Daily Briefing: Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Colleges. The U.S. Department of Education has approved five Texas community colleges to offer federal Workforce Pell grants for short job-training programs, The Texas Tribune reported Tuesday. The schools are Kilgore, Weatherford, Central Texas, Texas Southmost and San Jacinto, with programs in fields such as power line work, HVAC, welding and phlebotomy. Students can expect an average grant of $1,700. A program qualifies only if at least 70% of its students finish and at least 70% find jobs within six months.

Job training. The Texas Workforce Commission awarded 84 Jobs and Education for Texans grants worth more than $20 million to junior colleges, technical colleges, school districts and charter schools, the governor’s office announced Monday. The grants will train more than 7,400 students in their first year.

H-1B visas. Thirteen members of Congress, among them Texas Reps. Chip Roy, Keith Self, Randy Weber and Brian Babin, asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to review an administrative law judge’s dismissal of a case between U.S. Tech Workers and Boston Consulting Group over recruiting aimed at H-1B visa holders, Texas Scorecard reported. “If employers can expressly target foreign workers while discouraging Americans from applying, those protections are substantially weakened,” the signers wrote.

Alberta. Advance voting in Alberta’s referendum opens Tuesday at 310 polling stations and runs five days, The Canadian Press reported. Elections Alberta had received just over 300,000 completed mail-in ballots as of Friday, out of roughly 658,000 requested, and is preparing for a record turnout of about 85 percent of the province’s roughly three million registered voters. Referendum Day is Monday, October 19.

Texas Nationalist Movement calendar. Four counties have in-person events on the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) calendar this week. In Angleton, Brazoria County volunteers meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Smithhart’s Texas Grill for a meet and greet and Texian App workshop. Llano County holds a meet and greet at The Falls in Llano at 6 p.m. Thursday and sets up an information table on the courthouse square Saturday morning. Also on Saturday, TNM tables go up at a park in Bullard in Cherokee County and at the Texas Gun & Knife Show in Abilene in Taylor County.