Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Business Groups Rally Against, Block Texas Bill to Ban COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Oct 19 2021 // Bills intended to block any Texas entity, including hospitals and private businesses, from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for employees failed to pass the Texas Legislature before lawmakers adjourned the third special...
Texas Bill Would Make Firms Requiring COVID Vaccine Vulnerable to Lawsuits
Oct 15 2021 // As Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican Texas leaders wage a war against vaccination mandates meant to curb COVID-19, a state Senate committee on Oct. 14 advanced legislation that would make any entity, including...
Texas Contractor Fined $212K in Fatal Crane Collapse
Oct 15 2021 // Federal workplace safety officials say a Lufkin, Texas, contractor’s failure to assemble a crane boom properly caused the crane to collapse onto a passing vehicle on Interstate 10 near Beaumont, killing the two...
AccuWeather: Texas to See Excessive Rain, Flooding from Hurricane Pamela
Oct 13 2021 // Pamela will not only pose significant dangers across Mexico, as it pushes inland after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday morning, but its impacts will also be felt across parts of the United States while...
Federal Law Likely Overrides Texas Ban on Vaccine Mandates
Oct 13 2021 // Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates will likely be superseded by the Biden administration plan to require shots for workers, but the dueling rules could take months to sort out in court,...
Texas Governor’s Vaccine Mandate Ban ‘Puts a Big Burden on Employers’
Oct 13 2021 // Companies doing business in Texas now face new and complicated challenges after Gov. Greg Abbott this week banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates for all entities in the state — including private businesses — for employees...
Gov. Abbott Bars All COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Texas, Rips Biden for ‘Bullying’
Oct 12 2021 // Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, responding to what he called “bullying” by the Biden Administration, on Oct. 11 barred all COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state by any entity, including private...
Oil & Gas Services Company Sued for Racial Harassment, Retaliation at Texas Site
Oct 11 2021 // Federal equal employment officials say an Oklahoma-based inspection services company subjected black employee to a racially hostile work environment, then fired him for complaining. The lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal...
Tesla Auto Insurance Expanding into Texas This Week
Oct 11 2021 // Tesla will launch its own brand of auto insurance in Texas this week, founder Elon Musk said during a Oct. 7 shareholders call addressing the company’s headquarters relocation from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas. In...
4 Injured in Texas School Shooting; Student Arrested
Oct 8 2021 // An 18-year-old student opened fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school on Oct. 6, injuring four people and then fleeing before being taken into custody hours later, authorities said. Timothy George Simpkins was...
Trial to Assess Damages in 2017 Texas Church Massacre Now Underway
Oct 7 2021 // A trial to assess damages owed to families of the victims of the Sutherland Springs church massacre began with vivid witness accounts of the shooting. John Porter Holcombe testified for several hours on Sept. 4 about the...
Parents Sue City After Boy’s Death From Brain-Eating Amoeba in Texas
Oct 6 2021 // The parents of a 3-year-old boy who died after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that was found at a Texas splash pad he’d visited sued the city that operated it for negligence. Tariq Williams and Kayla...
Texas Records $699.8M in Surplus Lines Premiums in September
Oct 6 2021 // Texas surplus lines premium recorded during September totaled $699.8 million, bringing the state’s year-to-date premium up to $6.88 billion. The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) said the year-to-date...
West Texas Gas Companies to Pay $8M on Fines, Compliance After Worker Deaths
Oct 5 2021 // The U.S. Justice Department said five subsidiaries of West Texas Gas Inc. will spend $8 million on fines and compliance measures to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations and claims resulting from fatal chemical...
Hospital Housekeeping Services in Texas Sued for Disability Discrimination
Oct 1 2021 // Federal officials allege in a lawsuit that a Texas-based company unlawfully fired disabled workers because of their inability to pass an essential functions test. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged in a...
Texas Senators Blast Regulator for Power Grid Winterization Loophole Lawmakers OK’d
Sep 29 2021 // In a committee hearing on Sept. 28, Texas state senators were furious that natural gas companies won’t have to better prepare their facilities for extreme weather before this winter and rebuked the Texas Railroad...
COVID-Related Discrimination Lawsuits Filed Against 2 Texas Companies
Sep 28 2021 // Federal officials filed two lawsuits in Texas courts, alleging that a pharmacy in Fabens and a coffeehouse in Ft. Worth both discriminated against employees with disabilities that rendered them vulnerable to serious...
Feds to Texas: Tougher Rules Needed to Protect Power Plants
Sep 27 2021 // Federal officials made more than two dozen recommendations aimed at further safeguarding power plants and natural gas supplies to prevent a repeat of the February blackouts that caused more than 200 deaths in Texas. Staff...
Report: More than 456.5K Claims Filed in Texas After Winter Storm
Sep 24 2021 // A recently released report from the state’s insurance department shows more claims and higher average claim costs resulting from the severe and prolonged winter storm that enveloped Texas in mid-February than were...
People Moves: Biggs Joins Oklahoma Workers’ Comp Commission; Alliant Adds Soto, Hargrave in Texas; ICT Hires Johnson
Sep 23 2021 // Biggs Joins Oklahoma Workers’ Comp Commission The Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission (WCC) added Scott Biggs as its newest commissioner. The WCC and its three commissioners are tasked with carrying out...
