Top Texas utility regulator ousted as recording emerges of pledges to protect Wall Street FacebookTwitterEmail 1of2 Power lines are shown near Beltway 8 the Hardy Toll Road following an overnight snowfall Monday, Feb. 15, 2021 in Houston. Temperatures plunged into the teens Monday with light snow and freezing rain. Rolling blackouts throughout the state has cut power to many.Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less 2of2 PUC Chairman Arthur D AndreaKorey Howell Photography / Texas Public Utility CommissionShow MoreShow Less For nearly an hour last week, the state’s last surviving utility commissioner, Arthur D’Andrea, was remarkably candid about what he had gleaned from last month’s deadly outage crisis.
At the border, Gov. Abbott blames Biden for migrant surge FacebookTwitterEmail A member of the International Organization for Migration gives instructions to a migrant family before crossing the border into El Paso, Texas at the Leona Vicario shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021. After waiting months and sometimes years in Mexico, people seeking asylum in the United States are being allowed into the country as they wait for courts to decide on their cases, unwinding one of the Trump administration s signature immigration policies that President Joe Biden vowed to end. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)Christian Chavez, STR / Associated Press
Gov. Greg Abbott lifts statewide mask order, opens Texas 100 percent FacebookTwitterEmail Jay Janner, MBR / Associated Press Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday he is lifting the state’s coronavirus restrictions, as vaccinations rise and severe infections from the pandemic decline. “Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills,” he said, sounding celebratory. “This must end. It is now time to open Texas 100 percent.” The rollback will begin next Wednesday, with businesses across the state able to open at full capacity. Abbott’s statewide mask mandate is also being lifted. Both measures quickly drew concerns from the public health community.
Top Texas utility regulator DeAnn Walker resigns following calls to step down FacebookTwitterEmail 1of2 Bill Magness, President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), testifies as the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources hold a joint public hearing to consider the factors that led to statewide electrical blackouts, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, in Austin, Texas. The hearings were the first in Texas since a blackout that was one of the worst in U.S. history, leaving more than 4 million customers without power and heat in subfreezing temperatures. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Eric Gay, STF / Associated PressShow MoreShow Less
TEXAS POWER GRID HEARINGS: Natural gas suppliers, power plants blame each other FacebookTwitterEmail 1of4 Lawmakers listen as Bill Magness, President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), testifies as the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources holds a joint public hearing to consider the factors that led to statewide electrical blackouts, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, in Austin, Texas. The hearings were the first in Texas since a blackout that was one of the worst in U.S. history, leaving more than 4 million customers without power and heat in subfreezing temperatures. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Eric Gay, STF / Associated PressShow MoreShow Less
Democrats go on offensive, blaming GOP neglect, weak laws for deadly Texas power outages FacebookTwitterEmail Texas Gov. Greg Abbott leaves a news conference after speaking about the winter storm at the State Operations Center, Thursday Feb. 18, 2021, in Austin, Texas. ( Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)Jay Janner, MBR / Associated Press Texas Democrats went on the offensive Friday, saying years of neglect and corporate deference by Republican state leaders directly led to a week of deadly power outages. “We have been failed not only over the last few days, but for decades, because Texas has been in the hands of people who don’t believe in government in the first place,” said former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro.