C APITAL Highlights Rural counties trying to slow or even block data center construction are finding they have limited legal authority, the Texas Standard reported. Hill County, for example, rescinded a one-year moratorium on data center construction after being sued for $100 million by a company planning a large-scale data center project near Hillsboro.

Have you ever tried to break a habit? Many try and fail. It’s difficult. If we try to break a habit by sheer willpower, it is nearly impossible. Quitting cold turkey often doesn’t work. We try really hard and give it our best effort, but the habit we want to get rid of keeps coming back. We cannot shake it. We grow frustrated and give up.

Clay Allison, the two-gun time bomb who called himself a “shootist,” died on Jun. 30, 1887 not from a bullet but under the wheels of his own wagon.

Last week, I reminded readers about Winter Storm Uri in 2021, when Texans faced frozen pipes, rolling blackouts, and days without reliable power. If demand can strain the grid during extreme weather, what happens as Texas adds more residents, businesses, manufacturing, and data centers?

It’s a blow when reality kicks dirt in my face and insists I examine beliefs I’ve carefully stored in a box labeled Things That Will Never Happen to Me. The dust started swirling the day I realized I needed a jacket when it was 99 degrees outside and 75 degrees inside.

I’m so tired of rain… Did you find yourself suppressing that thought last week? Biting your tongue, really, because remember last year, or last fall? Remember how it seemed we’d never see rain again to fill the mud holes we call stock tanks?

To the editor: A writer responding to my recent letter agreed with my argument that America’s founding was fundamentally secular. The writer then correctly pointed out that most of the men who signed the Constitution identified as Christians.

Dr. Bill Nolan, who hailed from Tulsa, Okla., was expected to arrive in La Grange at the end of June to set up residency in the former remodeled Dr. J.C. Guenther Clinic building and start practicing medicine around mid-July. This news was reported by Lloyd Kolbe, the chair of the La Grange Chamber of Commerce doctors’ committee. Dr. Nolan graduated at the top of his class at Rush University Medical College.

Texas high school students showed improvement in every subject in this spring’s endof- course STAAR exams, the Texas Education Agency reported. The results include assessments in Algebra I, English I, English II, biology and U.S.

In preparation for America’s 250th birthday, the United States Catholic Bishops consecrated the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11, 2026 - which is the eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. While there will be many celebrations and events of all kinds as we approach America’s birthday, which are all good and just, maybe the most important celebratory event, is one of great prayer. This was not an ordinary prayer, it was a consecration. A consecration is one of the most significant spiritual acts in the Church. To consecrate is to entrust oneself, things, or a place under the loving protection of Christ now and for the future. This consecration reminds us that, despite all human accomplishments and failures, history ultimately belongs to God. During the consecration rite, with over 200 US Catholic bishops present, Archbishop William Lori of the Archdiocese of Baltimore said, “We consecrate our nation not because it is perfect, but because it is beloved by God.” In this great act of faith and trust of our beloved country to the heart of God, we are reminded that prayer actually has effects. Just as when a person waves a flag and it moves, so too when we lift up prayers to God they have effects, effects that have natural and supernatural influence. Effects that can transform hearts, heal wounds, bring about a greater respect for the dignity of human life, and help all souls to know the loving heart of their Lord and Savior.