Texas Tribune Brief

Abbott vetoed 13 bills authored by Democrats and seven by Republicans. Twelve of the vetoes targeted bills that originated in the House, and eight were from the Senate.

The governor’s move comes after Democrats walked out of the House in the final days of the regular legislative session to block passage of Senate Bill 7, Abbott’s priority elections bill that would have overhauled voting rights in the state.

Gov. Greg Abbott opted Texans out of all additional federal unemployment aid starting June 26. But finding a job hasn't been easy for everyone.

The prison — Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley — will have capacity for about 1,000 people.

The governor did not specify how long the wall would be or where it would be built. He directed the Texas Facilities Commission to hire a program manager to begin that research.

Abbott made national headlines with his announcement Thursday in Del Rio that Texas would build its own wall at the Mexico border, though he provided no further details and said he would lay out the plan this week.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says a large number of power plants are offline, but could not provide details as to what may be causing the "very concerning" number of outages. At the same time, the state is experiencing near record June demand for electricity.

The possibility that the vaccine won’t work — or that, as some worry, it could even hurt them — is a devastating blow after a year of sacrifice, isolation and waiting for protection against the virus.

The governor suggested more details would be released next week. The announcement Thursday of several initiatives is the latest in an ongoing conflict between Abbott, a Republican, and Democratic President Joe Biden's administration.

As he was fighting for the Legislature to change state bail laws, the governor continued his emergency order to restrict no-cost jail releases during the pandemic. At least several Texas courts have deemed the order unconstitutional.