An intense regional battle over water supply is bubbling up across North Texas. Water planners are split over the creation of the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir in northeast Texas. Water managers in DFW are planning on the 66,000-acre project; local planners are not.

People shared their opinions during a public hearing in Arlington on Monday. Public comment on the water plan runs through July 18.

Dozens of people drove in from East Texas.

“These ideas that you put on paper cost somebody, something,” said one.

“What am I supposed to tell my friends who live in that area? Well, your house may be underwater, I don’t know,” said another.

Most who attended the meeting spoke against the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, wearing green stickers to show their opposition. The project would require landowners to sell their property along the Sulphur River in Red River and Titus counties, or see it taken through eminent domain. The reservoir would send most of its water to the booming DFW Metroplex.

Part of Stanley Jessee’s land would be underwater if the plan moves forward.

“That’s where I live. That’s where I’ve retired. I raise cattle there, that’s what I do. My grandkids live next to me, or close to us. If the reservoir comes, we lose all that,” said Jessee.

Advocates from the business community spoke in favor of keeping the Region C water plan — including Marvin Nichols — as is, arguing DFW’s population could double to 15 million in the coming decades and will need new water sources.

“You know, at the end of the day, it comes down to quality of life. It comes to economic competitiveness,” said Chris Wallace, president of the North Texas Commission. “As you well know, water is the foundation of every growing community and every healthy economy.”

Dan Buhman, chair of the Region C Planning Group, told NBC 5 that the plan’s critics are partially right: Water users in DFW need to conserve more, but that alone isn’t enough.

“It’s a yes, and, future. We have to conserve, there’s no question about it. We are really focused on conserving as much water as possible,” said Buhman.

He said the math of new people coming and the water available now doesn’t add up without new groundwater reservoirs.

“I know it’s a difficult topic, and I know it can be an emotional topic, and I appreciate them coming and hearing their perspective. It is true that there’s an impact to every new strategy,” said Buhman.

Because the DFW and northeast Texas water plans are split on the issue, the Texas Water Development Board will have the final say. A decision may come in early 2026, after the regions submit their official five-year plans in the fall.

Liberty softball made history on Sunday night in College Station, Texas.

The Flames knocked off hosting Texas A&M 6-5 in their regional matchup Sunday, which sent them into the Super Regionals for the first time in program history. That also left the Aggies, who were the top seed in the region and a favorite to win the Women’s College World Series, on the wrong side of a historic upset.

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The Aggies are now the first No. 1 seed in history to ever fail to make it out of the regionals round since the current format started two decades ago.

The Aggies held a 3-1 lead entering the sixth inning of the winner-take-all game Sunday afternoon. That’s when the Flames erupted. Savannah Jessee hit a two-run homer to left field to tie the game early in the inning, and Rachel Roupe followed suit with a three-run shot. That put LIberty up 6-3.

While the Aggies added two runs at the bottom of the inning, Liberty held on and took the one-run win after closing out the final inning.

Texas A&M had to beat Liberty twice Sunday to make it out of the regional, as it had already fallen to the Flames on Saturday. That sent the Aggies to the elimination bracket, where they beat Marist to set up Sunday’s pair of games. The Aggies then took the first game 14-11 in extra innings.

Liberty will now take on either Stanford or Oregon next in the Super Regionals. If it wins there, the Flames will earn a trip to the Women’s College World Series — which starts on May 29 in Oklahoma City.

As the Texas A&M Aggies head into Year 2 under head coach Mike Elko, it seems the expectations are rising. That is despite a disappointing finish to his first season, where the Aggies lost four of their final five games.

Yet, after a productive offseason where Texas A&M has garnered praise from the national media as they filled holes on their roster via the transfer portal in addition to signing the nation’s No. 9 ranked recruiting class, there is a narrative building that the Aggies’ season-opening game versus Notre Dame is a “must-win.”

Gigem 247’s Jeff Tarpley is a believer in the notion that the Aggies’ trip to South Bend, Indiana, is a “must-win” as he believes it is time the athletic department and its donors see a return on investment.

“I talked about this last year a little bit in terms of the fact that that if they gave your predecessor 76 million to go away and you come a lot cheaper than that, there’s going to be more pressure on you to perform right away,” Tarpley said during a recent appearance on ESPN Central Texas radio. “It didn’t help that it was Elko’s first game ever and so A&M didn’t have the benefit of either him or his players learning on the job in preseason. But there is going to be even more pressure now since they lost to this same Notre Dame last year to open the season, and they went one and four down the stretch this year.”

Tarpley even went as far as to compare Elko’s situation heading into this coming season to Marcus Freeman’s last year with Notre Dame. The 39-year-old head coach inherited the program from Brian Kelly, who took the Irish as far as an appearance in a national championship game over his 11-year tenure.

Although Freeman got off to a solid start as he won 19 games in his first two seasons with the Irish, there was pressure building for him to take them to that next level of making the College Football Playoff.

However, there is a key difference between the two. According to Tarpley, Elko is now facing similar pressure heading into just his second season in charge of the Aggies. No, it is not job pressure, rather just competitive pressure, as the Aggies are still paying Jimbo Fisher to not be on the sidelines on top of the cost it takes to build a talented roster.

Opening a season on the road is never easy, especially when having to make the trip a potentially hostile enviroment like South Bend. But it is those type of games, where Texas A&M is facing another top-25 ranked team that Elko will be expected to deliver wins against.

Especially so if the goal is make the College Football Playoff, then a season-opening win over the Irish could be an early showcase win for the Aggies on their path to securing a top-12 seed.