Business

TEMPLE—Scott Buckles of Stratford was re-elected on May 4 to serve another two-year term on the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB). Buckles represents TSSWCB Area I, which consists of 51 counties and 49 soil- and water-conservation districts (SWCDs) in the Panhandle and South Plains region of Texas. Buckles also serves as chairman of the Sherman County Soil and Water Conservation District and has been a member of the board since 1992. Buckles, has been a member of TSSWCB since 2011 and is the managing partner of Buckles Farms. The family operation has been in business since 1917 and currently produces corn, grain, sorghum, wheat, and stocker cattle. He is also the co-owner and operator of a crop and aerial spraying service. When Scott has spare time, he builds and operates a one-eighth scale railroad and enjoys spending time in Red River, New Mexico. Scott and wife Dana have three children, Carson, Haley, and Hunter. Since its beginning, the TSSWCB has been governed by five board members. Each board member is elected delegates from soil- and water-conservation district directors within the state district that the member resides. However, with the enactment of SB 1828 by the 78th Legislature, two governor appointees also serve on the TSSWCB to create a seven-member board.

Today, PTCI announced it is working to help build consumer awareness about the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program. The temporary benefit will help to lower the cost of broadband service for eligible households during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeks public comment on a draft habitat conservation plan (HCP) and draft environmental assessment covering potential impacts to the lesser prairie-chicken from renewable energy development in the Great Plains. The HCP would cover wind and solar project development as well as transmission lines across the lesser prairie-chicken’s (LPC) range in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.

AUSTIN—With the potential for severe weather approaching, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar reminds Texans they can purchase certain items tax-free during the state’s sales tax holiday for emergency preparation supplies, which begins at 12:01 am on Saturday, April 24, and ends at midnight on Monday, April 26.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $2.63 billion in March, 2.4 percent less than in March 2020. This amount, however, includes some revenue remitted in March that in normal circumstances would have been received by the state in February.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar reminds business owners that for many property types, April 15 is the deadline to file property tax renditions with their county appraisal districts. Different deadlines apply for certain regulated property.

SACRAMENTO—Texas small nonfarm businesses are reminded this week that the deadline to apply for a SBA federal disaster loan for economic injury are rapidly approaching. Disaster Declaration No.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced last week that he would send cities, counties, transit systems, and special-purpose taxing districts $762.5 million in local sales tax allocations for March, 0.5 percent less than in March 2020. These allocations are based on sales made in January by businesses that report sales tax returns monthly.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2018 decision to reauthorize dicamba formulations was unduly influenced by political interference and ignored critical scientific evidence on the herbicide’s risks, Emily Unglesbee reports for DTN/ The Progressive Farmer. That’s according to internal EPA email obtained by DTN and verified by the agency. Dicamba is notorious for drifting to nearby fields and killing crops and trees that aren’t genetically engineered to resist it.