AUSTIN— Early voting in this year’s midterm elections began Monday and continues through Friday, Nov. 4. Election Day is Nov. 8. Voters will pick the state’s next governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, land commissioner, agriculture commissioner and comptroller in statewide races.
District races are also being held for U.S. representatives, state senators, state representatives and members of the State Board of Education. There are also ballot propositions to be decided, as well as county, school board and city races, depending on where you live. The deadline to register to vote was Oct. 11. Interested voters can find out more at votetexas.gov.
PUC: No water disconnects during extreme cold.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas last week adopted rules that prohibit non-municipal water and sewer utilities from cutting off service to customers during extreme cold weather emergencies.
“The new rules put the health and safety of Texans first during extreme cold weather emergencies,” said PUCT Chairman Peter Lake. “This means Texans can focus on their family’s safety during extreme cold and work with their water or sewer utility to make sure they pay their bills in a timely fashion.”
Extreme weather in Texas is defined as “periods beginning when the previous day’s highest temperature in an area did not exceed 28 degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature is predicted to remain at or below that level for the next 24 hours according to the nearest National Weather Service reports for that area.”
The new rules came after passage of Senate Bill 3 in the last regular legislative session, in reaction to the disruption caused by Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.
Covid-19 cases drop slightly. The number of new Covid-19 cases reported by the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University in the past week in Texas dropped to 11,604 with 90 deaths reported. The number of lab-confirmed Covid-19 hospitalizations recorded by the Texas Department of State Health Services dropped to 1,026.
Gary 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 and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@ texaspress.com.
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