Capital Highlights | Texans urged to heed journey warnings about Mexico

Texans planning to journey to Mexico or presently visiting there are urged to intently comply with warnings from the U.S. Department of State, which advises U.S. residents to not journey to the states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas. Travelers to different states in Mexico are urged to both rethink or at the very least train elevated warning. This comes after violence broke out in Jalisco following the dying of a cartel chief in a gunfight with Mexican authorities.

Gov. Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to extend safety alongside the border area.

“Mexican drug cartels pose a significant threat to public safety and national security,” Abbott mentioned. “By increasing proactive efforts to defend against cartel violence, Texas will continue to utilize every tool and strategy to protect our state and our nation. We will not cower to criminals who impose terror on our fellow Texans and Americans.”

Texans in want of rapid help can name the U.S. Department of State (from exterior the U.S: 1-202-501-4444; from contained in the U.S.: 1-888-407-4747) or the Texas Fusion Center (1-844-927-0521).

Patrick seeks to dam Camp Mystic’s reopening

Texas mustn’t renew the license for Camp Mystic this summer season till vital modifications are made to make sure extra lives aren’t misplaced in a flood, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote in a letter to the state well being commissioner, in keeping with the Texas Standard.

“It would be naive to allow Camp Mystic to return to normal operations before all of the facts are known,” Patrick wrote to Department of State Health Services Commissioner Jennifer Shuford. “Camp Mystic should have decided on their own to suspend operations this coming summer, but it appears they are planning for camp in 2026 and will likely be seeking your approval to operate with a renewed license.”

Flooding final July 4 killed 25 campers, two counselors and the camp’s govt director.

Parents of among the campers who died have sued Shuford and different DSHS officers, claiming the state didn’t comply with Texas regulation when licensing the camp with out guaranteeing it had enough evacuation plans. In the months following the flood, Camp Mystic has introduced plans to reopen its Cypress Lake property, which it says is impartial from the older Guadalupe River location the place the women died.

Wildfires popping up throughout the state

Dry circumstances and brisk winds are fueling an increase in wildfires throughout the state. The Texas A&M Forest Service reported that forecast rain may reduce the wildfire danger in early March.

As of Sunday, the service reported two energetic wildfires: one in Orange County, in Southeast Texas, and the opposite in Schleicher County, in Central Texas. Most of the wildfires reported final week and now contained had been in East Texas. Burn bans are in place in 184 of the state’s 254 counties.

Education board approves 4,200 curriculum corrections

The State Board of Education final week authorized roughly 4,200 corrections and revisions to its elementary and secondary college curriculum, The Texas Tribune reported. The price of constructing the corrections and modifications has not been decided, however it would come at taxpayer expense, because the Texas Education Agency developed the supplies utilizing state funding. A TEA official mentioned the company deliberate to find out the prices now that the modifications and corrections have been authorized. The vote was delayed in January.

The state has been utilizing the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum since November 2024. When unveiled, it attracted nationwide consideration for its references to the Bible and Christianity.

Approximately 1 in 4 school districts have indicated that they’re utilizing at the very least some parts of the studying curriculum, protecting about 400,000 college students. The supplies include a $60 per-student incentive for districts.

TEA spokesperson Jake Kobersky mentioned not all of the modifications to Bluebonnet are to repair errors.

“Some updates are simply improvements based on teacher feedback,” Kobersky mentioned. “Every change and/or edit made to the product must be submitted individually for SBOE approval, regardless of the nature of the change, hence the large number.”

New state park open after years of delays

The gates to the state’s latest park at the moment are open. Palo Pinto Mountains State Park, positioned about 75 miles west of Fort Worth, consists of 4,871 acres of former ranchland, in keeping with The Dallas Morning News. It marks the primary time in additional than 25 years {that a} new state park has opened in North Texas.

“I am proud of the dedication of our [Texas Parks and Wildlife Department] team but also the unwavering support of the Texas Legislature and the voters of Texas that have brought us to this moment,” Rodney Franklin, director of Texas state parks, mentioned in a information launch. “State park staff stand ready to welcome families far and wide to begin making memories at Texas’ newest state park.”

The park’s deliberate opening in 2023 was postponed by security considerations throughout development. It has greater than 16 miles of trials, a 90-acre lake and each leisure automobile and tent-camping websites.

The website was bought by the parks division in 2011. Funding for its development got here from a mixture of legislative appropriation, the Sporting Goods Sales Tax, federal funding, and $10 million in personal philanthropy.

Four Texas counties report measles instances

Measles instances have been reported lately in 4 Texas counties: Frio, Bandera, Kendall and Lubbock. With 5 reported instances, Bandera had probably the most, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Lubbock was the middle of final 12 months’s outbreak when folks from surrounding counties with measles got here there for hospital care.

The present outbreak of measles has been centered round South Carolina. Last 12 months, Texas led the nation with greater than 800 instances, largely in West Texas.

Measles is extremely contagious, unfold by airborne particles. It has a 90% an infection charge amongst unvaccinated people who find themselves uncovered to somebody with measles. It may cause folks to additionally lose their immune safety towards different illnesses.

Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He revealed numerous neighborhood newspapers in Texas throughout a 30-year span, together with in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park.