Daily Briefing: Friday, October 16, 2026

Lockheed Martin is investing $300 million in its Grand Prairie operation and plans 2,000 new jobs in Texas as part of 6,000 nationwide, the company announced Wednesday. The expansion takes the plant’s manufacturing footprint past 735,000 square feet. A 24-machine automated cell built with the manufacturer Hadrian is expected to start running there in early 2027.

Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a multistate coalition that reached a settlement with the grocery chain Albertsons, which once final would require the company to pay more than $773 million nationally over its role in the opioid crisis, the attorney general’s office announced Thursday. Texas and its political subdivisions can receive up to $57.8 million for opioid abatement, with the money overseen by the Texas Opioid Council. The office urged eligible cities and counties to sign on.

Governor Greg Abbott appointed Cynthia D. Lee of McKinney, an educational diagnostician at Prosper Independent School District, and Barbara Pazey of Little Elm, an associate professor at the University of North Texas, to the Continuing Advisory Committee for Special Education, the governor’s office announced. Their terms run to February 1, 2027 and February 1, 2029. The committee advises the state on special education policy for children with disabilities.

Prime Minister Mark Carney told a rally of more than 7,000 in Calgary on Thursday that the “stakes are high” in Monday’s referendum and that “turnout will determine the outcome,” the BBC reported. He called for a “decisive result” against separation and holds a second rally in Edmonton on Friday. More than 450,000 Albertans have already voted early or by mail. Mail-in special ballots must reach Elections Alberta by 5 p.m. Mountain time Friday, and advance voting closes Saturday, according to Elections Alberta.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told members of Parliament that a border poll would be considered in Scotland and Northern Ireland if there were a clear consensus and public opinion had changed, then told First Minister John Swinney that a second independence referendum remains “off limits,” the BBC reported. At the Scottish National Party conference in Aberdeen on Thursday, Stephen Flynn, now Scotland’s transport secretary, told the prime minister to “bring it on.”

County teams from the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) staff three information tables Saturday, October 17, according to the TNM calendar: on the Llano Courthouse Square in Llano at 8 a.m., at a park in Bullard in Cherokee County at 9 a.m., and at the Texas Gun & Knife Show in Abilene, Taylor County, at 10 a.m. On Tuesday, October 20, the Wood County team holds a meet and greet at Jalapeno Tree in Mineola at 6 p.m.