The Texas electorate approved all 17 constitutional amendments on the ballot last week, the Houston Chronicle reported. Those included measures to raise the homestead exemption and reduce property taxes for businesses, and to provide $1 billion annually for a statewide water fund.
Other propositions passed would allow judges to deny bail to people accused of serious crimes and create a $3 billion dementia research fund.
“This legislative session, we delivered the conservative victories Texans demanded,” Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a statement. “And this November, Texans showed up to enshrine them in the Texas Constitution.”
Nearly 3 million cast ballots statewide Texans showed up in record numbers for the offyear election Nov. 4. Unofficial statewide returns indicate nearly 3 million cast ballots – about 15% of all registered voters in the state, the Austin American- Statesman reported.
That appears to set a record for off-year election turnout in Texas, driven in part by key local issues in larger counties, such as Travis and Bexar.
The statewide leader in voter turnout was tiny Loving County on the Texas- New Mexico border, where more than half of the county’s 140 registered voters cast ballots.
Nelson fighting GOP lawsuit over closed primaries The state’s top election official is fighting a GOP lawsuit that seeks to restrict the state’s primaries to registered party members, the Texas Standard reported. Republican Secretary of State Jane Nelson in her filing said that decision should be left up to state lawmakers, not the courts.
She said that a court ruling now, with the March primaries just a few months away, would “confuse voters, unduly burden election administrators or otherwise sow chaos or distrust in the electoral process.”
The Texas Republican Party claims the state’s open primaries violate a constitutional right to freedom of association. Key Republicans, such as Attorney General Ken Paxton, complain Democratic and independent voters are casting ballots in Republican primaries to back more moderate candidates.
Closing Texas primaries would require overhauling the state’s voter-registration system, requiring changes in state law and taking years to implement, the Standard reported.
Lawmakers filed at least six bills in 2025 to close the primaries but all failed. Nelson said state legislators could take the issue back up in the 2027 session.
Texas sees significant increase in whooping cough The Texas Department of State Health Services is reporting a steep increase in pertussis, or whooping cough, this year. Early data indicates Texas has had more than 3,500 reported pertussis cases through October, four times the number reported over the same period last year.
This is the second straight year the state has experienced high increases in pertussis cases, according to DSHS.
Pertussis can cause serious and possibly life-threatening complications in infants and young children who are not fully immunized. About one-third of babies younger than a year old who contract pertussis need to be hospitalized.
Pertussis is a highly contagious illness with early symptoms akin to the common cold. It can lead to extended coughing fits that can last for weeks or even months.
Texas to buy 54,000 acres for new state park The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission last week accepted a gift of a 54,000-acre ranch in the western Hill Country, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The Silver Lake Ranch, about 125 miles west of San Antonio, is being acquired from the Moody Foundation.
“We actually haven’t been using it for a long time,” Elle Moody, with the foundation, said in an interview before the formal vote by the parks commission. “But hopefully it will be in the near future for camping and paddling and mountain biking. So we’re really looking forward to opening it up to the wider public.”
The parcel, located in Kinney and Edwards counties, would be second in size only to Big Bend Ranch State Park, at 300,000 acres and purchased in 1988.
“This is exactly that kind of property that could really help expand or meet the demand for recreational opportunities on public land in Texas,” said Luke Metzger with Environment Texas. “I swear, that’s just some of the prettiest country I’ve ever seen in Texas. It’s just gorgeous out there.”
The money to purchase the ranch would come from the state’s new Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, established in 2023 when voters agreed to allocate $1 billion to create a dedicated revenue stream to increase the state’s parks inventory.
State exceeds 3 million registered businesses Texas has set a record high by exceeding 3 million registered businesses, Gov. Greg Abbott announced.
“This milestone shows the true strength of the Texas economy. Texas is the land of freedom and opportunity where businesses and workers can chart their own path to succeed and thrive,” he said.
The number of registered business entities in the state has more than doubled since 2015, when 1.4 million businesses were registered.
The total includes both businesses incorporated in Texas and out-of-state entities conducting business here. The largest classification is in-state, limited liability companies, or LLCs.
Major Texas airports see flight reductions during shutdown Four Texas airports will have the number of daily flights reduced by 10% by Nov. 14, as the government shutdown drags on and air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers, working without pay, increasingly call in sick or are otherwise absent.
Various news reports Monday indicated there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, with movement in the U.S. Senate signaling an end soon to the shutdown.
The Dallas Morning News reported the reduction at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport could mean 96 fewer flights a day, or more than 13,000 fewer seats. Dallas Love Field is seeing cuts of 20 flights a day, or roughly 3,000 seats.
In Houston, both Houston International Airport and William P. Hobby Airport also have seen flight reductions.
The airports have experienced major delays during the shutdown.
Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected]
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