The continuing federal shutdown means food bene- fits provided to 3.5 million Texans could be cut off in November, The Texas Tri - bune reported. Of those af - fected, nearly half are chil -
dren.
“SNAP has funding available for benefits and op erations through the month of October," according to a letter written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service to state agencies. "However, if the current lapse in appro - priations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximate - ly 42 million individuals across the nation." More than $614 million is distributed monthly in Texas to recipients.
Currently, other assis - tance programs such as Medicaid and the Children Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, are not affected by the shutdown, which is in its fourth week.
Oil prices at lowest level since pandemic
Oil prices have dropped to their lowest level since early 2021, the Texas Stan - dard reported. In an inter - view with Matt Smith, lead energy analyst at Kpler, he said strong supply is driving the drop per barrel to about $57.
Average gasoline prices in Texas stood at $2.79 a gallon in September, down 67 cents from two years ago, according to the U.S. Ener - gy Information Administra -
tion.
Smith said U.S. oil pro - duction in July, the latest monthly statistic available, was at a record high. He predicted the low oil prices could slow domestic pro -
duction by next year.
Fall enrollment sets record at Texas colleges and universities More than 1.6 million students enrolled this fall at Texas colleges and universi -
ties - an all-time high, the Texas Higher Education Co - ordinating Board reported. The preliminary numbers cover all levels of higher ed - ucation, both public and pri -
vate, and represent a 4.7% increase from last fall.
“The record enrollment numbers will help the state's continuing efforts to build a talent-strong Texas and an increasingly educated work - force," said Commissioner of Higher Education Wynn Rosser. For the first time since the pandemic, enrollment numbers surpassed pre-pan demic numbers in each sec- tor of higher education.
Judge tosses Texas book rating law
A Waco federal judge last week threw out a 2023
Texas law that required booksellers and
publish er to rate their books based on sexual content and refer- ence, kut.
org re- ported. The ruling makes permanent a lower court's temporary injunction that was later upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The firm representing the coalition of bookstores and publishers hailed the ruling as a "major First Amendment victory." "The READER Act would have imposed impos sible obligations on booksellers and limited access to literature, including classic works, for students across Texas," attorney Laura Lee Prather said in a statement.
HB 900 sought to re - strict which books are avail - able in school libraries. It also required booksellers to
rate their own books. The bill's author, state Rep. Jar - ed Patterson, R-Frisco, post - ed on X that he was "deeply disappointed" by the judge's decision. However, he said SB 412 passed in the last legislative session holds school personnel "account - able" for exposing a child to what he termed “harmful materials."
Proposition would fund dementia prevention research As early voting contin - ues through Oct. 31, the Texas Medical Association is backing Proposition 14, which would provide $3 billion in funding over a 10-year period for research into preventing dementia. The proposal, if approved, would create the Dementia Prevention Research Insti - tute of Texas.
Houston neurologist Reeta Achari, MD, who tes - tified in favor of DPRIT's creation on behalf of TMA, said Proposition 14 has the potential to make Texas a leader in dementia re- search, and thus "attract much-needed physicians and subject matter experts and innovators from across the world." Alzheimer's disease comprises 60-80% of de mentia cases and is becom- ing a public health crisis, ac - cording to a report from the Texas Department of State Health Services. More than 450,000 Texans over the age of 65 are living with Alzhei -
mer's, the report states.
Opponents of the mea - sure, according to a nonpar -
tisan analysis by the Texas Legislative Council, fear
it would create a new state bureaucracy without suffi - cient accountability and an open-ended financial risk for taxpayers.
Feds slash ACA enrollment program’s budget
With open enrollment set to begin for the Afford- able Care Act, funding for a navigator program that helped 65,000 Texans en roll for health insurance has been slashed by 90%, The Tribune reported. As a re -
sult, nonprofits are seeking other ways to fund their ef - forts to help uninsured Tex - ans find health care.
The state received $17 million in navigator grants last year. Most of the near -
ly 4 million Texans covered by an ACA plan find cover - age on their own. However, navigators enrolled about 26,533 Texans and helped nearly 39,000 others obtain Medicaid.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said the return on navigator invest - ment was too low.
"Despite receiving $98 million in the 2024 plan year, Navigators only en - rolled 92,000 consumers- just 0.6 percent of plan selections," according to a CMS statement in February.
About 17% of all Texans are uninsured, the highest rate of all states.
Nearly one fourth of traffic deaths in oil and gas regions
The Texas Department of Transportation is urging drivers to be extra cautious when driving in one of the state's five main energy re - gions - the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale, Barnett Shale, Anadarko Basin and the Haynesville/Bossier Shale. One in four of the state's 1,023 traffic fatalities in 2024 occurred in those areas.
"Oil and gas production activity means large trucks and heavy machinery share the road with local traffic on rural roads and highways," according to the news re- lease. "Increased truck traf - fic can mean limited visi - bility for drivers and wear and tear on road surfaces, potentially creating hazards that are difficult to navigate and maneuver around." Nearly 79,000 traffic crashes occurred in those five regions. Failure to con - trol speed and driver inat -
tention were the top two factors contributing to those crashes.
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, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@ texaspress.com
