With less than two weeks before the end of the 83rd legislative session, efforts to find more funding for the Texas Department of Transportation are sputtering.

A name change and several ethics reforms on the table this legislative session for the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees oil and gas drilling, died on Tuesday in a House committee.

Texas is already the top oil-producing state — and excitement about a new era is pervasive, thanks in part to improved technology. Exploration of new shales like the Cline in West Texas is underway, and some oilmen say it's like the old wildcatting days.

Efforts by state lawmakers to find money to repair South and West Texas roads torn up amid a drilling boom appear to be stalling, according to some officials working on the matter. Officials warn about the hazards of not maintaining these roads.

UPDATED: Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman apologized on Friday for retweeting an image that showed a noose beside the names of Republican U.S. senators who had voted down a gun-control filibuster.

Across the U.S., drillers are finding shale formations they hope could become the next big oil play for the American energy industry. But hype over emerging oil fields, like Texas' Cline Shale, has highlighted worries about drilling companies' intentions.

In drilling regions like the Permian Basin, where the water needs of fracking have run up against a historic drought, drillers are increasingly turning to brackish groundwater previously thought too expensive to use.

Most fracking operations use several million gallons of water. But with water increasingly scarce and costly around Texas, a few companies have begun using alternative liquids, such as propane. Experts say the technology still has far to go.

Can groundwater authorities in Texas require oil and gas drillers to obtain permits for the water they use in hydraulic fracturing? No one knows for sure, thanks to ambiguities in the water code.

Mexico's ruling party says the country's oil monopoly will stay under state control. But on Sunday, the party adopted a platform to allow for private investment in the oil giant, drawing interest among Texas companies.

This session, renewable energy advocates are bracing to defend critical policies that have helped Texas become the leading wind-power state. The discussions include a renewable energy mandate and a key tax incentive.

As lawmakers look for a way to fix infrastructure crumbling under the weight of a drilling boom, talk of reducing the tax money that feeds the state's Rainy Day Fund is drawing attention. 

A Legislative Budget Board report on how government can be more effective has recommended that the state reduce its gas tax exemption for hydraulic fracturing.

A new University of Texas at Austin study funded by an oil and gas group has found that the amount of water used in fracking has risen sharply in recent years but would level off sometime in the decade starting in 2020.

The Texas House Committee for Land and Resource Management heard testimony Monday regarding the use of eminent domain by oil and gas companies to build on private land for what they say is the public good.

Midland lies at the heart of a region that produces 14 percent of the world's oil. With oil prices above $80 a barrel on the world market, the area is experiencing a major boom. But the growth has also strained Midland like never before.

The Obama administration has announced plans to to expand drilling activities in the Gulf of Mexico, even as lingering effects of the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill are still felt along parts of the Texas coastline.

With oil production on the rise in Texas, drilling companies are increasingly burning off the natural gas that surfaces with the oil, because they can't get pipelines in place fast enough to transport it.