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Baylor Scott & White Health’s “Help Me Decide” virtual artificial intelligence tool aims to help patients navigate care options and avoid unnecessary emergency room visits.

Guided by clinician oversight, patients describe their symptoms, and AI points them to the most appropriate option, including e-visits, urgent care, a primary care appointment, nurse triage or emergency care.

The overview: Help Me Decide is an AI tool designed to reduce guesswork and confusion during stressful moments when patients may be feeling unwell by asking questions about their symptoms, said Dr. Camille Bradley, a family medicine doctor at Baylor Scott & White.

“[Help Me Decide] can make a really big difference in getting to the right place at the right time, which in medicine, is half the battle,” Bradley said.

The details: The tool asks patients a variety of questions in order to better understand their symptoms and the urgency of their situation. It will then make a recommendation for patients based on the answers.

The Kyle City Council approved a contract with the Crystal Clear Special Utility District, or SUD, to purchase over $250,000 of water over the next year to meet projected demand.

Due to delays in the development of a city of Kyle water supply expansion project with the Alliance Regional Water Authority, or ARWA, projected demands would not be met by the city, according to agenda documents.

The Kyle City Council approved an ARWA water-sharing agreement with the Crystal Clear SUD to ensure the city’s water demand and state-mandated alternative capacity requirements would be met while the expansion project is developed.

What happened: The agreement with ARWA and the Crystal Clear SUD allows Kyle to receive up to 223,185 gallons of water per day, directly from ARWA, for an initial term of one year.

The water will come from the SUD’s authorized water supply. The city will pay the SUD a maximum of $62,495.56 in fiscal year 2025-26 and $188,317.60 in FY 2026-27, for a total contract of $250,813.16.

After eight years serving as the Hays CISD superintendent of schools and nearly 40 years in public education, Eric Wright will retire in February 2027.

“It has been the honor of my life to serve as your superintendent,” Wright said in an email to staff, parents and community members.

Career history: Wright began his career in public education in 1988 as a student teacher. He went on to become a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent in several districts.

Wright has served as a superintendent since 2004 in districts such as Woodville ISD and Fredericksburg ISD before being hired by HCISD in December 2017.

Since 2018, HCISD has opened six new schools, passed four bonds and enrolled almost 6,000 additional students. HCISD enrollment has grown by over 15% in the past five years.

What’s next: Beginning in the fall, Wright will work with the board of trustees to select a new superintendent of schools. Wright will retire at the end of February.

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Texas education officials gave preliminary approval June 23 to the state’s first mandatory reading list, which includes nearly 200 literary works that public school students would begin reading as soon as 2030.

The overview: The proposed list incorporates about a dozen stories from the Bible, including the tale of David and Goliath in second grade and direct biblical excerpts beginning in fourth grade. In total, students would be required to read more than two dozen texts in early elementary grades and about 10 literary works per year from sixth grade through high school.

What's happening: Members of the Republican-led State Board of Education voted 9-5 to cut several titles from the reading list June 23, following nearly eight hours of public testimony a day earlier.

More than half of those who testified June 22 asked the board to shorten the list, include more diverse authors and remove religious references. Others praised the SBOE for creating a list that they said would teach students about “American exceptionalism” and prioritize classical literature.