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Drinking water warnings issued to thousands in Texas

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Drinking water warnings issued to thousands in Texas


Officials in Texas continue to urge nearly 163,000 residents to boil their drinking water several days after Hurricane Beryl exited the state.

Beryl made landfall in Texas on Monday as a Category 1 storm near the coastal town of Matagorda, before whipping northeast to directly batter the city of Houston, where over 2.5 million in the area quickly lost their power.

The storm continued to roar through Texas and other portions of the U.S. in a northeasterly path, sparking a swarm of tornadoes in multiple states as it diminished in strength and eventually passed into Canada.

While Beryl left at least 10 people dead in Texas and inflicted significant damage to property, many residents impacted by the hurricane in the Lone Star State were also continuing to struggle with a lack of power and clean drinking water four days later.

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Water is pictured boiling in a pot on a stove in this undated file photo. Officials in Texas were asking over 162,000 residents to continue boiling their water on Friday due to damage caused by…


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By Friday, Texas had more than 700,000 power outages that remained unresolved, while some 162,895 residents in 22 counties were under a “Boil Water Notice” (BWN) due to drinking water systems that had been compromised by the storm.

“As of 12:30pm today, we are tracking 259 drinking water systems that are on a BWN serving a population of 162,895,” a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) told Newsweek via email on Friday. “The drinking water systems on BWNs are spread across 22 counties impacted by the hurricane.”

The following is a list of the affected counties, water systems and number of residents that were still being asked to boil their water as of Friday afternoon:

  • Angelina County: 1 water system under BWN, affecting 53 residents.
  • Brazoria County: 67 water systems under BWN, affecting 28,460 residents.
  • Chambers County: 3 water systems under BWN, affecting 446 residents.
  • Fort Bend County: 7 water systems under BWN, affecting 10,206 residents.
  • Grimes County: 3 water systems under BWN, affecting 756 residents.
  • Hardin County: 1 water system under BWN, affecting 108 residents.
  • Houston County: 1 water system under BWN, affecting 9,557 residents.
  • Harris County: 57 water systems under BWN, affecting 32,719 residents.
  • Liberty County: 9 water systems under BWN, affecting 9,557 residents.
  • Matagorda County: 11 water systems under BWN, affecting 4,051 residents.
  • Montgomery County: 35 water systems under BWN, affecting 19,963 residents.
  • Nacogdoches County: 2 water systems under BWN, affecting 9,834 residents.
  • Orange County: 1 water system under BWN, affecting 99 residents.
  • Polk County: 33 water systems under BWN, affecting 24,285 residents.
  • San Augustine County: 5 water systems under BWN, affecting 4,170 residents.
  • San Jacinto County: 12 waters systems under BWN, affecting 5,687 residents.
  • Trinity County: 4 water systems under BWN, affecting 3,038 residents.
  • Tyler County: 2 water systems under BWN, affecting 5,880 residents.
  • Upshur County: 1 water system under BWN, affecting 3,038 residents.
  • Walker County: 2 water systems under BWN, affecting 653 residents.
  • Waller County: 1 water system under BWN, affecting 240 residents.
  • Wharton County: 1 water system under BWN, affecting 40 residents.

Residents who are uncertain about the safety of their drinking water should contact their local water utility for additional information and updates.

Water systems can be damaged by hurricanes and other powerful storms due to power outages, service line breaks or flooding, potentially allowing what would otherwise be safe drinking water to become contaminated by dangerous pathogens.

In systems under a BWN, water may not be safe to drink unless it has been boiled vigorously for at least two minutes. The TCEQ website offers a series of safe water use tips for those affected.

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Texas

Texas man dies after fire at Ardmore Valero refinery

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Texas man dies after fire at Ardmore Valero refinery


ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) – A Texas man has died after a fire at the Ardmore Valero refinery Monday evening.

Beaumont television station KBMT reported that Jesse Cole Biscamp, of Kirbyville, Texas, passed away after he was severely burned. A GoFundMe set up for Biscamp’s family stated he was flown to a burn unit at a Plano hospital.

Biscamp was a volunteer youth football coach, and the GoFundMe described him as a beloved husband and father.

He was one of five people that were hospitalized after the fire broke out.

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Valero has not released any more information about the fire or the other people injured.



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Texas board says TEA’s Bluebonnet curriculum needs 4,200-plus corrections

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Texas board says TEA’s Bluebonnet curriculum needs 4,200-plus corrections


A state-approved curriculum created by the Texas Education Agency two years ago is facing thousands of corrections, prompting questions about what went wrong and what it means for schools already using the materials.

The Texas State Board of Education said the Bluebonnet curriculum needs more than 4,200 corrections.

The TEA said the figure reflects how changes are counted across multiple materials, not necessarily 4,200 separate mistakes.

