News

Some 620,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to land at 1,100 providers in 185 Texas counties starting Monday, including smaller and rural hospitals left out of the first shipment of doses this week, state health officials said Friday.

The League of Women Voters of Texas is celebrating 56 “outstanding” November 2020 general election websites from Texas’ 254 counties. Among those doing with the best effort in providing accurate, accessible, and useful voter information is Hemphill County. Ochiltree County was also rated “outstanding,” while Gray and Wheeler counties received “good” ratings, and the Lipscomb site was judged to be “fair.”

Public access to Legislature up in the air When the Texas Legislature convenes Jan. 12, a key question is how the public will have access to their lawmakers during the pandemic.

AMARILLO—The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) today announced that the waiver on expiration dates for driver licenses (DLs) and identification cards (IDs) ends on April 14, 2021. Customers who need to renew are urged to make an appointment today. The waiver, granted by Gov. Greg Abbott in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, applied to DLs, commercial DLs, commercial learner permits, ID cards, and election identification certificates that expired on or after March 13, 2020.

Shining less bright The Texas Education Agency partially extinguished STAAR for this school year because of the pandemic. The agency said the A-F ratings would be paused for 2020-21 school year because of the disruptions to learning.