MIDLAND — Governor Greg Abbott today signed into law key legislation to protect Texas’ oil and gas industry and promote economic growth across West Texas, including Senate Bill 494, Senate Bill 529, Senate Bill 1806, House Bill 48, and the Beacon Budget Appropriation, during a bill signing ceremony at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum.
“Today is a defining moment for the Permian Basin, the future of this region, and the future of Texas,” said Governor Abbott. “We are bringing the full weight of the law to crack down on oil theft in the Permian Basin to protect the critical role energy development plays in fueling our economy. I’m also signing an item to fund an historic $123 million investment in The Beacon, a pivotal economic development project for Midland-Odessa.”
View the Governor’s full bill signing ceremony here.
Organized criminals and cartels have increasingly targeted oil pipelines and storage tanks, stealing millions of dollars from communities in the Permian Basin. Through Senate Bill 494, Senate Bill 1806, and House Bill 48, Texas will combat petroleum product theft and protect the energy industry – the lifeblood of the state economy.
Texas is investing in the future of the Permian Basin as it takes steps to improve collaboration among the energy industry and community partners to advance economic development opportunities throughout the region. Through a $123 million appropriation, The Beacon project will extend and enhance access to quality healthcare and education while also providing residential and retail space for the region’s growing population.
The Governor was joined by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick, Senator Kevin Sparks, Representative Tom Craddick, Representative Brooks Landgraf, Midland Mayor Lori Blong, and other state and local officials and energy leaders.
Senate Bill 494 (Sparks/Landgraf) establishes a petroleum product theft task force.
Senate Bill 529 (Sparks/Craddick) alters the tax code for the City of Midland to divert certain collected tax revenue for economic development projects.
Senate Bill 1806 (Sparks/Craddick) provides the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) with additional tools to combat oil and gas theft.
House Bill 48 (Darby/Sparks) creates an organized oilfield theft prevention unit within DPS to protect oilfield assets, support the energy industry, safeguard economic stability, and enhance public safety.
Beacon Budget Appropriation was appropriated by the Texas Legislature to the Texas Facilities Commission to support Beacon Healthcare in extending healthcare, research, residential, and retails spaces in the region.
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Texas Parks and Wildlife Adds Three Properties to Public Hunting Offerings
AUSTIN — With the addition of three new properties, Texas’ 2025-26 hunting season will offer more public hunting opportunities through Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Public Hunting Program.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission authorized 2025-26 hunting season dates for public hunting lands and Texas State Parks that will offer 140 different public hunts in 52 State Park and State Natural Areas, totaling more than 521,000 acres of publicly accessible land.
“We are so excited to be able to continue to grow the public hunting opportunities within state parks and natural areas every year, including on some of the newest park properties,” said Greg Creacy, Texas State Parks Natural Resources program director. “The number of hunted parks has increased from 45 to 52 in the past five years. The addition of some of our newest sites, including the recent acquisitions at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and Post Oak Ridge State Park, gives hunters a special opportunity to help the department with land management on these unique properties.”
The newest additions of acreage added to the public hunting program in Texas State Parks include 1,650 acres at Dinosaur Valley State Park, 1,400 acres at Ray Roberts Lake State Park– Isle du Bois Unit, 3,100 acres at Post Oak Ridge State Park, 3,100 acres at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and 1,000 acres at Government Canyon State Natural Area.
TPWD’s Public Hunting Program includes more than a million acres located throughout Texas. Access to these lands is provided by two types of permits: the $48 Annual Public Hunting (APH) Permit, available beginning Aug. 15, which allows full privileges including hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and other recreational uses and the Texas Public Hunt Drawing program, which issues permits for drawn hunts on both public and private lands throughout Texas.
Applications will be accepted beginning July 1 and hunters can apply for more than 60 high-quality hunt categories.
For more information about the Public Hunting Program, including an interactive map of all available public hunting lands and a how to video, visit https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public/. The webpage also has information about daily permit hunts and mentored hunting workshops.
Executive session…Lytle secures deal for future water needs for city
By Anton Riecher
Following a executive session, the Lytle City Council approved an agreement with the Nueces River Authority for the purchase of future water needs for the city. Travis Pruski, chief operating officer with NRA, said the sale is part of a project to provide nearly 40 million gallons to small water districts south of San Antonio.
