Texas Tribune Brief

The order could face legal challenges, and Texas might have to chip in a quarter of the cost. State leaders have not said how they'll respond.

Hospitality businesses that make most of their money through alcohol sales were closed down by Abbott's latest shutdown order, leaving them to maneuver through loopholes to reopen.

The nonbinding opinion comes as housing experts and advocates fear that the COVID-19 recession will prompt a surge in evictions across the state.

Anna Garza says that since losing her job in late May, her anxiety and depression have made it "very difficult to try and keep it together." Listen to her story in the weekend edition of The Brief podcast.

The university plans to test all of its campus residence hall students by the beginning of September. It will continue to conduct random testing and identify individuals or groups on campus strategically to test those at a higher risk of disease spread.

The Census Bureau on Monday lopped a month off the time people have to respond to the 2020 count. Texas is already lagging behind the country in response rates, with low-income and Hispanic Texans at high risk of being missed.

Thousands of migrant children have been expelled by the Trump administration since March. Some have been held in hotels without access to lawyers or family. Advocates say many are now “virtually impossible” to find.

Texas collected $2.98 billion in sales tax revenue in July — 4.3% more than in July 2019. Comptroller Glenn Hegar said the number was "better than expected."

Saturday marked another night of demonstrations against police brutality in Austin, but tensions were heightened because of last week's shooting death of Garrett Foster, a 28-year-old protester, by a man who has not been charged.

Officials are unsure of the motive behind the unsolicited packets but suspect that they are part of an online scam.