The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 21, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Well, howdy folks. Today is Tuesday, July 21st, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texan senior editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, flanked by sheriffs at a press event, outgoing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton blasted his Democratic opponent for U.S. Senate, State Representative James Talariko, for allegedly undermining law enforcement. Paxton said, quote, While we have been working to support law enforcement, there have been others working to undermine it. Paxton held a press conference in Fort Worth on Tuesday, where he criticized Talariko for previous donations to the Austin Justice Coalition, an advocacy group that pressed the city of Austin to cut budgets for the Austin Police Department after the death of George Floyd in 2020.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Next, 40 more cases of New World Screwworm in the U.S. have been confirmed since the first one was discovered in Texas and early June, with a dozen of those affected animals not yet free from the parasite. The first American case of the flesh-eating livestock pest since the 1960s was discovered on June 3rd in Zavala County. Since then, two more cases were reported in the county, while 38 other cases were discovered across the state and in New Mexico along its border with Texas. Federal and local authorities hit the ground running as they work to expedite methods of warding off the pest and protecting the state's livestock and wildlife, although clashing at times over the appropriate means of prevention and treatment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to crank out sterile flies, which are released to breed with the pests and

Starting point is 00:01:45 thus prevent their reproduction, a method which helped weed out NWS in the U.S. in 1966. In other news, after a flight of bills meant to raise the state's housing supply met with a web of new local regulations last year, officials from various cities insisted during a Texas legislature committee hearing that their standards keep the spirit of the law. At an interim hearing on Monday of the Texas House Land and Resource Management Committee, chaired by State Representative Gary Gates, city officials and Gates debated the intent of local housing ordinances that makes developing some forms of new housing more expensive. City officials defended such requirements as necessary to maintain their standards of aesthetics and quality of life. The hearing followed a joint letter by

Starting point is 00:02:32 Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burroughs suggesting that housing affordability may return as a legislative priority for top Republicans in the upcoming session, especially if friction with local governments continues. Also, Care County Commissioner Rich Paces is urging Texas regulators to impose stricter oversight of battery energy storage system. arguing that the rapidly expanding facilities pose fire, environmental, cybersecurity, and property value risks in the Texas Hill Country. These systems, which might also be called electric energy storage facilities, receive energy and store it for later use. Paces serves as the president of the Hill Country Sub-Reginal Planning Commission, a group that was formed to address the regulation

Starting point is 00:03:21 and placement of battery energy storage systems in CARE, Kendall, and Gillespie counties. The Commission's concerns include lithium-ion battery fires and thermal runaway, negative environmental impact, including safe disposal, cybersecurity risks, and declining property values near storage facilities. There are currently 916 planned battery energy storage projects in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas region. Lastly, the Pentagon identified two U.S. Army soldiers killed in an Iranian airstrike at an airbase in Jordan last week. Private Isabella Gonzalez, age 19, from Carrollton, and 1st Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, age 25 of Hawaii, were both killed in action on Friday, July 17th. Gonzalez was serving in Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led international campaign against the Islamic State.

Starting point is 00:04:16 The deaths of the two service members comes after the breakdown of a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. Tensions are heating up again and clashes continue over the accessibility of the Strait of Hormuz and the future of Iran's nuclear program. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan.news to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 21, 2026

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