“This is extremely important to us and to the region,” Pruski said. “We call it internally our South Texas moonshot.”
Other communities expected to be included in the project include Castroville, Hondo and Jourdanton, he said…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
Lytle approves development agreement for hyperscaler project
By Anton Riecher
At a May 28 special meeting, the Lytle City Council voted unanimously to approve a development agreement with Rowan Digital Infrastructure as the latest step in the planned construction of a $500 million large scale build-to-suit data center slated to bring nearly 600 construction jobs to the community this summer.
“Obviously we’ve been working really closely for the last few months on multiple phases of the development that’s going to occur for the data center,” said City Administrator Zachary Meadows. “This is the next step, an actual development agreement laying out certain terms.”
The agreement lays out a schedule for annexation of the 440-acre project site located in the city’s extra territorial jurisdiction near the Coal Mine neighborhood. ETJ refers to an area surrounding the city’s corporate limits where it has powers related to land development and annexation, but not full municipal services.
According to Meadows, the agreement would impose a “carbon copy” of Lytle’s zoning regulations for industrial districts on the project. The agreement also…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
Help send care packages to local soldier and their squadron
by Kayleen Holder
Editor
Ashley Juarez, of Natalia, sent out the following message, and we thought the community might like to join in on this special mission to show our Armed Forces a little love and appreciation for doing what they do.
“As many of you know, my niece Reagan is serving our country, and she’s currently attached to a squadron where some of the airmen have been deployed for over 10 months without receiving a single care package. Can you imagine? They’re really missing those small comforts and snacks from home that we all take for granted,” Juarez said. “As an auntie, my heart aches knowing these young men and women—that…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
Local boy develops new Coffee brand with his team at Texas A&M
There’s a new coffee in town! Hometown boy and college student, Kias Simmons 23, traveled the world studying coffee with his team from Texas A&M. He learned everything about it from how it is grown to how it is brewed. Simmons soon fell in love with the art of creating the perfect cup of coffee, and now this young entrepreneur and two co-owners are preparing to launch their very own brand!
Kias Simmons and co-owner Kerry Simmons both came down to the news office last week to let us taste the new coffee first-hand, and the whole office was quickly filled with it’s sweet, toasty aroma.
The coffee–a Kenyan Double AA grade Batian Arabica from Western Kenya– is picked during harvest time by hand. It is then sorted, washed, and cleaned of defects before it is roasted at a solid medium roasting level and packaged. It is what is known…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
Mission Devine crews building ramps, filling hearts
Unity begets Community
Matthew “Moose” Lopez
Staff writer
It’s 101 degrees outside, a typical day in south Texas. The air is dry and the heat is unrelenting, but every Mission Devine volunteer wore bright smiles that rivaled the sun.
Starting with just $500 and two projects in 2005, Mission Devine has blossomed into a conglomerate of local churches that banded together to take on projects of all kinds around south Texas. The projects look to provide assistance to the elderly, veterans and those who are impoverished
Board member, Donna Trott, says Mission Devine reviews applications, surveys the potential project, and is given a cost estimate before the board decides whether to proceed with the project.
“We do a lot of bathrooms where people can’t step into the tub anymore; they need a shower that they can walk into,” Trott said.“We’ve done a lot of roofs….[and] We do a lot of ramps.”
Trott emphasized the collective effort it takes to not just perform these acts of service, but to do it on a consistent and sustainable basis.
“Because we have this ministerial alliance and all the pastors and priests and everybody works together, the whole church…will work together,” Tott said. “So we’ve got to give a lot of credit to our pastors and priests and ministers and brothers who push it and want to see our christian community come together as a whole rather than all these separate congregations.” .
Volunteer Gail Duffer embraces the unity spurred on by Mission Devine and says she is “blessed” to participate every year…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
Clarification on last week’s MCAD article
Medina Central Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Johnette Dixon wishes to clarify reporting by the Devine News in last week’s article.
She clarified–“My board was not willing to form the conduit so we withdrew from financing with TXN Bank,” Dixon stated.
