Vocational students in Boerne ISD have a new program to take advantage of, offering 12th-grade students the opportunity to learn entrepreneurial and leadership skills before graduation. Straight to Trades Ownership is a unique program founded in Boerne ISD designed to weld the relationship between trades and business ownership.

The overview: Started at the end of October, the program takes students through an 11-week business curriculum led by Andrew Flippo, executive director of the Hope Builds Life nonprofit, which promotes local businesses. In the second phase of the program, students will move into the business incubator at Das GreenHaus, where they’ll begin developing their own trades-based companies with mentorship, resources and workspace funded by local sponsors, according to an Oct. 3 news release. 

Dorman Vick, Texas ag mechanics/welding teacher at Champion High School, said the program will help fill the growing skills gap in the country. Overall, Vick said he hopes to set an example for education across the state and country, encouraging other school districts to put a spotlight on vocational education.

Fair Oaks Ranch Veterinary Clinic is moving across I-10 into a larger space, offering better care options for household pets.

What’s happening? Clinic Co-owner Kelsey Smith said the move is expected on Nov. 17, transferring services to a new facility.

The new location is double the size of the current location, allowing sick pets to be kept in separate areas and giving pet owners additional privacy to make the visit as comfortable as possible.

Smith said the clinic focuses on the care of cats and dogs. Services include:

• Puppy and kitten care
• Wellness care
• Senior pet care
• Parasite control
• Pet dental care
• Diagnostic care
• In-house laboratory
• Surgery and related services
• Emergency and urgent care

Every day for the past 25 years, at least one person has died in crashes on Texas roads. Texas officials and the families of some fatal crash victims commemorated the grim anniversary with a candlelight ceremony at the Texas Capitol on Nov. 7.

The impact: Jamie White said her 2-year-old daughter, Allie, was hit and killed by a distracted driver at Round Rock’s Old Settlers Park in September 2019.

“It only takes [a few] seconds… to kill somebody,” White said Nov. 7. “Can you imagine doing this, taking somebody's child from them, and living the rest of your life knowing that you caused that?”

Following Allie’s death, her parents launched Allie’s Way, a nonprofit aimed at ending distracted driving.

More details: TxDOT data shows that speed and impaired driving are involved in the majority of deadly crashes on Texas roads.

“These are not random events,” Texas Highway Patrol Chief Bryan Rippee said Nov. 7. “These are the results of making the wrong choices on our Texas highways."

Texas is the nation’s largest energy producer, leading other U.S. states in both natural gas production and renewable energy generation, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows. Yet as people, businesses and data centers continue to move to the state, experts say Texas leaders need to harness new strategies to make energy more affordable and ensure the state power grid remains reliable.

The details: Amid high inflation nationwide, energy prices are on the rise in Texas, and residents are feeling the strain, experts said at the Texas Energy Summit, which ran from Nov. 4-6 in Austin.

In a June 2025 report, the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, a nonprofit research organization, found that 65% of low-income Texans recently engaged in “energy-limiting behaviors,” such as turning off their air conditioning to reduce electric bills or underheating their homes in the winter. 

What they're saying: Experts said state lawmakers and officials could invest in energy efficiency and residential demand response programs to tackle affordability and grid reliability issues.