Texas
Athletic trainer tells us how Houston-area athletes beat the Texas heat
With intense heat now and over the Memorial Day weekend, Houstonians are gearing up for sweltering humidity, extreme UV indexes and triple-digit temperatures. In the presence of the infamous Texas heat, maintaining proper hydration is vital to keeping Houston’s high school athletes safe.
KPRC 2′s Michael Horton spoke with Alyce Kessler, who just completed her fifth year as an athletic trainer. She is employed by Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital and is contracted with Almeida Crawford High School in Fort Bend ISD.
As an athletic trainer at a Texas high school, keeping athletes hydrated is a major element of Kessler’s job. On a typical day during football season, she is at the campus before the athletic periods making sure that the water basins are prepared and meticulously placed in every area where practices will take place.
Along with providing access to water, Kessler and the other trainers must keep track of the outdoor conditions to make sure the weather isn’t too intense to safely practice. To calculate this, the school uses a wet-bulb globe thermometer. On top of general air temperature, this device measures humidity, radiant heat and wind speed to provide a complete picture of the outside elements. Not only has FBISD adopted the wet-bulb globe measurements for athletics, but Texas UIL has recommended it for marching bands as well.
The wet-bulb globe temperature index has five categories, with Category 1 being the calmest and Category 5 being the most severe. On a typical summer day, Kessler estimates that the wet-bulb globe temperature is a Category 2 or 3, The guidelines affiliated with these categories include several precautions, including shorter practice times, more rest time and dedicated hydration breaks. On a Category 3 day, practices can only be two hours long, and athletes get a rest break of four to five minutes every hour.
Here’s the rest of Michael and Alyce’s discussion:
Michael Horton:. How do the coaches feel about these [guidelines]? Are they positively received by the administration?
Alyce Kessler: I personally believe that the Fort Bend [ISD] administration has taken very well to these recommendations. We’re one of the first districts in our area to really take these recommendations and enforce them and monitor them with our schools and for our student athletes. In my personal experience, I think that the coaches that I have worked with really appreciate us taking the time to keep the kids safe. I know it does alter their practice plans, but they’re really looking to myself and my coworker as athletic trainer to tell them what is going to be the best environment for our kids to practice and play in. And that’s just because they’re working out in Texas heat, and they don’t want these kids to experience any kind of heat illnesses, including exertional heat stroke. Because that is a leading cause of preventable death that in high school athletes. So, we don’t want that to happen.
We want to keep our kids as safe as possible. We do that by preventing these illnesses from happening. That comes with monitoring the wet-bulb globe temp; that comes from having our precaution items out. So, we keep a bunch of different tools in our toolbox to keep these kids safe. One of those is called the Polar Life Pod. You can use really even a tarp or a Rubbermaid container, like a big one and have ice and water ready. So, if a kid is experiencing those heat illness symptoms, they can we can get them cooled down and bring their body to a normal level if we did need to transport them.
Michael Horton: What are those particular symptoms that you mentioned?
Alyce Kessler: Symptoms can include dizziness, headache and blurred vision. And when we’re talking about other types of more intense illnesses, we would see kind of see a gradual incline. We would see peak cramping. That’s a good first symptom if kids haven’t had enough to drink, water-wise. Or maybe they have had enough to drink, but their sweat ratio is coming down. So, they haven’t had enough sodium to then absorb that existing water.
Michael Horton: Do you have any general hydration tips for Houstonians who are active outside during these especially hot months?
Alyce Kessler: Yeah. So, there’s not really a magic number for kids—or really anybody—to drink each day. It’s something that they really need to learn about themselves and how their body reacts. But we try and advocate for our kids to drink about two to three cups of water, prior to exercising and then about a cup about 10, 15 minutes prior.
If that’s a little bit hard for them to manage, I try and make it a little bit easier by saying your body weight divided by two, and that’s how many ounces you should be drinking. Say that we have a kiddo in 10th grade; he’s 150 pounds. He automatically needs 75 ounces of water that day. Then depending on, you know, how much he’s sweating during working out, we would recommend about eight to 10 ounces during the workout, per hour.
Michael Horton: Are there any mistakes or myths you see surrounding hydration and athletics?
Alyce Kessler: I wouldn’t say I see a lot of it. I know a lot of student athletes these days think anything they’re drinking is considered hydration. But we want to remember that the different ingredients of a drink are not always hydrating you. So, they need to really look at the content.
A lot of kids think energy drinks are fine to be drinking, but those are really going to dehydrate them more than actually hydrating them and can actually be hurtful for them. So, I try and have them stay away from those as much as possible, and we really try and encourage if they’re going to be drinking sports type drinks, that they look at the contents and make sure that there is a balance in carbohydrates and sodium, because that sodium is going to help for that water to be reabsorbed, which is what we want. Because if they’re drinking too much water and they’re not actually absorbing any of it, they can feel bloated, and that’s going to make them a little bit more inclined to feel sick.
