HTX-PLF: Impact 9/1/2025

As football season kicks off for Alvin, Friendswood and Pearland ISDs, each district has provided guidelines for their respective stadiums.

Alvin ISD requires tickets for reentry and enforces a clear bag policy. Fans may not bring outside food, beverages, tobacco products, noise makers or pets, except service animals.

Friendswood ISD prohibits firearms, tobacco, alcohol and loitering. Bags, backpacks and coolers are not allowed, though purses are permitted but subject to search. Pets are restricted to service animals.

Pearland ISD also enforces a clear bag policy and does not allow reentry once a ticket is scanned. Outside food and pets are not permitted, and fans must remain on the side of the stadium where they enter.

Also of note: More details, including ticket information, shuttle services and emergency procedures, are available through each district’s website.

Pearland ISD students can participate in a community closet through the Pearland Council of Parent Teacher Association’s swap shop.

The overview: To participate in the swap shop, families may bring in gently used school appropriate clothes in exchange for clothes available in the shop, according to an Aug. 22 news release from the district.

Students can also participate through the district’s voucher program, which is where a school counselor or nurse can provide a student with a voucher. The voucher provides five pairs of socks and underwear, one pair of shoes, a jacket and 10 items of clothing, according to the news release.

The details: Clothing to be exchanged or donated can’t have ink, marker or pencil marks, missing buttons, tears or other flaws. In addition, all items must be washed and neatly folded with no missing buttons, tears or any other flaws in the fabric.
 

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’ new congressional map into law Aug. 29, declaring in a video posted to social media that “Texas is now more red in the United States Congress.”

The details: Under Texas’ current congressional boundaries, Republicans hold 25 of Texas’ 38 congressional seats. State lawmakers have said the new map will help them gain up to five more during the 2026 midterm elections.

Texas Democrats have called the mid-decade redistricting effort unconstitutional and "racially discriminatory," while Republicans asserted that the map "complies with the law" and was designed to help more Republicans get elected to the U.S. House.

Next steps: Texas’ new congressional map is set to take effect in early December, although it will be discussed in court two months earlier. After state senators approved the map Aug. 23, the League of United Latin American Citizens and a group of Texas residents filed a lawsuit asking that the map be found unconstitutional.

A panel of three federal judges will hear arguments in the case Oct. 1-10 in El Paso.

Harris County Flood Control District officials are looking for residents to provide input with their flood experiences during extreme weather events and how the county’s 11 watersheds have impacted their communities.

Two-minute impact: Along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the HCFCD is spearheading Phase 1 of what’s being called the Solutions for Advancing Floodplain Evaluation and Resilience study. The SAFER study’s aim, according to HCFCD, is to evaluate and identify large-scale flood risk reduction projects across these 11 watersheds in Harris County:

• Brays Bayou
• Buffalo Bayou
• Clear Creek
• Cypress Creek
• Little Cypress Creek
• Greens Bayou
• Halls Bayou
• Hunting Bayou
• Sims Bayou
• Vince Bayou
• White Oak Bayou

What residents should know: The online survey on the HCFCD website is available for Phase 1 public input until Sept. 25.