The University of North Texas will open a new college focused on artificial intelligence thanks to a $20 million donation from Anuradha and Vikas Sinha, two university alumni.

The details: The college will be named the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics and will serve as an academic and research hub for artificial intelligence, according to a UNT news release.

Some of the areas of study include AI, cybersecurity, data science, health informatics and information science and learning technologies, the release states. The $20 million will go toward college leadership, student scholarships, endowed professorships, entrepreneurship, advanced research and emerging technologies.

The backstory: The Sinhas immigrated to the United States from India and both earned graduate degrees from Florida Atlantic University before Vikas graduated with his Ph.D. from UNT in 2023.

Looking ahead: UNT plans to celebrate the naming of the college at an event later this year.

The Downtown Denton Foundation will host the 27th annual Arts & Autos event, which will be held Sept. 12 and includes a kick-off party Sept. 11, according to a news release.

What’s happening? The Arts & Auto event celebrates classic cars, local arts and community and will take place Sept. 12 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m., according to the release. It’s held annually in the Denton Square and features classic hot rods, a chalk art competition, goods from local vendors and live music. 

There will be a kids zone with an art garage, where participants can take a car part and paint it, the Lemonade Lane kids market and Chalk Fest, a contest where the pavement around the square is decorated by artists of any level with chalk art. 

The surrounding Denton Square area will be barricaded to create a pedestrian-only zone during the event, according to the release. 

The backstory: This is the first year the Downtown Denton Foundation will host Arts & Autos after it acquired the Denton Main Street Association in April, according to previous reporting. The Denton Main Street Association previously organized the event. 

Three candidates are running for the U.S. House of Representatives District 26 seat in the Nov. 3 election.

In a nutshell: Republican incumbent Brandon Gill will face Democratic challenger Steven Shook and Libertarian challenger Phil Gray.

Those affected: District 26 includes parts of Denton, Roanoke, Frisco, Prosper, Celina and more.

Across Texas, the taxes that homeowners pay to their local school districts went down by about 13.6% in 2025, one state senator found.

The overview: Across the board, many Texas counties mailed out reduced property tax bills for the 2025 tax year, Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, reported. During a Sept. 1 hearing of the Senate Local Government Committee, he said the average homeowner's property tax bill went down by about $140 last year, falling from $1,037 per year in 2024 to $896 per year in 2025.

Texas' 2026-27 budget includes $51 billion in property tax relief, previous Community Impact reporting shows. Unless the legislature rolls back existing tax exemptions, the state will be required to spend that much or more on tax relief in future bienniums.

How it works: The state does not charge property taxes, meaning homeowners are taxed by local entities such as school districts, cities, counties and municipal utility districts. The Texas Legislature, however, can place limits on how much local governments raise taxes annually and require tax exemptions for certain groups.