RECORD SEA TEMPS COULD SPUR MORE HURRICANES

Forecasters for the National Weather Service are anticipating a more active hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean surface temperatures, the Texas Tribune reported.

Hurricane season runs through the end of November. The Climate Prediction Center now predicts six to 11 hurricanes this season in the Atlantic Ocean, with as many as five of those being major hurricanes. The new projection is considerably higher than the one released in May just before hurricane season commenced.

Bradley Brokamp, an NWS meteorologist in Galveston, said the higher prediction is the result of the higher sea surface temperatures.

“The name of the game this season seems to be the heat because it’s been quite exceptional,” Brokamp told the Tribune.

Another NWS meteorologist, Jeff Lutze, based in Corpus Christi, said the higher probability of Atlantic hurricanes increases the likelihood of a storm striking Southeast Texas.

“The big question mark is whether or not we’ll get the upper air pattern to allow the storms to get this far into the Gulf of Mexico,” Lutz said. Some of the most damaging hurricanes to hit Texas in recent years came in August or September.

FEDERAL GRAND JURY INVESTIGATING PAXTON

The Austin American-Statesman reported last week that federal prosecutors have seated a grand jury in San Antonio and called witnesses close to suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to testify. Paxton’s attorney has already confirmed that there is an active federal investigation of his client.

While the Justice Department has declined to comment, the secret proceedings come a few weeks before Paxton is set to stand trial for impeachment in the Texas Senate on bribery allegations involving Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who was indicted on unrelated federal charges in May for mortgage fraud.

Paxton has been under indictment for securities fraud since 2015, with a trial set in Houston for February 2024. He was suspended without pay after the Texas House overwhelmingly passed 20 articles of impeachment in late May.

ABBOTT SIGNS LARGEST PROPERTY TAX CUT IN STATE HISTORY Abbott last week ceremonially signed legislation that — if voters approve it in November as expected — will provide what he is calling the largest property tax cut in Texas history. The $18 billion reduction raises the homestead exemption to $100,000 and provides other taxreduction measures.

Voters will decide its fate as one of 14 proposed constitutional amendments in November. The measure is widely expected to pass, as do most measures to reduce taxes when placed on the ballot.

“As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas—and now that includes property tax relief,” House Speaker Phelan said at the ceremony.