Drivers will no longer be required to get annual safety inspections beginning Jan. 1, the Texas Standard reported. However, drivers in the state’s 17 most populous counties will still be required to get an emissions test in order to register their vehicles.

While mandatory vehicle inspections are going the way of the pay phone and video cassette recorders, drivers will still end up paying a $7.50 “inspection replacement fee” when registering their vehicle and getting a new windshield sticker.

The emissions test required in urban counties consists of an engine and exhaust test to ensure a vehicle isn’t exceeding the state’s legal limits on emitting pollutants.

The counties that require emissions test in order to register a vehicle are Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Ellis, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis and Williamson.

Vehicle owners are urged to keep up with maintenance.

“We urge people to still take care of their vehicles, still check your tires, make sure your brakes are working, headlights, tail lights and mirrors are still safe before you drive,” Sgt. Billy Ray with the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Long-term care advocates say more funding needed

The state’s lead ombudsman for residents in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, is calling for lawmakers to fund more full-time and part-time positions and make other reforms to a long-term care system that ranks 42nd in the nation for safety and quality, The Texas Tribune reported.

Patty Ducayet, the state ombudsman, works independently from the Texas Health and Human Services Department, which oversees these facilities. She and others are also urging more volunteers to advocate for residents as well as more state funding to hire additional ombudsman.

“We would be lost in the long-term care community without them (volunteers), but they definitely need more support across the board,” said Andrea Earl, the associate state director of advocacy and research for the AARP.

In 2024, the state ombudsman had its highest turnover rate at 255. Ducayet said ideally the state would have one staff member for every 2,000 licensed care facility beds. Right now, the ratio is one person for every 2,514 beds, which would require hiring 22 more full-time employees as well as increasing the volunteer base.

Wastewater leaks from oil wells pose danger

The water that comes up as a byproduct of oil and gas fracking is becoming a bigger headache for the state’s energy operators and those who regulate them, the Houston Chronicle reported. Most of the “produced” water is injected into disposal wells that carry it into geologic formations for containment.

The extremely salty water — nine time saltier than the ocean — also contains a number of carcinogenic chemicals, such as benzene. The practice of wastewater injection is believed to have caused earthquakes across the state and several environmentally damaging and costly blowouts.

One barrel of Permian crude can also produce as many as eight barrels of tainted water. The industry is working to create a new technology to desalinate the water so it doesn’t have to be injected underground and possibly could be reused.

Postal service warns of texting scam

Christmas is over, but that doesn’t mean scammers have taken a holiday. Officials with the U.S. Postal Service are warning about a scam being sent by text messages, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The scam consists of text messages being sent to cell phone owners that claims a USPS package can’t be delivered because of missing information. A link is included in the message. Clicking on the link can expose the user’s personal information.

“The criminals want to receive personally identifiable information such as: account usernames and passwords, Social Security Number, date of birth, credit and debit card numbers, personal identification numbers, or other sensitive information,” the news release says.

Postal customers are urged to go to the official USPS page to determine the status of a package: usps.com/sms-tracking.

Texas now home to more than 31 million

The Lone Star State added nearly 563,000 residents in the last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Tribune reported the state’s growth has slowed, though the 1.8 percent growth rate  is still the third highest in the country, behind Florida and the District of Columbia.

Roughly 40% of the state’s new residents came from net international migration, with 319,569 new residents from abroad, the Census Bureau said. Texas still led the country in migration from other states, adding 85,267 people in the last year who moved here from another state.

The slowing of domestic migration means Texas will likely rely on international migration to meet the labor needs of a booming state economy, according to Lloyd Potter, the state demographer.

“With a growing economy, we have a growing demand for labor,” Potter said. “And if we’re seeing a decline in domestic migration, well, that labor probably is going to need to come from immigrants.”

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Gary Borders | [email protected]