A Travis County District Court judge approved a temporary injunction against Darling Ingredients on March 5.

Located between Bastrop County Animal Services and Camp Swift, the facility collects and recycles food industry waste to produce animal feed ingredients, biofuels and other byproducts.

The temporary injunction comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Irving, Texas-based company in early February for “unlawfully emitting odors and other chemicals” at its Bastrop facility.

What it means: Under the temporary injunction, Darling Ingredients must self-monitor and self-report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality each time hydrogen sulfide emissions exceed 1,000 parts per billion.

However, the lawsuit sought a stricter threshold of 80 parts per billion.

Amy McBee, a community and government affairs representative with Darling Ingredients, recently told Bastrop County commissioners the facility needs to do better.

“We fully recognize, as a neighbor and a partner in this community, that for some period of time, Darling Ingredients was not doing a good job,” McBee said. “We apologize for that.”

Monumental Woodworks entered Bastrop’s ever-expanding art scene in late November with a focus on turning flood-salvaged timber into lasting works of art.

The details: The Central Texas-based production company is rolling out The Heartwood Revival campaign.

The initiative, spurred by the July 2025 Guadalupe River flood, is crowdfunding $141,000 to commission chainsaw carvers to create a Sculpture Trail of Hope across Kerr and Kendall counties.

Quote of note: “I grew up on this river, so seeing its recovery is personal,” said Dusty Kosmach, project director for The Heartwood Revival, in a news release. “We are taking art therapy and turning it into a real economic driver that supports the families who live here.”

Over 2.3 million Democrats and nearly 2.2 million Republicans voted in the March 3 election, according to unofficial election results from the secretary of state. Totaling nearly 4.5 million voters, this is “the highest voter turnout for a primary in Texas history,” the secretary of state’s office said.

By the numbers: Nearly one-fourth of Texas’ 18.7 million registered voters participated in the primaries, shattering turnout rates from recent years. Less than one-fifth of registered voters cast ballots in the 2024 presidential and 2022 midterm primaries, state election records show.

Texas’ previous primary turnout record was set in 2008, when 4.2 million voters cast ballots in high-profile presidential primaries.

Zooming in: Election data shows the most people cast votes in the high-profile U.S. Senate races that topped the ticket, with the total numbers of votes steadily decreasing down the ballot in both primaries.

There is “some certainty” that voter enthusiasm will extend to the November midterm election, Republican data analyst Ross Hunt told Community Impact during early voting.