Up to 168,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled into Galveston Bay on Saturday, closing the Houston Ship Channel and raising fears of a major ecological disaster along the Texas Coast.

The University of Texas System dropped 2,000 heavily redacted email documents that nevertheless shed more light on the ongoing conflicts between system regents and school administrators.

Gov. Rick Perry in an interview Monday with Fox Business described restrictions on Tesla Motors from selling cars directly to consumers as "antiquated protections." But his office later said there are no plans to call a special session on the issue. Meanwhile, Tesla executives on Wednesday met secretly with San Antonio-area government officials. The city is said to be in the running for a $5 billion battery plant to be built by Tesla.

The lesser prairie chicken will be listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The decision is expected to have a significant economic impact in the five states, Texas included, where the bird roams. Officials from all five states had worked together on a plan intended to stave off a listing for the bird.

A judge ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to disclose its supplier of execution drugs. The state will appeal the ruling.

Disclosure: At the time of publication, the University of Texas was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. (See the full list of Tribune donors below $1,000 here.)