In Parmer County: $40 per year
Out of Parmer County: $50 per year
eStar (emailed): $30 per year
Call 806-250-5200 for more information
Stamp Day — Wednesday is U.S. Postage Stamp Day and be aware that the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp will soon be going up. The USPS has filed a proposal to raise the cost of a 1-ounce Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents. The increase is expected to take effect on July 12, 2026. Domestic postcards will go up to 65 cents while international postcards and 1-ounce letters will increase to $1.75 each.
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More Power — The Energy Department announced Tuesday that it will loan $17.5 billion to fast-track 10 large nuclear reactors, betting on surging electricity demand from the data centers powering artificial intelligence. The money would back five projects, each building two reactors using Westinghouse’s AP1000 design, and marks one of the largest efforts by the agency’s revamped financing office, which earlier this year canceled nearly $30 billion in clean energy loans approved under former President Biden. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the financing would drive down costs and could speed deployment by up to 3 years, calling the risk to taxpayers very low. Officials hope construction begins by 2030, with the reactors coming online in the mid-2030s. The Flyover
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Cold Cases Heat Up — The Texas Department of Public Safety is doubling the size of the Texas Rangers’ cold-case unit, adding a second investigator to each of the agency’s six regional companies to work unsolved murders and sexual assaults statewide. The expansion brings the program to 17 Rangers and three support staff, funded by Senate Bill 1, which lawmakers passed and Gov. Greg Abbott signed last year. A new staff lieutenant will also help oversee the state’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. Created in 2001, the program has helped solve more than 300 cases, including over 156 sexual assaults since 2020, and identified a dozen sets of unidentified remains. The Texas Flyover
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X Marks the Spot — The Texas Comptroller’s office recommended approving all eight tax breaks SpaceX is seeking for TeraFab, a semiconductor plant near Gibbons Creek that could become the largest industrial investment in state history. Reviewed under the state’s Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation program, the eight applications cover up to $119 billion over several phases. The Comptroller’s sign-off is one of three approvals required as the school districts and Gov. Greg Abbott must also agree.Supporters call the project a generational shift for rural Grimes County, where county commissioners approved an earlier 100% local tax abatement 4-1, despite most residents who spoke at the hearing opposing it. SpaceX argues that without the breaks, TeraFab would likely go to Arizona. School board votes are expected in mid-July, after which Abbott would decide. The Texas Flyover
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Bee Careful — A semitrailer hauling about 408 beehives, an estimated 2 million bees, tipped into a ditch in Orange County on Sunday after the driver took a wrong turn onto narrow neighborhood streets. Orange County emergency officials closed roads and told residents near Colony Drive to stay indoors while crews unloaded the trailer, and beekeepers raced to save the colonies. By Sunday afternoon, about 75% of the hives had been moved to transport trucks. The hives, bound for North Dakota, had traveled only a few miles before the wreck, according to Chris Moore of Moore Honey, who estimated that only about a quarter of the 408 hives will survive. Volunteers from several area beekeeping outfits turned out to help. No serious injuries were reported, though a news photographer at the scene was stung once. “The beekeeping community is a great community,” said Christie Ray, who owns a nearby bee-supply shop. The Texas Flyover
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Phony Diagnoses — Federal prosecutors charged Texas doctor Jason Finkelstein, 53, with an $89 million scheme that billed insurers for unneeded heart screenings on college athletes. The indictment says Finkelstein’s company sent unaccredited sonographers to campuses, invented diagnoses like hypertension to win reimbursement, and certified results as normal without reviewing them. In one 2024 case, prosecutors say, he signed off on 63 scans in about 11 seconds. Prosecutors say the scheme preyed on athletes’ fears of sudden cardiac death, and that one patient died of an undetected heart problem after his test was falsely cleared. The alleged fraud ran from 2019 through late last year. Finkelstein pleaded not guilty at a hearing in Florida, where his cardiovascular practice was based. The charges were unveiled as part of a national health care fraud crackdown. The Texas Flyover
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