“I think it’s helpful to know that when we report to the board any changes that we’re making to the materials. Anytime it changes made it that’s done across multiple components like a teacher guide and a student book and a workbook that has to be reported multiple times. So the first thing to know is the actual number of unique changes is about half of that number that’s out there,” said Nicholas Keith, the TEA’s associate commissioner of curriculum and instruction.

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During the State Board of Education’s last board meeting, it was revealed the curriculum’s issues ranged from spelling and grammar errors to wrong answers in teachers’ answer keys.

Districts using the curriculum receive $60 per student, along with funds to hire a specialist to help implement the lessons.

Tornillo ISD is among the districts using Bluebonnet, and its Bluebonnet specialist, Karina Schulte, said the district has not seen issues since implementing the curriculum last September.

“It comes out as, oh my God, it’s, it’s 4200 errors. But it’s, it really wasn’t like I read in the Tribune, it was not a waste of time for educators that did the curriculum that spent unending hours working on it. It’s a very high quality curriculum. That’s why it’s, approved by the state as a high quality instructional material,” Schulte said.

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Schulte said the community will play a role in what comes next as corrections move forward.

“They gave us a chance to to really, dig deep into this isn’t a curriculum about religion. It’s working with a curriculum that has to that has, you know, expectations and, and takes to cover so that students are ready for the next grade level,” she said.

The State Board of Education voted to delay approving the corrections until its next official meeting, set for April.

Until the board approves the changes, the current material will continue to be used.

Texas school district adopts Bluebonnet curriculum amid mixed reactions

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Texas sues Snapchat alleging addictive design and child safety violations

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Texas sues Snapchat alleging addictive design and child safety violations


Texas announced that they are filing a lawsuit against Snap, Inc., the parent company of the popular social media company Snapchat. 

Snap, Inc. allegedly violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) by failing to adequately warn parents and consumers about exposure to inappropriate material and the app’s addictive design. The state says the company misrepresents its safety for young users, placing children at risk of harm.

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Allegations of “addictive” app design, mature content

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FILE – Snapchat logo displayed on a phone screen. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

What we know:

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The lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleges that the creators of Snapchat knowingly misrepresented the app’s safety to parents and consumers by promoting it as safe for children and with “12+” age ratings on app stores. 

This was done, the state says, “while simultaneously frequently exposing users to dangerous and mature content,” citing profanity, sexual content, nudity and drug use in the news release.

The lawsuit specifically cites multiple other features of the app, including Snapstreaks, Snapscore, Snap Map, Infinite Scroll, My AI Chatbot, expiring messages and more as incentives to use the app daily and cause harm to young children due to the “addictive” nature of the features.

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Texas SCOPE Act violations

What they’re saying:

In the lawsuit, the state mentions three separate sections of the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act that are being violated by Snap, Inc. 

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  • Section 509.101: Failure to use a commercially reasonable method for a parent or guardian to verify their identity
  • Section 509.052: Unlawfully sharing, disclosing and selling known minors’ personal identifying information
  • Section 509.054: Failing to provide parental tools for the accounts of known minors.

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In this photo illustration a Snapchat logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen in Athens, Greece on May 16, 2022. (Photo illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In the news release announcing the lawsuit, the Texas Attorney General states that this lawsuit will hold the social media company accountable.

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“I will not allow Snapchat to harm our kids by running a business designed to get Texas children addicted to a platform filled with obscene and destructive content,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Parents have a fundamental right to know the dangers of the apps their kids are using and not be lied to by Big Tech companies. This lawsuit will hold Snapchat accountable for illegally undermining parental rights, deceiving consumers, and for putting children in danger.”

Crackdown on Big Tech

The backstory:

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The Texas Attorney General’s Office mentions that this lawsuit follows legal action that was taken in Dec. 2024 against several other social media companies, including TikTok, Roblox, Reddit, Instagram and Discord.

Texas similarly launched investigations into these companies regarding their privacy and safety practices for minors, citing the SCOPE Act and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA). The protection of these laws extends to how minors interact with AI products.

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FILE- social media, Twitter, TikTok, WhatApp, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger and Telegram displayed on the screen of a smartphone.(Chesnot/Getty Images)

The SCOPE Act and TDSA explained

Dig deeper:

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The SCOPE Act prohibits digital service providers from sharing, disclosing, or selling a minor’s personal identifying information without permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian. The SCOPE Act also requires companies to provide parents with tools to manage and control the privacy settings on their child’s account. 

The TDPSA imposes strict notice and consent requirements on companies that collect and use minors’ personal data.

Potential penalties

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What’s next:

Texas is seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, along with a permanent injunction that could require Snapchat to change how it markets and rates the app, disclose what the state describes as “addictive” design features, strengthen parental verification and oversight tools and comply with the SCOPE Act’s protections for minors. 

A jury trial has been requested in Collin County district court.

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The Source: Information in this article was provided by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Additional information was provided from public documents filed in Collin County.

Social MediaTexasCrime and Public SafetyKen PaxtonInstagramTikTok



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