Cassandra Pollock, The Texas Tribune

The Alamo is known for being the site of one of the most pivotal battles in Texas' war for independence from Mexico. But in recent years, the roughly 300-year-old Spanish fortress has been at the center of a different kind of conflict, as politicians and others battle over a nearly $400 million plan to renovate and preserve the landmark.

This past week, that construction project hit a major milestone when the Long Barrack, the Alamo's oldest structure that once housed Spanish missionaries, reopened to the public after being closed for nearly two years.

The reopening marked the latest reminder of a yearslong pursuit mired in political infighting among top Republican officeholders and at times bitter back and forths among descendant groups, city officials and the state....

The Texas House on Wednesday approved proposed political boundaries for the lower chamber's 150 districts that aim to fortify Republicans' strength in the state House for the next decade.

House Bill 1, authored by state Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican who chairs the lower chamber's redistricting committee, will now head to the Senate for consideration.

The House's 83-63 vote comes as the Legislature rounds out its third special session of the year, an up to 30-day stretch ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott that has focused on redrawing the state's congressional, Senate, House and State Board of Education maps based on the latest census data. Those numbers, which were delayed largely because of the pandemic, showed that people of color fueled 95% of the state's population growth over the past decade....

House Bill 1, authored by state Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican who chairs the lower chamber's redistricting committee, will now head to the Senate for consideration.

The House's 83-63 vote comes as the Legislature rounds out its third special session of the year, an up to 30-day stretch ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott that has focused on redrawing the state's congressional, Senate, House and State Board of Education maps based on the latest census data. Those numbers, which were delayed largely because of the pandemic, showed that people of color fueled 95% of the state's population growth over the past decade.

The special session is slated to end Oct. 19, which means lawmakers have a week left to hash out differences over those maps and other items included on the agenda set by Abbott....

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More than a week after Republicans in the Texas House voted to authorize arrests of their quorum-busting Democratic colleagues, no such roundup has come to fruition.

As of Wednesday, there were no known cases of absent Democrats being arrested, and the chamber was still shy of the 100 members it needs for a quorum to conduct official business. That is despite its Aug. 10 vote to proceed with the arrests, Speaker Dade Phelan's signing of 52 warrants later that day and his announcement two days later that the House sergeant-at-arms had deputized state law enforcement to track down the missing Democrats....

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Uncertainty is running rampant among Texas Democrats and Republicans as the final days of the special legislative session dwindle away.

The session officially ends Friday, and lawmakers are already gearing up for a second special session as House Democrats show zero interest in returning from Washington, D.C., and restoring quorum in the lower chamber for this session....