Texas House approves partisan redistricting on congressional seats ... and more news

The Texas House delivered President Donald Trump a victory Wednesday when it approved a congressional redistricting plan that could be crucial for Republicans to hold control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. The partisan gerrymander could flip as many as five Democratically held seats to Republican, taking aim at districts in North Texas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin and South Texas. In other news, Dallas hired a commercial real estate investment and development company earlier this year to find potential sites for a new Dallas Mavericks arena; a sophomore junior varsity football player at Lancaster died Wednesday morning, two days after he reported feeling unwell while at practice. Preston Malone III, a 15-year-old student at Lancaster High School, was pronounced dead at Children’s Medical Center after he was rushed there on Monday by paramedics; nd across Texas, doctors and patients say anxiety, confusion and legal concerns have transformed a routine adherence to standard of care into something new — a standard of fear. An anonymous emergency doctor based in Dallas said the state’s abortion ban has created a world of distrust in doctor’s offices. Patients don’t know if they can trust their physicians. Physicians don’t know if they can trust their patients. In “Standard of Fear,” we share doctors’ firsthand accounts of the impact Texas’ abortion bans have had on their practice. Read the series now at DallasNews.com/TexasAbortions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices