Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byErika Gonzalez
In the weeks leading up to December 2025, Cortena Williams, owner of a Burleson water damage restoration company, was reviewing proposals and preparing agreements she said could help build up her business. After years trying to establish herself in an industry dominated by larger contractors, she had moved closer to contracts with major public institutions, thanks in part to the state’s Historically Underutilized Business Program designed to help businesses owned by minorities and women compete for public contracts.
But then the Texas comptroller’s office issued emergency rules restructuring the HUB program and stripping women- and minority-owned businesses of their HUB certifications. Instead, the program’s focus shifted to helping businesses owned by veterans.
“The comptroller’s actions ended those conversations overnight, not because I wasn’t qualified, but because they eliminated a program that gave me a path to compete,” Williams said.
byAJ Muonagolu
With new technology like artificial intelligence and larger pools of historical and current data, weather models and forecasting are continuing to improve. However, with recent budget cuts and gaps in funding from the Trump administration, experts worry whether forecasting could decline.
byRachel N. Madison
Years before Judd Frieling was a NASA flight director for the Artemis II mission, he was a University of Texas aerospace engineering student with plans to go into the Navy. The Navy rejected Austin-born, Pflugerville-raised Frieling, however, because of his “droopy eyelids.”
“They told me, ‘You can’t fly planes,’ ” Frieling said.
So, he shifted his sights — to spacecraft.
byNoemi Castanon and Max Mazoch
Illene Barrera has taught social studies at Lehman High School in Kyle for nine years. Though the job can be challenging, Barrera has kept a positive attitude while preparing her students for the future.
“My goal for them is to be able to understand the world around them,” Barrera said, “and knowing the history of the country and then how it affects them, hopefully inspires them to be civic participants.”
But the way Barrera teaches is about to change.
