We'll be liveblogging throughout the weekend from the Texas Tribune Festival's energy and environment track — which includes panels on the coming crisis over water, big oil and national security, and whether green energy is an oxymoron.

Odessa, running seriously low on water, is looking to the example set in El Paso, a desert city that has poured money into a desalination plant and invested in conservation.

M. Smith on Rick Perry's allergic reaction to federal school money, E. Smith elicits Ted Cruz's take on David Dewhurst, Root and Ramshaw cover Perry's first presidential debate, Ramshaw and Aguilar poke at Perry's immigration record and how it plays among Republicans, Hamilton on the dash for top status among Texas colleges, Galbraith on an environmental ruling from the White House that got conservative applause and one that didn't, Grissom has the latest on the Willingham arson case and the state's plans to look at other fires and Aaronson's widget for comparing the presidential candidates: The best of our best content from Sept. 5 to 9, 2011.

Federal authorities arrived in Bastrop on Tuesday to assist with the wildfires that have killed two, charred more than 30,000 acres and destroyed at least 600 homes. Matt Largey of KUT News reports that the crisis has stretched fire crews to their breaking point.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is warning that the worst one-year drought on record is causing black bears to change their behavior, roaming farther from traditional habitats and potentially becoming more aggressive toward people.

The relentless drought still gripping the state has dried up drinking water for cattle, pushing ranchers to sell off parts or all of their herds at auction. Matt Largey of KUT News reports.

In West Texas, the main concern is water. In cities like Houston and Fort Worth, clay soil is drying up because of the blistering summer heat, bursting water pipelines and splitting asphalt roads. Across Texas, the cause of these spiraling problems is the same: a nine-month drought that shows no signs of relenting.

It’s official: Texas is now in the midst of the worst one-year drought on record, according to State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.

Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said during a visit to Austin on Wednesday that a pollution rule adopted this month that has infuriated many Texas officials will save lives and can be enacted "cheaply and efficiently."

More than 100 Texas refinery, chemical and utility plants have told the Environmental Protection Agency they plan to apply for federal air permits, which Gov. Rick Perry has said will cut jobs. Erika Aguilar of KUT News looks at whether the EPA's new requirements have done that.

So far this year, the Texas Forest Service has responded to roughly 1,500 wildfires across Texas, the damage of which spreads across 2.5 million acres, according to our interactive map. And burn bans are spreading just as fast. 

Acting on behalf of 14 other states, the state of Texas today filed an opening brief in its case seeking to overturn a finding by the Environmental Protection Agency that greenhouse gases pose a danger to public health and welfare.

The House gave preliminary approval today to a bill that will give more flexibility to an operator at a planned West Texas disposal site for low-level radioactive waste. An effort to curb the company's potential profits failed.

Aaronson on pork choppers, Aguilar on sanctuary cities legislation, Galbraith on Brownsville's ban on plastic bags, Grissom on Delma Banks and prosecutorial misconduct, Hamilton on a tough week for higher education in Texas, Philpott on wildfires and politics, Ramshaw on the state's pursuit of a federal Medicaid overhaul, M. Smith on what would happen if lawmakers don't rewrite school finance formulas, yours truly on the Lege as schoolyard and Stiles with interactive graphics on how the proposed Senate redistricting maps compare with current ones: The best of our best content from May 9 to 13, 2011.

At stores in Brownsville, customers must pay $1 for plastic bags — so many bring their own, or go without. The policy, which also restricts paper bags, has removed hundreds of thousands of bags daily — but not without controversy.

Today the Senate passed a couple of bills that outline how the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission should oversee a low-level radioactive waste dump planned for Andrews County.

A string of wildfires has charred about 400,000 acres in drought-stricken West Texas. But as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, areas further east, also thirsting for water, may be just as vulnerable as the west.