Lifestyle

The Lone Star State took center stage in conservation in October as Texas hosted the 2025 Joint National Meeting of the National Association of State Conservation Agencies (NASCA) and the National Watershed Coalition (NWC) in Fort Worth. The multi-day event drew over 230 conservation professionals, agency directors, watershed sponsors, and partners from across the nation, representing nearly every U.S. state, to collaborate on shared challenges and opportunities in watershed and natural resource management.

AUSTIN – Governor Abbott appointed Sophia Rahman, M.D. and Stefani Reinold, M.D. and reappointed Brandon Brock, DNP, Ph.D. Kara Chasteen, Summer Gainey, Ph.D., Sarah Garrett, Suzanne Gazda, M.D., Paula Kruppstadt, M.D., Elizabeth Miller, Ph.D., Amy Offutt, M.D., Nathan Pullen, Martha Shoultz, Barry Smeltzer, and Melissa Smith to the Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome Advisory Council for terms set to expire Aug. 31, 2027. The Council advises the commission and the legislature on research, diagnosis, treatment, and education related to pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announces the capture of Bobby Michael Dennis – the man wanted in the shooting of a Jacksonville Police Officer and her K-9, and subject of last week’s Blue Alert. The Officer and K-9 were both injured in the shooting and are now recovering. Dennis was arrested on November 5. A Texas Crime Stoppers reward will not be paid for his capture.

AUSTIN – On this Veterans Day, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) proudly recognizes the more than 2,100 veterans across the department who now continue their commitment to serve by protecting the people of Texas.

Critics of theism rightly ask, “Couldn’t God have created a world in which there was less evil and suffering?” Contrary to the assertion, this is not the best of all possible worlds God could have created. A world in which there was one more good angel or one more good person serving other people would certainly make the world better, wouldn’t it? Better yet, what if God interceded in the affairs of everyday life to eliminate or at least reduce the world’s suffering? That sounds great, but how would that work, exactly?

I thought got over the problems I had two weeks ago. I thought I stepped onto new ground and everything was going to be fine.

I’ve been reading historian Jill Lepore’s We the People as part of my study of the U.S. Constitution. The framers never believed their creation would be perfect or unchanging. They built a document that could be amended— changed, refined, and made better by the people it would govern. They saw the power to amend as the purest form of self-government.