The Cheesecake Factory officials said the restaurant opened a new location at the main entrance of The Houston Premier Outlet Mall on Nov. 18. 

The details: Known for its cheesecakes and extensive menu, The Cheesecake Factory offers over 250 dishes and 40 legendary cheesecakes and desserts, per the website. Specialties offered at the new location include Thai stir fried noodles, fish tacos and chicken piccata. In addition, The Cheesecake Factory offers a variety of cheese cake flavors ranging from original cheesecake to fresh banana cheesecake. 

Twin sisters Kendal and Kelby Norfleet started baking cheesecakes as a hobby in 2017 while in college. Taking orders over Instagram, the two perfected their recipes, never imagining they would one day own their own bakery. Years later, the Norfleet sisters converted their hobby into a business with Kendal & Kelby Cheesecakes, located outside the Houston Premium Outlets.

The backstory: Struggling to find a job that aligned with their career paths, the two continued to bake cheesecakes, selling them via social media. They were operating a successful virtual bakery and decided they were destined to continue on the path they had fallen into.

Craving cheesecake?: Using fresh ingredients, Kendal & Kelby Cheesecakes bakes a variety of cheesecake products, including mini cheesecakes—the bakery's bread and butter—10-inch cheesecakes, freshly baked cookies, gluten-free cheesecakes and parfaits.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on Nov. 12 announced a $2.5 billion philanthropic campaign—the largest in the center’s history—to support cancer-fighting initiatives.

Read all about it: MD Anderson already raised $1.9 billion for the campaign, called “Only Possible Here,” during a preliminary silent fundraising phase, according to a Nov. 12 news release. The Houston-based center focuses exclusively on treating, researching and preventing cancer.

The campaign’s three focus areas include expanding reach, expediting breakthroughs and elevating the patient experience, all with the goal of ending cancer, per the release. Money raised throughout the campaign will support several MD Anderson programs and initiatives, including the Cancer Neuroscience Program and Kinder Children's Cancer Center, among others. 

Quote of note: “This campaign presents an opportunity for anyone to become involved in the world's most important and impactful effort to end cancer,” campaign Chair Clarence P. Cazalot Jr. said in a Nov. 12 statement.   

Texas cannot use its newly redrawn congressional map in the 2026 election, an El Paso federal court ruled Nov. 18.

The details: The state must instead use the congressional map that Texas lawmakers drew in 2021, after the 2020 census. 

“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote in the Nov. 18 preliminary injunction. “To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”

What they're saying: Texas Republican leaders said they would “swiftly appeal” the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the court takes up the case, its justices will be pressed for time ahead of the Dec. 8 deadline for candidates to apply to run in the March primary elections.

Texas Democrats celebrated the Nov. 18 ruling as "very good news for Texans."