The first debate in the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate is set for Jan. 24 in Georgetown, The Dallas Morning News reported. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas and state Rep. James Talarico of Round Rock are vying for the nomination. The seat is now held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who faces two major opponents in the GOP primary: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston. Cornyn is seeking his fifth term. The Georgetown debate is sponsored by the Texas AFL-CIO. Crockett is stressing her standing as the race’s progressive and hopes to inspire left-leaning voters to turn out in November if she wins the nomination. Talarico is emphasizing electability, noting he flipped a Republican district to get elected state representative and saying Democrats need a nominee able to compete statewide. Early voting in the March 3 Democratic primary begins Feb. 17. White drops bid to take on Abbott Andrew White has dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination for governor and has thrown his support behind state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who is widely seen as the frontrunner, according to the Houston Chronicle. The crowded Democratic primary has 10 candidates vying to take on Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking an unprecedented fourth term. Abbott has $90 million in his campaign war chest and faces only token opposition his party’s primary. Besides Hinojosa, who has served in the Legislature since 2017, the primary field also includes Chris Bell, a former Houston congressman and gubernatorial nominee, and Bobby Cole, a rancher and retired firefighter. White is the son of former Gov. Mark White. He ran for governor in 2018, coming up six percentage points short in his Democratic primary race against former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez. She lost handily to Abbott that year in the general election.. 500 miles of buoys to be added to Rio Grande In a move to increase border security, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to add floating buoys along more than 500 miles of the Rio Grande, The Texas Tribune reported. Secretary Kristi Noem announced the deployment last week while visiting Rio Grande Valley. The state of Texas deployed 1,000 feet of the water barrier along the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass in 2023 and added another 1,000 feet in January 2025. “Texas finally has a partner in the White House,” Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for Abbott, said in a statement Wednesday. “The floating marine barriers deployed by Texas have been a resounding success, and Gov. Abbott is proud to work with the Trump Administration and Border Patrol to expand the program.” Under the Biden administration, the federal government sued Texas over the buoys, citing migrant safety and saying that they violated water treaties between U.S. and Mexico. That case is still before the courts. “They’ll create a safer environment for agents on patrol, and securing our waterways not only protects Americans, it saves the lives of illegal aliens by deterring them from daring to attempt to cross through this treacherous water,” Noem said. Texas flu levels ‘very high’ with new strain Flu activity in Texas has reached a “very high” level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Austin American-Statesman reported that in the last week of December, the state recorded 25,000 flu-related emergency room visits, with children ages 5 to 11 accounting for more than a quarter of all ER visits statewide. “It’s been really, really startling,” said Dr. Jeff Shilt, president of Texas Children’s Hospital in Austin. “What’s most startling to us is the number and the severity.” The surge is fueled by a rapidly spreading H3N2 subtype of influenza A. Although the flu vaccine has been less effective against this strain, doctors emphasize that vaccination still helps protect against severe illness. Other respiratory illnesses, such as COVID-19 and RSV, remain at low levels in Texas, according to the CDC. Teachers’ union sues TEA over Kirk probes One of the state’s leading teachers unions has sued the Texas Education Agency in an effort to block investigations into public educators who commented negatively about conservative activist Charlie Kirk after his assassination, the Chronicle reported. The lawsuit said the probe has “unleashed a wave of retaliation and disciplinary actions against teachers” by their local school districts. TEA launched the inquiry last fall and has yet to issue any disciplinary action. AFT represents about 66,000 educators in Texas. The agency said in December that it received more than 350 complaints from the public, of which 95 are “open and undergoing further investigation and review.” The remainder have been dismissed. TEA Commissioner Mike Morath warned soon after Kirk’s death that educators who posted or shared “vile content” would be investigated for possibly violating the educator’s code of ethics. At a press conference last week, Randi Weingarten, the president of AFT, called the TEA investigations a “state-sponsored attack on teachers.” She noted only Texas and Florida launched probes of this type. “Mr. Morath decided to exploit the strategy of Mr. Kirk’s senseless murder,” Weingarten said. “His actions were a transparent effort to smear and shame educators, divide our communities and deny our kids opportunities to learn and thrive.” New World screwworm case reported in Tamaulipas A new case of New World screwworm was identified in December in a six-day-old calf in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, less than 200 miles from the border. The Texas Standard reported this is the northernmost active detection of the flesh-eating larval parasite. “The continued detections of New World Screwworm near the Texas border are grim reminders of the serious threat this pest poses to our state,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a five-point plan to address the issue, including building a sterile fly production facility in Edinburg. The parasite was eliminated from the United States decades ago through similar efforts. “This proven strategy is key to the long-term eradication of New World Screwworm,” Miller said. Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@texaspress.com.