Michael Horton: At the risk of making this sound like a promotion, are there any brands or supplements you recommend outside of just water?
Alyce Kessler: Within our budget, we buy Gatorade products here. [We use] powder to make Gatorade for especially hot practices, games, things like that. Because it does have a good ratio to what is provided. And then we do have different things that you can buy as an athletic trainer for your athletic training room, and one of them is it’s GatorLyte. It’s basically a salt packet. I’ll say anything similar to that, because we want to encourage absorption of the water. But that’s what we use here. I’m sure there’s other brands that that work very well that other athletic training rooms use. But that’s what I’ve used in my practice as an athletic trainer.
Michael Horton: Is there anything we didn’t get to that you think is applicable for hydration in high school athletics and Houstonians in general?
Alyce Kessler: Yeah, the athletics figures on high school campuses are going to be a huge, huge help in preventing these, preventable injuries and illnesses from occurring to kids. Having these highly qualified, you know, health care professionals on all campuses can really make or break how these kids are feeling and how they’re learning to take care of their bodies. Ultimately, we are teaching them how to advocate for their own health care and how to take care of their bodies. If they don’t have someone helping them learn that, then those skills might not be learned. That can lead to some pretty serious problems both in the present and in the future.
Michael Horton: Would you say the majority of schools have people in these positions to lead these kinds of conversations?
Alyce Kessler: That’s a no. I think it really depends on districts and how they choose to spend their money in athletics. I know that Fort Bend has at least two athletic trainers at every campus. Some campuses have three. That is really great for those kids. I know some districts have chosen to shy away from having campus athletic trainers, and they have athletic trainers at games. And, although I’m always going to be advocating for us as healthcare professionals to be on campus, I would say that even having them at games is going to be very beneficial for these student athletes.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
Texas is planning its grid around an unprecedented wave of AI-driven power demand that the state’s energy regulator says may not fully materialize on projected timelines.
In a recent filing to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) projected statewide power demand could surge to nearly 368 GW by 2032 – more than four times the state’s current peak demand record of 85.5 GW. But the filing also contains an unusual warning from the grid operator itself.
“ERCOT has concerns with using the preliminary load forecast values for the Reliability Assessment and any other transmission and resource adequacy analysis,” the organization wrote in its April 2026 long-term load forecast filing.
The organization added that it may seek adjustments to the forecast based on “actual historical realization rates or other objective, credible, independent information.”
ERCOT has already begun adjusting for realization risk internally. In its 2025 long-term load forecast report, the grid operator said the “average peak consumption per site was 49.8% of the requested MW” and applied that factor to projected non-crypto data center load additions in some planning models.
ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said the forecast reflects “higher-than-expected future load growth” tied to changing large-load planning dynamics.
Texas has emerged as a hotspot for data center growth, with numerous new projects reshaping the energy market and challenging grid capacity. (Image: Alamy)
Texas Developers Race Ahead of Grid Capacity
Texas has emerged as a key data center market, driven by its abundant land, competitive energy prices, and favorable regulatory environment. This combination has positioned the state as a magnet for hyperscale operators and AI infrastructure investments. The state is estimated to account for around 15% of all data center connectivity in the US.
Recent and proposed AI data center campuses tied to OpenAI, Oracle, Meta, Crusoe, CoreWeave, Soluna, and other hyperscale operators are reshaping Texas grid planning. Developers have proposed large campuses across North Texas, Abilene, West Texas, and the Houston corridor, many requiring hundreds of megawatts of capacity and, in some cases, dedicated onsite generation to bypass interconnection delays. That buildout pushed ERCOT’s non-crypto data center forecast above 228 GW by 2032.
Developers are continuing to pursue Texas aggressively because ERCOT still offers faster timelines and more flexible market structures than many competing regions. Several proposed campuses pair AI infrastructure with onsite gas generation, colocated power assets, or flexible-load arrangements to navigate mounting transmission constraints.
Utilities across the US are grappling with AI-driven electricity growth, but ERCOT’s projections stand apart for both scale and uncertainty. PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest grid operator, expects summer peak demand to climb above 241 GW over the next 15 years as data centers and electrification expand. ERCOT, by contrast, projects demand potentially reaching nearly 368 GW by 2032, driven largely by proposed non-crypto data center loads. At the same time, the grid operator openly questions how much of that demand will materialize on schedule.
Bigger Than Texas
Similar pressures are emerging elsewhere. In California, CAISO’s latest transmission plan cited “data center load growth” as a driver of major grid upgrades and described interconnection volumes as “unmanageable” before recent queue reforms.
A recent Grid Strategies report reached a similar conclusion nationally, warning that the “data center portion of utility load forecasts is likely overstated by roughly 25 GW” compared with market-based deployment estimates.
Ihab Osman, an independent strategist specializing in data center and other mission-critical infrastructure, said the distinction is less about “real” versus “fake” AI demand and more about “announced versus deliverable demand.”