Board president Cynthia Malone summarized the situation as follows:
“The conduit entity we talked about in the past that Government Capital has offered as an option – and they would charge the one and a half (percent) or $1,800 financing fee to establish – we had notified TXN Bank that we would not be willing to use the conduit organization and that our attorney had provided us the legal advice that we did not need the conduit organization….”
In addition to the article, the Devine News posed video coverage of the May 21 MCAD board meeting on its YouTube channel. The board took no formal action on the issue during the meeting, choosing instead to gather more information in preparation for a special meeting planned for May 27.
At that meeting, the board decided to seek financing from a private individual according to Dixon who sent us an update this Tuesday.
Devine Pre-K and Kinder Registration June 4 & 5
The Devine Pre-Kinder and Kinder registration will be held June 4th and 5th from 8 am to 5 pm (closed for lunch from 12 noon to 1 pm) at JJ Ciavarra Elementary located at 112 N Bentson in Devine.
Pre-Kinder
The child must be 3 or 4 years old on or before September 1, 2025 in order to register for Head Start Pre-K. Be prepared to submit the following information to register your child:
Shot Record
Official Birth Certificate
Social Security Card
Proof of Residence
Proof of Income for 12 months (ex. 2024-1040 tax form)
SNAP Benefit Letters
Child’s Social Security Card
Federal Assistance (Medicaid, TANF, WIC, etc.)
Photo ID of parent/guardian registering child
Returned and accepted Head Start students, please stop by to schedule your required orientation f you have not done so yet.
Kinder
The child must be 5 years old on or before September 1, 2025 in order to register your child. Be prepared to submit the following information:
Shot Record
Official Birth Certificate
Proof of Residence
Child’s Social Security Card
Photo ID of parent/guardian registering child
To ensure you received your Meet the Teacher invite, registration and required documents are due no later than July 25, 2025.
Life After Death and The Two-Headed Calf
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there
are twice as many stars as usual.
Laura Gilpin
It has been said that poetry is prayer. That may be true. It is an expression of the soul, something that matters. I memorized a poem this week – The Two-Headed Calf, by Laura Gilpin. It is a special poem, with deep personal meaning.
Laura Gilpin was a poet and a nurse and a beautiful human being. She loved words. In 1976 she won the Walt Whitman Award for her first book of poetry – The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe. Gilpin died young. In the summer of 2006, she was diagnosed with a form of incurable brain cancer – glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Ironically, one of the symptoms of GBM is double vision. Like the calf in her famous poem, she could see twice as many stars as the rest of us. Gilpin died six months after being diagnosed, at the age of 56. She had just finished her second poetry collection – The Weight of a Soul.
The Two-Headed Calf is Gilpin’s most celebrated poem. It describes the short, sweet life of a newborn calf suffering from polycephaly, a rare genetic defect. Calves born with two heads, or more often two faces, are usually stillborn. In rare cases they live for a short time, surviving for only a few hours or a few days. Their lives are short and tragic.
The imagery in this poem is striking. The first stanza is cold and speaks of death, describing the calf as a “freak of nature” to be discarded and carried away to a museum for people to stare at.
The second stanza in contrast is warm, drawing the reader into the present where the precious newborn calf is alive “and in the north field with his mother,” gazing at the stars in the summer sky. The calf is unaware that he will no longer be alive in the morning.
Much can be gleaned from this short poem and these few words. It speaks to the precious beauty of life, however short, and living in the moment. It reminds us that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Many, myself included, who find themselves different, can relate to this poem. We may not fit in or conform well to the world around us. We may look different or be different, just like the two-headed calf. In the end, we are reminded to love ourselves and others as we are, two heads and all. And we are reminded to appreciate the time given to us in life.
I found another one of Gilpin’s poems this week. It is less known, but equally beautiful and moving. It offers us deep truth about love and life and death. The poem is Life After Death, by Laura Gilpin.
These things I know:
How the living go on living
and how the dead go on living with them
so that in a forest
even a dead tree casts a shadow
and the leaves fall one by one
and the branches break in the wind
and the bark peels off slowly
and the trunk cracks
and the rain seeps in through the cracks
and the trunk falls to the ground
and the moss covers it
and in the spring the rabbits find it
and build their nest
inside the dead tree
so that nothing is wasted in nature