____FROM THE TEXAS TRIBUNE____
Corpus Christi residents take precautions as crisis looms
CORPUS CHRISTI — Not too long ago, Tamala Alejandro said her backyard was lush with a vegetable garden.
On the ground, she had watermelons, cantaloupes and potatoes. She loved her herb garden, and her prized possession was her beloved peach tree.
But then, she learned about the looming water emergency in Corpus Christi: the city is edging towards a historic shortage.
A yearslong drought and a recent boom of refineries settling along Corpus Christi Bay has nearly drained the city’s water supply. Two of the city’s three main reservoirs have shrunk below 10% capacity. Now the city is depending on a patchwork of temporary sources for water, which may run dry by July.
Residents have been asked by the city to conserve water, with nonessential, outdoor watering prohibited. The city plans to limit how many days splash pads are open over summer break. A local high school canceled its annual car wash fundraiser.
The Texas Tribune spoke to nearly a dozen locals, and many said they have been, begrudgingly, limiting their shower times and laundry runs, and letting their lawns turn brown. Residents say the shortage is impacting their daily lives, even though they don’t feel like they are the problem.
Confusion Widespread During Primary Voting in Dallas Co.
FROM VOTE BEAT AND THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
At least 12,674 Dallas County voters trying to cast ballots in both party primaries showed up at the wrong polling locations March 3 after the county GOP forced the elimination of countywide polling sites on election day, county data shows.
Democrats had more than double the number of primary voters in Dallas County as Republicans so, unsurprisingly, a larger number of Democratic voters had to be redirected to the correct site, according to a Votebeat analysis of data provided by Dallas County election officials. But similar percentages of voters from both parties were affected by the change.
New Cannabis Regulations Take Effect March 31
New state rules that eliminate natural smokeable hemp products and increase licensing fees will go into effect at the end of the month. Hemp industry leaders say these new regulations will eliminate a majority of their inventory and force those who don’t have extra income to meet these new fees to close stores.
Earlier this month, the Texas Department of State Health Services released regulations on consumable hemp-derived THC products that will go into effect on March 31. These new regulations include child-resistant packaging, a significant increase in licensing fees, new labeling, testing, and bookkeeping requirements. The rules also codify the legal purchasing age to 21, which went into effect last year as an emergency directive.
____FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS____
Fire Extinguished After Port Arthur Refinery Explosion
An oil refinery fire near the Texas coast was put out Tuesday and a shelter-in-place order was lifted, hours after a large explosion at the complex shot plumes of smoke into the air, officials said.
No one was injured in Monday’s explosion at the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Houston, Mayor Charlotte M. Moses said. She had urged residents in parts of the west side of the city to stay put.
“There’s been an explosion, yes, but we’re OK; everybody’s OK,” she said. “They’re trying to put the fire out as quickly as possible.”
Residents at least several miles away said they felt their homes shake. Some schools in the area were closed Tuesday as a precaution.
The explosion comes amid a spike in gas prices driven by uncertainty over the global oil supply because of the Iran war.
The refinery has about 770 employees and can process about 435,000 barrels of oil per day, according to Valero’s website. The plant refines heavy sour crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Opponents Ramp Up Campaign Against Mifepristone
As states that already ban abortion look to further restrict access this year, much of the focus is on pills sent by out-of-state providers.
A survey released Tuesday helps explain the emphasis. It suggests that more women in states with bans obtained abortions last year using the pills prescribed via telehealth than by traveling to places where it’s legal.
Most of the states with the political will to impose broad bans have already done so in the nearly four years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door to enforcing them. So far this year, just one state has a new one.
Multiple states are challenging the federal rules that allow mifepristone to be prescribed via telehealth. Requiring in-person prescriptions instead would at least dent the ability of out-of-state providers to get pills into states with bans.
Louisiana has such a lawsuit in federal court there; the attorneys general of Florida and Texas have one in Texas; those two states, along with Idaho, Kansas and Missouri, are making the same case in a Missouri court.
Meanwhile, Texas has filed civil cases and Louisiana criminal ones against providers accused of sending pills into their states.
The Food and Drug Administration last year approved a generic version of mifepristone, which frustrated abortion opponents.
Abortion questions will be before voters in at least three states in November.
Missouri lawmakers are asking voters to repeal the right to reproductive freedom that they put into the state constitution in 2024.
Elsewhere, voters are being asked to add constitutional amendments that largely mirror current state abortion laws.
In Nevada, a state constitutional amendment to allow abortion until fetal viability — generally considered to be sometime after 21 weeks of pregnancy — passed in 2024, and needs voter approval a second time to take effect.
A Virginia ballot measure would guarantee the right to reproductive freedom, including access to contraception and making decisions on abortion care during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
