Friendswood ISD’s board of trustees approved a schedule of participation fees at its April 14 meeting for University Interscholastic League sports, speech and debate, as well as academic fees at Friendswood High School and Junior High for the 2026-27 school year.

What you need to know: The fees will be charged per student activity, with a maximum of $300 per family. Individual student fees are capped at $150 for FHS and $75 for FJH.

The fee schedule is split into two tiers:

• Tier 1 ($100-$150): band, baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, softball, speech/debate, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball, water polo

• Tier 2 ($50-$75): cross country, drill team, varsity cheerleading, wrestling

Pearland City Council voted unanimously at its April 13 meeting to authorize eminent domain to acquire 0.1246 acres of land along Smith Ranch Road to secure road right of way and an easement for water and sewer lines.

Eminent domain is the legal authority of the government to take private property for public use, provided they pay "just compensation,” according to the Texas Government Code.

What you need to know: The city appraised the subject land’s value at $10,000 and made an offer to the property owner, but to date, have not received a counteroffer, according to city documents.

Quote of note: "At one point in time, the property owner said, ‘I think I should get paid more,’ but never gave a counteroffer,” City Attorney Lawrence Provins said at the meeting.

The city sought to purchase the land for the Smith Ranch Road Public Improvement District, or PID, in which the parcel is located, and to support the extension of Wooten Road, which runs parallel to Smith Ranch Road.

Nearly eight months after a Democratic walkout over congressional redistricting, a GOP-led Texas House committee moved to charge 52 of their Democratic colleagues up to $8,354.25 each in fines.

What happened: After six hours behind closed doors, the House Administration Committee approved the fines in a brief public session April 10. The panel's six Republicans voted to impose the fines, while the five Democrats voted against them.

The background: Over 50 House Democrats left the state in early August to fight a plan to redraw Texas’ congressional boundaries. They remained out of Texas for two weeks, impeding the progress of legislation during two special legislative sessions, although the congressional map and more than a dozen other bills ultimately passed after the Democrats returned to Austin.

Something to note: The fines were reduced by $1,000 per person to reflect two days when the House was not in session, lawmakers said. Some Democrats were also charged lower amounts because they did not participate in the full two-week walkout or their absences were partially excused.

Texas retailers can resume selling smokable hemp products after a Travis County judge temporarily blocked some of the state’s sweeping new regulations on the hemp industry.

The background: On March 31, the state health department enacted rules changing how THC content is measured in consumable hemp, which industry experts said effectively outlawed most smokable hemp products.

The Texas Hemp Business Council, a federal hemp industry group, and several local hemp companies sued the state April 8, arguing that the state health department does not have the authority to reclassify legal THC levels. State officials have defended the rules, saying they are in line with a September executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott, who at the time called for stricter oversight of the multibillion-dollar hemp industry.

The latest: Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble sided with the hemp industry in an April 10 ruling, directing the state not to enforce the new THC testing requirement and a restriction on the transportation of hemp products between states. An additional hearing is scheduled for April 23.