Drier, Warmer Weather in November

Blame it on La Niña.

By the end of November, nearly half the state was experiencing drought conditions, up 25 percentage points from the end of October, according to Dr. Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist with the Texas Water Development Board. La Niña conditions are “defined as below-average sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific,” Wentzel wrote. This results are warmer and drier weather than normal for much of Texas.

In the next few months, drought conditions are expected to both expand and intensify throughout the state.

COVID-19’s Impact on State Workers’ Comp

The Texas Department of Insurance recently issued a fact sheet outlining the effects COVID-19 has had on the state’s workers’ compensation system. As of Nov. 7, insurance carriers reported more than 61,000 COVID-19 workers’ comp claims and 371 fatalities. Nearly half the claims and fatalities involved first responders and correctional officers. Sixty percent of the claims involved injured

Sixty percent of the claims involved injured workers who tested positive or were diagnosed with COVID-19. About half of the COVID-19 claims were accepted. Benefits include employees with successful claims continuing to be paid.

Election Audit Enters Second Phase

The Texas Secretary of State’s office last week issued an “exhaustive document request” of election material from Collin, Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties as part of its full forensic audit of the November 2020 general election. The office said the document request covers more election materials than any other election audit in the country to date.

“Texas is leading in election integrity. As we embark on Phase 2 of our agency’s Full Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election, we want to ensure every single eligible Texas voter knows that ballots in Texas are being properly processed, tabulated, and reported by county election officials in accordance with state and federal law,” Secretary John Scott said.

Scott was recently appointed to the office by Gov. Greg Abbott. He briefly served as one of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys during his attempt to challenge the results of the Pennsylvania election. While Joe Biden won that state, Trump took Texas by more than 600,000 votes.