering Texas elections, expert says: ‘We’re cooked’” HOU CHRON
Houston Public Media: “‘We need new blood’: Texas voters look for leadership changes, fresh faces this election year” Houston Public Media
Spectrum News: “Texas Democrats seek to remove Trump from office, as GOP largely backs president’s Iran efforts” Spectrum News
Fox News: “Texas Dem Talarico’s ‘culture of violence’ remarks resurface as he denies defund police ties” Fox News
KSAT: “Texas’ highest criminal court overturns sentence of inmate who has been on death row for 48 years” KSAT
SAEN: “Dozens of Tesla Cybercabs spotted in Texas — is production finally starting?” SAEN
HOU CHRON: “Democrats push to halt social studies overhaul, citing expert’s outside funding” HOU CHRON
Houston Public Media: “Political oversight reaches Texas college classrooms, with Texas Tech and A&M at the forefront” Houston Public Media
AAS: “Austin’s $1B downtown street overhaul: what it could mean for you” AAS
KXAN: “Updates expected soon in Austin mass shooting investigation” KXAN
DMN: “DSV lays off hundreds at Dallas-area facility” DMN
FWST: “Granbury hid data center details, residents’ lawsuit alleges” FWST
FWST: “Arlington takes steps to reshape downtown development” FWST
Fort Worth Report: “Transportation group hires lawyers in dispute with Council of Governments executive board” Fort Worth Report
KBTX News 3: “Governor Greg Abbott attends groundbreaking at Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute” KBTX News 3
EXTRA POINTS
Recent Texas sports scores:
Wednesday
> NBA: San Antonio 112, Portland 101
> NBA: Phoenix 112, Dallas 107
> MLB: Texas 3, Seattle 0
> MLB: at Colorado 9, Houston 1
Thursday
> NBA: Houston 113, Philadelphia 102
> NHL: Dallas 5, Minnesota 4
Friday
> NBA: Minnesota 136, Houston 132
> NBA: San Antonio 139, Dallas 102
> MLB: Seattle 9, Houston 6
> MLB: LA 8, Texas 7
Saturday
> MLB: Seattle 8, Houston 7
> MLB: LA 6, Texas 3
> NHL: Dallas 2, New York Rangers 0
Today/Tonight’s Texas sports schedule:
> 3:10pm: MLB: Houston at Seattle
> 3:10pm: MLB: Texas at LA
> 7:30pm: NBA: Chicago at Dallas
> 7:30pm: NBA: Memphis at Houston
Tomorrow’s Texas sports schedule:
> 3:10pm: MLB: Houston at Seattle
> 6:30pm: NHL: Dallas at Toronto (ESPN+)
> 8:40pm: MLB: Texas at Oakland
TEXAS SPORTS HEADLINES / LINKS:
HOUSTON ROCKETS: “Timberwolves snap Rockets’ 8-game winning streak with a 136-132 victory“ AP
DALLAS MAVERICKS: “Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts: ‘We love the idea of the downtown site’ for new arena” DMN
TEXAS FOOTBALL: “Texas football: Is WR Ryan Wingo ‘forgotten’ man in Longhorns offense?“ AAS
TEXAS MEN’S BASKETBALL: “Longhorns guard Dailyn Swain declares for the 2026 NBA Draft“ KXAN
DALLAS STARS: “Robertson scores twice, Oettinger earns shutout as Stars beat Rangers 2-0 and clinch 2nd in Central” AP
TEXAS RANGERS: “Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff homer, Teoscar’s 3-run shot propel streaking Dodgers to 6-3 win over Rangers” AP
HOUSTON ASTROS: “Crawford caps Mariners rally with RBI single in 9th to beat reeling Astros 8-7” AP
HOUSTON ASTROS: “Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña exits game against Mariners with right knee tightness” AP