As Bevo arrives in Dallas ahead of Saturday's Red River Rivalry game, it's worth remembering that longhorn cattle might have gone extinct nearly a century ago but for the quick actions of some federal employees, who assembled a herd on an Oklahoma wildlife refuge.

Things are starting to move on the water policy front, with Texas House Speaker Joe Straus and others saying water will be a focus of the upcoming session. Meanwhile, West Texas keeps getting drier.

A Texas Senate committee heard sometimes emotional testimony Tuesday about smart-meter installations, as opponents of the installation argued that their rights had been violated and the meters carried health risks.

Despite the recent deluge, the drought in West Texas is not over, and experts say the perennially dry region must plan carefully for the future. Pressure is also growing on the Legislature to address the problem next year.

Ron Curry, a former New Mexico environmental regulator, will become the new Dallas-based regional head of the Environmental Protection Agency. He replaces Al Armendariz, who resigned after a firestorm this spring.

The drought that began in October 2010 has continued into 2012, and it has taken a toll on Texas' water supplies. As the summer of 2012 draws to a close, these communities are at risk of running out of water within 180 days.

Texans are already used to the lights going out because of everyday issues like storms, equipment problems or people driving into utility poles. So why is there so much fuss about preventing the occasional grid-wide power outage?

Texas is the top wind power state, but the expiration of a key tax credit at the end of this year could significantly impact the state, which contains about a fifth of the nation’s turbines.

Milton Rister, a former Republican political operative who is currently a member of the governor’s senior staff, will become the new executive director of the Texas Railroad Commission.

With temperatures projected to soar during the final days of August, the state of the Texas electric grid will once again be on policymakers’ minds — though some reliability concerns may be eased since a federal court struck down an EPA rule that could have affected coal plants.

At a Senate hearing on Thursday, Texas Public Utility chairwoman Donna Nelson sharply criticized renewable energy incentives, saying that they are “one of the primary causes” of the current strains on the state power grid.

The drought that began in October 2010 has continued into 2012, and it has taken a toll on Texas' water supplies. This map shows communities that are at risk of running out of water within 180 days.

A Texas farmer's battle to keep the Keystone XL oil pipeline off her property is only the most visible of what some legal experts describe as a rising tide of property-rights cases across Texas.

Texas will lose about 1 percent of its power supply over the winter and spring as Luminant temporarily shuts two units at its 1970s-era Monticello coal plant. The company blamed low power prices.

Texas lags in solar-power development, and lawmakers have been reluctant to promote it with incentives. Nonetheless, solar power can play a role in aiding Texas’ strained electric grid, industry officials and regulators said at a meeting in San Antonio.