Texas’ drought and water-supply problems have captured headlines. But with the state’s rapid population growth projected to continue, other infrastructure problems also loom, including clogged roads and a strained power grid.

With more car makers adding electric and natural gas vehicles to their offerings, the need for alternative fueling stations is increasing — and the state is grappling with how to respond.

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.

Aguilar on the aftermath of changes in U.S. immigration policy, Batheja on how the Republican candidates for Senate are handling that sensitive issue, KUT's Philpott on new driver's license laws and immigration, M. Smith on racial tensions and an ousted police chief in Jasper, Galbraith on the state's efforts to limit electric service blackouts, Hamilton on the hot Campbell-Wentworth Senate runoff in Central Texas, Murphy maps the May primary voting, Root on the restoration of the arson-damaged Texas Governor's Mansion and Dehn's latest Weekend Insider on obese Texans: The best of our best content from June 18 to 22, 2012.

Texas' chief power-grid operator forecasts that in 10 years, demand for electricity in Texas will outpace the state's capacity to generate it. Demand for electricity is rising with growth in the population and the economy.

The former chairman of the Public Utility Commission, a Port Arthur native, discusses the reasons behind the long-term power crunch in Texas, his role in the wind boom and the future of solar power.

Texas' electric grid prefers to stay isolated from the rest of the nation. But proposals are afoot to boost outside ties — something that proponents say could help ease the state's looming electricity crunch.

Last summer’s record heat pushed the Texas power grid to the brink. As Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, a state House committee today will look into what's being done to prevent that from happening again.

As the scorching summer days march on, so does the fear of blackouts.

After more unabating triple-digit temperatures and continued skyrocketing power demand, the Texas electric grid operator warned of a "high probability" of rolling blackouts, although as of 5 p.m. the danger appeared to have abated. 

As scorching temperatures continued and Texas electricity use reached another all-time high, the state grid operator initiated the first step of emergency procedures today, seeking power from other grids, including Mexico.

As the triple-digit temperatures stretch into August, Texas residents are blasting their air conditioners — and straining the electric grid with record demand. The grid operator is asking that residents and businesses cut down on their electricity use in the late afternoons all week.

This week, lawmakers from two senate committees called the power players in the electricity industry to Austin to grill them about the rolling blackouts on Feb. 2. As it turns out, many of those executives and their companies' PACs have contributed thousands to the senators who were questioning them. 

The big power companies in Texas on the hot seat during a Senate hearing about this month's rolling blackouts have donated more than $400,000 since 2000 to members of the two committees asking questions. The donations are part of nearly $4 million in campaign money the companies and their employees have spent on political candidates during that time.

The state's electric grid operator has predicted record electricity demand Thursday morning, just over a week after cold weather led to rolling power outages across Texas. But as Matt Largey of KUT News reports, grid operators say this time will be different.

An audio interview with Trip Doggett, president and chief executive of the Texas grid operator, ERCOT

The chief executive of ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, said that "extremely cold" temperatures and windy conditions caused valves, pipes and other equipment in some power plants to fail.

What happened yesterday to cause the rolling power blackouts across Texas? A chain reaction of problems involving the state's coal and gas appeared to be the cause — and wind plants were having trouble, too.