Texas
Texas launches new property tax incentive program to lure new businesses
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Texas on Thursday launched a new economic incentives program intended to bring new companies and jobs to the state, replacing a prior job creation system that lawmakers phased out after complaints that it contributed to inequity in public schools.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced the opening of applications for the Texas Jobs Energy, Technology, and Innovation, or JETI, program. Passed with bipartisan support by lawmakers last year, it will provide property tax cuts to eligible companies that move into Texas communities in exchange for job creation.
It replaces Chapter 313, the widely criticized old abatement program that expired at the end of 2022. The new program includes more oversight of participating companies, introduces additional job and salary requirements and halves Chapter 313’s property tax cuts.
“Texas is America’s jobs engine, thanks to our welcoming business climate, robust infrastructure, and skilled and growing workforce,” Abbott said in a statement Thursday. “But we cannot be complacent as we now compete both nationally and globally in industry sectors critical for growth tomorrow.”
Through the new program, companies can apply to receive a 10-year reduction in their property taxes that help fund the operations of local school districts. Using its general revenue fund, the state will pay school districts to partially restore tax money lost to cuts. Budget analysts say it’s unclear how much taxpayers will shoulder the cost of tax breaks for companies.
The program eliminates an oft-criticized feature of Chapter 313 — companies can no longer make direct payments to schools in return for tax breaks, a provision critics say caused inequality in school funding.
The passage of the new program last year came after Abbott faced pressure from business leaders to quickly replace Chapter 313, which generated over 14,000 new jobs statewide through 2021. Amid increasing criticism of Chapter 313 as “corporate welfare,” the state Senate in 2021 declined to renew the program for the first time in its 20-year history.
Texas felt the impact of losing Chapter 313, Abbott said last February, acknowledging that its expiration contributed to the state losing out on a “massive” corporate project to New York in 2023. After he promised to make economic development an immediate priority, he signed the new program into law in June.
Companies that participate in the new program are also required to create a specific number of new full-time jobs, salaried or contracted, with health benefits and competitive pay for salaried positions. Companies also must submit reports to the state on their compliance with these standards every two years.
Each company will receive a 50% abatement, unless their projects are located in economically disadvantaged areas that have been designated as “opportunity zones” by the federal government, where tax cuts are stretched to 75%. Lawmakers say this incentive should encourage development in the state’s rural communities.
Not all companies that could apply for tax cuts through Chapter 313, or the Texas Economic Development Act, will qualify for the new program. Wind and solar companies — predominant participants in Chapter 313 — and battery power storage projects are all excluded from participating.
That change follows criticism of renewable energy companies, which some conservatives allege abused Chapter 313 to obtain unreasonable assistance in a state dependent on its oil and gas industry.
Eligible companies include those that support manufacturing, the development of natural resources, hydrogen fuel production and carbon capture facilities, technologies like semiconductor chips, and innovation including research and development firms.
Before companies that apply can move into Texas communities, school districts in considered areas will host public hearings to decide whether more state evaluation is necessary. The state comptroller can set a one-time fee up to $30,000 to cover evaluation costs, paid by companies.
If companies that are out of compliance with stipulations of the new program, like job creation or salary thresholds, the governor or school district can end deals at any point.
The new program is located in Chapter 403 of the state’s tax code, and will expire in 10 years if legislator’s do not renew it sooner.
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Texas
Triple-digit heat returns to North Texas before weekend storms bring relief
Dallas weather: July 8 morning forecast
High pressure starts to build back into North Texas, which lowers our rain chances and brings triple digit temperatures to parts of the region. Expect partly to mostly sunny skies today, with highs near 100.
DALLAS – A building system of high pressure is bringing triple-digit temperatures back to North Texas, though the intense heat will be short-lived before a weekend weather shift brings relief and renewed chances of rain.
Wednesday forecast
We expect partly to mostly sunny skies Wednesday, with high temperatures reaching near 100 degrees across much of the region. While hot and dry conditions will dominate, a low chance of scattered rain showers remains possible, primarily in areas east of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
The heat is expected to solidify Thursday as the upper-level ridge settles firmly over the area. We have removed all chances of precipitation from Thursday’s forecast, locking in dry conditions and an afternoon high temperature of 100 degrees.
However, relief is on the horizon for the upcoming weekend. The high-pressure ridge will lose its grip on North Texas as it begins to shift westward toward the desert southwest.
Weekend forecast
By late Saturday and continuing into Sunday, the atmospheric shift will establish a northerly flow aloft. This pattern change is expected to funnel a series of weather disturbances into the region, triggering a return of widespread rain and thunderstorm opportunities.
