Katy ISD officials have recommended 12 new courses for the 2026-27 school year, half of which were requested by the career and technical education departments.

Sanée Bell, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, said the offerings are based on market data on in-demand fields that respond to the workforce needs, including the district’s new utility detection program.

“We have to prepare them for what they’re going to be walking into,” she said at the Nov. 17 work study meeting. “It does no good to prepare students for things that we did when we entered the world of work.”

Zooming in: The new utility detection program is being launched in partnership with the leading provider, United States Infrastructure Corp., as experts have identified a critical shortage of trained technicians amid the growth of large-scale construction in the state, Bell said.

Check this out: To highlight career options, the district will host a “Find Your Future” event Jan. 27, featuring business and industry partners from all programs of study. 

Sami’s Gyro House owner Yousaf Mohtsham said the eatery expanded with a new location in November.

The details: Originally founded in the Spring area in April 2024, Sami’s Gyro House offers gyro platters and gyro sandwiches made with halal meat. Mothsham said the new Katy location is his third location with the second location located in South Houston and is now offering its full menu.

Jermaine Thomas will serve as judge for Harris County’s newly created fifth civil court at law starting in December after Harris County commissioners unanimously appointed Thomas at the Nov. 13 court meeting.

Quote of note: “This appointment is not just a personal milestone,” Thomas said. “It represents an opportunity to expand access to justice and strengthen the foundation of fairness that Harris County courts are built upon.”

Judges within Harris County civil courthouses see cases regarding civil matters, including eviction appeals, property disputes, personal injury suits, contract cases and small business claims, according to the court’s website.

Put in perspective: In March, Harris County commissioners requested that Texas lawmakers create five additional civil district courts by 2027 to address the county's longstanding court backlog, joining Brazoria and Fort Bend counties in similar requests as continued population and business growth occurred in the region. The last time a civil district court was created in Harris County was in the early '80s, said Lauren Reeder, Harris County District Court judge for the 234th civil court. 

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."