Attorney General. Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that his office is investigating UnitedHealth Group over reports that the insurer denied Texans medically necessary care, including allegations that it paid nursing homes to delay hospitalizing patients, according to his office. The office issued Civil Investigative Demands under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The release cites an Austin patient whose prior authorization for a procedure at RedBud Surgery Center was withdrawn after the surgery, leaving a large bill.
Harris County. U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal on Monday refused to vacate the 2019 O’Donnell consent decree, which lets most people charged with misdemeanors in Harris County go free before trial without posting cash bail, the Texas Tribune reported. Paxton and four county criminal court judges had asked her to end it. She ruled the requests did not come within a reasonable time, and the four judges have appealed to the Fifth Circuit.
Campus speech. The Fifth Circuit was scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on Senate Bill 2972, the 2025 law that bars expressive activity on public college campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. and bans invited speakers, amplified sound and percussion in the last two weeks of each semester, the Texas Tribune reported. Students and student groups at UT-Austin and UT-Dallas sued, and U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra blocked those provisions last October. The UT System appealed.
Agriculture. State veterinarian Dr. Lewis Dinges told the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee on Friday that New World screwworm cases have been found in 19 Texas counties and that the state and federal response has released more than 1.39 billion sterile flies in Texas since February, Texas Scorecard reported. The pasture mealybug, a separate invasive pest that kills grazing grass, has turned up in more than 110 counties, according to the Texas Farm Bureau, up from the 79 that Texas A&M AgriLife reported in August.
East Texas. Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches has launched the East Texas Water Institute with Angelina College and the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, the Texas Tribune reported. Its director plans to hire staff and enroll students by the spring 2027 semester, and the region needs at least 1,500 licensed water system operators by 2027.
TNM calendar. TNM’s Smith County team runs an information table at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Lindale, according to the TNM calendar. That evening in San Antonio, the Bexar County team’s Alamo Memorial March starts at the Alamo at 6:30.
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