The unsettled weather pattern is forecast to linger well into next week. The persistent cloud cover and moisture associated with the continuing rain chances will successfully suppress the heat, keeping afternoon highs closer to historical norms for this time of year.
7-Day forecast
The Source: Information in this article is from the FOX 4 weather team.
Texas
US immigration officer shoots and kills man in Texas
Man, identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, is latest to be killed by ICE officers since President Trump took power.
Published On 8 Jul 2026
A United States immigration agent fatally shot a man in Houston, Texas, while officers were attempting to stop his vehicle, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said.
The man killed on Tuesday was identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, described by ICE as a Mexican national and “illegal alien” who attempted to evade arrest during a “targeted enforcement operation” by federal immigration officers.
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Ronaldo Salgado, who identified himself as Salgado Araujo’s son, told the Spanish-language television station Telemundo Houston that his father was shot while he was looking for workers to hire in the area.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said Salgado Araujo ignored commands to stop his vehicle, saying he “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer”.
In past shooting incidents, including the January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, immigration officials had said that their officers were being attacked when the two were shot, claims vigorously disputed in both incidents.
Video footage captured on Tuesday by a surveillance camera from a nearby business and reviewed by the Reuters news agency showed a person lying on the ground beside a white van and surrounded by officers, in what appeared to be the aftermath of the shooting.
Salgado Araujo was targeted in an operation because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to DHS.
Democratic US Representative Sylvia Garcia called for an independent and thorough investigation of ICE’s claims about the fatal shooting.
“All available footage, communications, and other evidence should be preserved and reviewed as part of a full and impartial investigation,” Garcia posted on social media.
Juan Proano, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, echoed Garcia’s calls for a transparent investigation into ICE’s actions.
“We don’t take DHS at their word at all,” Proano told The Associated Press news agency. “There should be an independent investigation, and they should release all the videos.”
There have been at least six fatal shootings by federal immigration officers since the start of President Donald Trump’s intensified immigration enforcement crackdown.
Good, a 37-year-old US citizen, was shot in the head by a federal immigration agent during a crackdown in Minneapolis. DHS also said Good was trying to hit the agent with her vehicle, which local officials and witnesses disputed, saying she was only trying to drive away.
The backlash from Good’s killing and other similar incidents led ICE to step back from some of its more controversial operations.
However, Tuesday’s deadly confrontation in Houston came amid a recent increase in the number of ICE arrests nationwide, with immigration officers picking up about 2,000 migrants a day last week, Reuters reported.
Texas
Trump takes credit for Toyota moving some truck production from Mexico to Texas: ‘That’s what tariffs do’
Toyota is planning a $3.6 billion expansion of its Texas truck assembly plant. President Donald Trump took credit for the investment.
On Monday, the automaker announced the multibillion-dollar investment to add a second vehicle assembly line at its San Antonio manufacturing campus to support production of the Tacoma pickup. Toyota said the expansion project would shift some of the midsize truck’s production from its Mexico plants to San Antonio over roughly 4 years. Toyota will still build some Tacoma models and the Corolla in Mexico.
While Toyota did not attribute the expansion to tariffs in its announcement and the company is not fully exiting production in Mexico, Trump said the fresh investment was a sign that his tariffs were working.
“It came over the wires that Toyota is moving out of Mexico into the United States, and building one of the biggest truck and car plants ever built,” Trump said on Tuesday during a visit to Ankara, Turkey. “It’s amazing. That’s what tariffs do, properly used.”
Toyota said the investment will create 2,000 jobs and add 2.5 million square feet to the site, doubling the company’s Texas footprint by 2030.
Toyota
On Monday, Ted Ogawa, president and CEO of Toyota Motor North America, said the investment reflected the company’s “confidence in the region’s workforce, innovation, and long-term growth potential.”
The move gives Trump a high-profile example of a well-recognized company creating manufacturing jobs. His administration has argued that tariffs incentivize companies — particularly automakers — to reshore manufacturing in America and reduce reliance on foreign production.
Toyota’s announcement also comes amid major uncertainty for automakers with plants in North America. The USMCA — the trilateral free trade pact between the US, Canada, and Mexico struck during Trump’s first term — is under review after the US declined to renew the treaty in its current form on July 1. The Trump administration is reportedly pushing to change the agreement so 50% of all automotive parts and manufacturing would happen in the US.
Toyota also nodded to that trade uncertainty in its release, saying it remained committed to operations in all three countries while encouraging “a quick resolution to USMCA” to keep North America globally competitive.
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