Prosper ISD residents can look forward to a slightly lower property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year.

What happened: The PISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved a property tax rate of $1.2011 per $100 of valuation for FY 2026-27 at an Aug. 24 meeting.

The context: The new rate is $0.013 per $100 lower than the FY 2025-26 rate of $1.2141 per $100.

What they're saying: While community members may be frustrated with property taxes, higher property tax payments are a result of higher property values, not higher rates, Chief Financial Officer Keri Croy said.

Quote of note: “The tax rate is going down. It’s the values that are driving those taxes higher,” Croy said. “When your home is worth more, you have to pay more. It’s not us.”

Celina Gun Shop is closed to the public as of Aug. 11, according to the store’s automated email reply.

The gist: The store offered firearms, ammunition, gunsmithing and custom builds in Celina for more than eight years, according to the business's social media.

The specifics: Celina Gun Shop stopped accepting transfers on Aug. 1 and began refusing shipments of transfers on Aug. 10, per the email.

• 701 N. Preston Road, Ste. 300, Celina

SH 5 in McKinney is turning into a 4-lane roadway and a hospital in the Alliance area is expanding its neonatal unit. Check out some of the latest construction projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

1. Core Scientific renovations
One of Denton’s two data centers, Core Scientific, will see renovations for a 27,678 square-foot facility to be used as a data hall, according to a TDLR filing.

• Location: 8171 Jim Christal Road, Denton
• Estimated timeline: Sept. 1, 2026-May 31. 2027
• Estimated cost: $110 million

• Location: From Spur 399 to south of FM 1378
• Estimated timeline: June 1, 2026-Dec. 1, 2028
• Estimated cost: $60 million

The Texas Department of Insurance must take action to promote competition and “prohibit excessive or unfairly discriminatory rate setting" in the state's homeowners insurance market, Gov. Greg Abbott said Aug. 24.

The background: Texans are paying the fourth-highest home insurance premiums in the nation, Community Impact previously reported. State data shows that the average Texas home insurance premium nearly doubled from $1,791 in 2016 to $3,506 in 2025.

The details: Abbott asked the TDI to prohibit insurers from using the age of a home and homeowners' personal data when setting rates; create a task force targeting insurance fraud; study the impact of inflated insurance claims; and require insurers to consider a homeowner's participation in a roof fortification program when writing policies.

Another perspective: "Under Greg Abbott, Texas has been one of the most expensive states in the country to own and maintain a home," Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, said in a statement. "If Abbott really wanted to lower costs, he would have done it in the last 12 years."