“A large share of the current AI/data center planned load should be treated as paper megawatts until it is validated through physical gates,” Osman said, citing factors including site control, transmission deliverability, generation availability, turbine and transformer supply, permitting, financing, and credible energization schedules.
Osman said ERCOT’s forecast is best understood as “a stress-test map, not as a fait accompli build map.”
Separating ’Paper Megawatts’ From Real Demand
The filing shows Texas regulators and grid planners struggling to distinguish operating AI infrastructure from a rapidly expanding pipeline of proposed projects.
“The vast majority” of ERCOT’s projected load growth comes from submissions provided by transmission and distribution utilities, according to the filing. Those requests include hyperscale AI campuses, GPU clusters, and other large industrial loads seeking future grid capacity reservations.
Alison Silverstein, a former senior adviser to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said “a large proportion” of projects in ERCOT’s large-load interconnection queue have already been canceled, particularly among smaller developers facing long interconnection delays and high turbine and transformer costs.
Forecasts Collide With Physical Infrastructure Limits
ERCOT has also signaled that many projects may not materialize on the timelines shaping transmission planning.
The grid operator said summer 2026 peak demand is likely to land between roughly 90.5 GW and 98 GW – far below the preliminary 112 GW figure embedded in the long-term forecast. ERCOT said it appears “unlikely” that new large-load projects and existing site expansions will ramp quickly enough to push demand that high this year.
The filing suggests uncertainty around AI-related load growth is beginning to influence broader infrastructure planning assumptions. By 2032, ERCOT projects non-crypto data centers reaching 228 GW of demand, compared with just 9 GW from cryptocurrency mining and roughly 3 GW each from hydrogen/e-fuels and oil-and-gas-related industrial growth.
The move also suggests the regulator is no longer simply forecasting AI-driven growth, but also working to determine how much of the proposed boom can actually be financed, supplied, interconnected, and energized before utilities commit billions to long-lived infrastructure.
AUSTIN, Texas — Bravo is developing a new reality series set in the Texas Hill Country, the network announced on Instagram Monday.
“Secrets, Lies, Texas Wives” would follow a group of women in Boerne.
According to the network’s description, the series centers on “a tight-knit circle of glamorous women” navigating family life, ranching, and social obligations in a community rooted in rodeo and tradition. They promise drama with “forbidden romances” and relationship angst.
No premiere date or cast have been announced.
If picked up, the series would join Bravo’s long-running portfolio of region-specific reality franchises, which includes the “Real Housewives” lineup.
AUSTIN, Texas — With the average price of a gallon of gas in Texas topping $4, some leaders from Austin to Washington, D.C., are backing a temporary pause on gas taxes as a way to deliver relief.
Veronica Valdez Rodriguez was pumping gas at a southeast Austin station on Tuesday. She said the rising costs are becoming unmanageable.
“They’re sky high,” Rodriguez said. “I can barely get by, you know? It’s too expensive.”
She said she is spending $40 more every week on gas.
According to AAA Texas, the average cost of a regular gallon of fuel stood at over $4.01 in the Austin area on Tuesday, $1.24 higher than the average one year ago.
President Donald Trump said he is working to pause the federal gas tax, which is 18 cents per gallon.
A reporter asked the president on Monday how long the tax would be suspended.
“Until it’s appropriate. It’s a small percentage, but it’s, you know, it’s still money,” Trump said.
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In Texas, an 18-cent-per-gallon pause could add up to savings of about $2 to $3 on an average tank of gas.
Support for a federal pause is coming from both parties. State Rep. and U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico (D-Austin) backed the idea last month.
“Lowering prices at the pump should be a bipartisan commitment,” Talarico said in a statement Monday.
Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said he didn’t know the details of the president’s plan.
“There’s a difference between a temporary suspension and a permanent suspension,” Cornyn said Monday. “I don’t know exactly what the President has in mind. I think a temporary suspension getting through this sort of bumpy time because of uncertainty about energy prices, I can live with that.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa is calling for a state gas tax pause as well. The state tax currently sits at 20 cents per gallon, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
The state pause is also being urged by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who has called on Governor Greg Abbott to act.
“Governors in Indiana, Georgia, and Utah have already stepped up to provide relief for their citizens, and I once again renew my call for Governor Abbott to follow the lead of President Trump and act decisively for Texas families,” Miller wrote on Monday.
The governor’s office, however, said a state gas tax pause is not an option under his executive authority.
In a statement, the governor’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, wrote in response to Miller:
There’s a reason Sid Miller lost his election, it’s because he doesn’t shoot straight with Texans. Any suggestion that the Texas governor is authorized by law to suspend a gas tax is entirely uninformed or purposefully misleading. If the Texas governor could suspend taxes, he would have suspended the property tax years ago.
At the federal level, the Bipartisan Policy Center said a gas tax holiday would require an act of Congress. The group also estimated that a five-month pause could cost as much as $17 billion.
Some drivers, like Rodriguez, said any break would help.
“Pause the taxes!” she said.
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