Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Though recent storms promised to reset the drought button for a large part of East Texas, the western half of the state will likely see below-normal precipitation from now through August, according to a Texas A&M University climatologist. 

One of the state’s worst droughts in decades has been particularly hard on its iconic ranching business, with the barren land leading to increased costs to feed cattle. In Starr County, at the southern tip of the state, Texas Agrilife Extension agent Omar Montemayor can’t give the ranchers money or rain, but he is teaching them ways to keep their herds healthy.

Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—The State of Texas filed a lawsuit against BP America and other defendants for their role in the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill. 

Texas Business reports:  FORT WORTH—American Airlines today launched a systemwide boarding process it claims saves overall boarding time by allowing customers who are traveling light to board earlier. 

Texas Business reports: HOUSTON—The Port of Houston Authority selected Satterfield & Pontikes Construction (S&P) for a 10-acre repaving project in Terminal 5 at the Barbours Cut Terminal in La Porte. 

Texas Business reports: HOUSTON—Mario Barson has been named vice president of recruitment advertising for Hearst-owned Texas newspapers, which are headquartered at the Houston Chronicle.  

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Texas cotton planting intentions may be affected by the replanting to cotton of freeze-damaged wheat acreage, but a Texas A&M extension service expert doesn’t expect the change to be significant on dryland wheat acres. 

Texas Business reports:  A Houston-area firm won a $9.8 million contract for a charter containership, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Texas Business reports:  THE WOODLANDS— CBI won a contract for the execution phase of an air quality control program for 13 existing coal-fired units at five sites. 

Texas Business reports:  A Florida firm won an $8.9 million to dredge the Houston Ship Channel near the Battleship Texas, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Texas Business reports:  AUSTIN—On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) told judges overseeing the licensing case for two proposed South Texas Project nuclear reactors that the applicant (NINA) is subject to foreign ownership control or domination requirements and does not meet the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act in this regard. 

Texas Business reports:  A Bay City firm won a $8 million contract change on a foreign military contract, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

The resilient longhorn, able to survive on sparse foliage and water, has endured in Texas for more than 100 years. But the recent sale of about 100 longhorns by theTexas Parks and Wildlife Department has spurred debate about the breed’s future in the state.

Texas Business reports: HOUSTON—Rice University-based publisher OpenStax College plans to more than double the number of titles in its catalog of free, online textbooks by 2015, supported by a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF). 

Texas Business reports: The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued an advisory warning people not to consume or to limit consumption of certain fish caught in all waters off the Texas coast due to unsafe levels of mercury. 

Texas Business reports: The Texas Comptroller's Office reported state sales tax revenue in April was $2.15 billion, up 3.9 percent compared to April 2012. 

Texas Business reports:  IRVING, Texas—Exxon Mobil Corporation started development of the Julia oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Texas Business reports:  HOUSTON—Robert D. Cravaritis has been named executive vice president of sales for Houston Chronicle Media Group, a Hearst Corporation company.  

As he looks at the calendar, DeWitt County Judge Daryl Fowler is getting nervous.

Fowler is among a group of officials in the Eagle Ford Shale area who are lobbying lawmakers for money to address the rural South Texas region’s roads, many of which have been pummeled by drilling activity. With about a month left before the legislative session ends, he and others fear the push for funding has stalled. 

Texas Business reports: Texas factory activity was flat in April, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. 

Texas Business reports:  HOUSTON—The owner of a now defunct chiropractic clinic in Bryan has pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud various automobile insurance companies of more than $3 million, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. 

FracFocus, the online registry used by Texas and other states to disclose information about hydraulic fracturing, “creates obstacles to [regulatory] compliance” and seems “structurally skewed to delete” records, according to a report from Harvard Law School’s Environmental Law Program.

Texas likes to be “business friendly” and as the state legislature considers bills to limit environmental regulation to keep it that way, some economists warn of the longer term consequences. 

Texas Business reports:  HOUSTON—Datacert Inc., a provider of software solutions for enterprise legal management, appointed Uwe Schneider as vice president and general manager of EMEA.