Texas Tribune Brief

More than 400,000 electricity customers statewide lacked power Thursday. Austin’s main power provider said it can no longer promise full restoration by 6 p.m. Friday.

Austin’s main power provider warned that outages could last through Thursday. More than 300,000 customers in Texas did not have power Wednesday because of localized outages, but the state’s main power grid remained stable.

School closures and hazardous road conditions are expected throughout a large portion of Texas, according to forecasts. State officials caution Texans about local power outages but expect the grid to stay up.

Power outages are a possibility during any severe weather event. But a local power outage is different from a larger power grid problem.

The judge warned the state could be held in contempt of court for not following through with three mandates: failing to inform youths of their rights, not adequately responding to abuse allegations and still having too many children without placement.

Abbott doubles down on his long-standing call to lawmakers to prohibit local governments from enacting mask and vaccine mandates.

A Texas Tribune analysis of state data found that at least 214 people in Texas were killed by heat last year, and a large portion of those deaths were likely migrants found after crossing the border.

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat, introduced a package of legislation that includes a bill that would end qualified immunity, which shields government officials from liability for constitutional violations.

In Maverick County, nearly 30 bodies pulled from the Rio Grande were buried without attempts to identify them. Teams of Texas State University students are trying to learn their names so their families can be notified.

The state has set a record for the number of employed people for 14 consecutive months, according to new data from the Texas Workforce Commission.