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When summer heat hits my Texas prison
High temperatures and scarce air conditioning cause tempers to flare for prisoners and guards alike.
climate change
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Funds to help low-income Texas families with summer electric bills are stretched thin
A federal program helps people in poverty cover the costs of heat and cooling. But advocates say it disadvantages states like Texas, even though extreme heat is a key cause of weather-related deaths.
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Climate progress requires uniting against political violence and conspiracy thinking
Sure, political violence is wrong; but also: it doesn’t work.
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Texas Water Board details how it will spend $1 billion for water infrastructure projects
About $45 million will go to Texas towns with fewer than 1,000 residents — a boon for municipalities without a viable tax base.
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Why Texas’ mass power outages continue to happen
Repairing electricity infrastructure after storms usually costs customers. So could strengthening it before the next weather event.
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What’s the value of planting trees? Conservation groups say a new formula can tell them.
Donors are increasingly asking conservation groups to produce data on the value of their environmental work. A group’s new method helps them show their impact.
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Texas farmers face mounting expenses as droughts worsen
Rising temperatures intensify drought and increase costs for the heavily subsidized crop insurance program.
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Texas’ two senators near top of the list for taking money from fossil fuel industry
Together, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have raked in $9.7 million in fossil-fuel industry contributions since 1990, a new report shows.
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NOAA meteorologists predict 2024 hurricane season will have ‘highest-ever’ number of named storms
NOAA predicts 17 to 25 named storms, and of those, eight to 13 are expected to become hurricanes.
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Dangerous Texas Memorial Day heat made 5 times more likely by global warming
Punishing heat arriving across South Texas this week places most residents in region under ‘extreme’ threat of negative heat-related health impacts.
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Texas’ SXSW festival will expand to London in 2025
SXSW expanded into the Asia Pacific region in 2023 with the launch of SXSW Sydney.
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Bad Takes: It’s time for all of us to take potential environmental calamity seriously
Elected officials, including those in San Antonio, must pay attention to the air quality and climate threats faced by their constituents.
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As climate change intensifies wildfire risk, prescribed burns prove their worth in the heat-stressed Panhandle
Officials say a prescribed burn stopped the Windy Deuce Fire from entering neighborhoods. But the practice has faced opposition from some landowners.
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Why some Texas cities are getting rid of their minimum parking rules
Most cities require homes and businesses to have parking. Critics say they drive up housing costs, foster car dependency and raise carbon emissions.
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How Hearst’s ‘Weather Wonks’ invisibilize climate crisis
Hearst Newspapers’ ‘science-informed’ weather reporting initiative promised to help keep readers safe, but the ‘Texas Weather Wonks’ have entirely ignored the primary driver of recent extreme heat — human fossil-fueled industry.
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Texas firefighters battling massive Panhandle wildfires, including second largest in state’s history
The five fires have burned 575,000 acres, which is larger than Houston, as residents have fled or sheltered in place.
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Abbott’s border standoff fueled by a climate crisis he helped create
Record levels of forced migration are tied to an environmental collapse that Republicans worsened on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.
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CPS Energy bringing on another 150 megawatts of solar power
The solar expansion comes as the utility works to close its coal-fired J.K. Spruce 1, one of the region’s biggest sources of pollution, but environmentalists say it must do more.
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Texas faces dangerously low water supplies as experts brace for another hot summer
Scientists say another hot, dry year would drain Texas reservoirs to historic lows and prompt emergency steps, Inside Climate News reports.
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Last year was the hottest ever recorded in Texas
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data shows that average temperatures in 2023 were 3.5 degrees above the 20th century average.