US News & World Report evaluated 859 cities to rank the 250 best places to live, focusing on quality of life, value, desirability, job market, and net migration. Texas cities, particularly El Paso, Austin, and Fort Worth, excelled in this ranking, showcasing the state's appeal in urban living.
For its 40th year, the popular culture and technology festival in Austin embarked on its experimental era. Amid renovations to the Austin Convention Center, which won't reopen until 2029, the festival chose to spill it all outward into downtown Austin. The temporary closure of the center led to what the festival's organizers dubbed the Congress Avenue Block Party-a long stretch of city blocks that shut down traffic to become occupied by various activations.
In 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 17 into law, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at public institutions across the state. In the years since, the University of Texas at Austin has been steadily remaking itself in the image demanded by conservative legislators across town.
In reality, the Lone Star State is vast-and incredibly diverse-spanning more than 250,000 square miles of major cities, small towns, beach getaways, country roads, and border communities. For travelers arriving in Texas, one thing quickly becomes clear: the Lone Star State isn't just one destination-it's many.
Known as ExStra, this is a permanent national funding programme designed to strengthen research at the nation's top universities and make them more competitive internationally. While the ExStra programme allows for up to 15 "Excellent Universities" (Exzellenzuniversitaten), only ten institutions have made the grade for the next round of funding.
The world has been racing toward a more digital-first existence for some time now, and many believe we're actually most of the way there already. One of the key components of that existence is a digital financial system, but Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have already shown us that the concept is certainly viable. Like it or not, the world is shifting in a more digitized direction, whether we like it or not.
For 2026, Texas Tech lured perhaps the biggest -- and likely most expensive -- fish yet. Sorsby ranked No. 1 overall in ESPN's Portal rankings. He'll project as one of the top quarterbacks in the country next year, as he earned second-team All-Big 12 honors last year. Tech has earned a reputation for being one of the sport's biggest spenders; ESPN's Max Olson reported earlier this year that the Red Raiders spent more than $3 million on edge rusher David Bailey last year.
On a chilly day before Christmas, Teresa Rivas helped a tween boy pick out a new winter coat. "Get the bigger one, the one with the waterproof layer, mijo," she said, before helping him pull it onto his string-bean frame. Rivas provides guidance counseling at Owen Goodnight Middle School in San Marcos, Texas. She talks with students about their goals and helps if they're struggling in class. She's also a trained navigator placed there by a nonprofit called Communities in Schools.
WAC play features the Tarleton State Texans (13-13, 4-9 WAC) at home against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds (9-17, 5-8 WAC) on Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 8 p.m. ET. In its most recent game, Tarleton State topped Abilene Christian on Monday, 65-62 in OT. Kade Douglas scored a team-high 24 points (and contributed one assist and three rebounds). Southern Utah was victorious in its previous game versus UT Arlington, 78-73, on Saturday. Elijah Duval starred with 20 points, plus two boards and three assists.
This is a striking decision at a moment when public confidence in higher education is eroding. It is also puzzling because rigorous research and evaluation have demonstrated, over and over, the value of the work of centers for teaching and learning, including positive impacts on student learning outcomes, institutional effectiveness and faculty development.
"At this time, no changes to faculty or staff positions, reporting structures, or job responsibilities are planned," Mario Torres, dean of UTSA's College of Education and Human Development, wrote in an email, according to the Express-News. He described the change as "an exciting opportunity" that would lead to a "more prosperous future" for the academic programs. He said a task force composed of faculty, students and staff would help shape the new department.
Over the past several years, Texas has moved from griping about "woke campuses" to fundamentally restructuring the governance, curriculum, and tenure protections of its public universities. The cumulative effect is not reform. It's consolidation of power. And the target is the traditional independence of higher education. TL:DR - send your kids to Texas public universities, and it's like having the Texas legislature teach your kids.
