Texas Business reports: Texas has been ranked the top exporting state in 2011 for the 10th year in a row, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Texas Business reports: Texas factory activity increased in January, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, rose from 0.2 to 5.8, suggesting growth resumed this month.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Thanks to rains, more of Texas transitioned from exceptional to extreme drought, or from severe to moderate, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Texas Business reports:  OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Ferrellgas Partners LP, a propane retailers, acquired Rio Grande Valley Gas Inc. of Edinburg, Texas.

 Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Many areas received rain, but the general consensus from weekly reports by Texas AgriLife Extension Service county agents was that more is needed to keep wheat and winter pastures going.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION—As many as 500 million trees scattered across the Lone Star State have died this year as a result of the unrelenting drought, according to preliminary estimates from Texas Forest Service.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION--Sales of existing single-family Texas homes in November were up 9 percent from a year ago, according to the most recent Multiple Listing Services (MLS) data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. 

A dam in Central Texas' Blanco State Park, one of 7,500 in the state, the highest total in the U.S. Photo courtesy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

AUSTIN – Possum Kingdom Lake, northwest of Fort Worth, was created when the Morris Shepard Dam was built in 1938 to harness the Brazos River. It was the first water-supply reservoir in the state. Once a major hydroelectric generating facility, the dam became the first to surrender its operating license in Texas in 2007, when turbines that generated an estimated 22,500 kilowatts of electricity were disabled. There’s no talk of taking down the dam and freeing the river, though. Unlike the United States in general, drought-prone Texas is keeping the dams it has.

Texas Business reports:  Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 6.5 percent of Texas’ total private-sector employment. Over one-quarter (27.6 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Texas depend on exports for their jobs (2009 data latest available), according to the International Trade Commission. 

Texas Business reports: LAREDO—For 14 years, the City of Laredo has hosted a Paisano Rest Stop to help Mexican citizens returning home from throughout the U.S. have a smoother experience as they head home for the holidays. 

Texas Business reports: Amid reports of the nation’s weak economic recovery, high unemployment and slow job growth, attention has turned to Texas, the only large state on track to surpass its prerecession peak employment by year-end, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. 

Texas Business Reports:  The U.S. economy entered a financial-market-driven recession in December 2007 from which it has yet to fully recover. The boom of the mid-2000s has been replaced with a stubborn national reality of high unemployment and sluggish output growth, with no clear indication when economic activity will return to more normal levels, according to Jason Saving of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Cold fronts brought rain, from a trace to 2 inches or more, to much of the state during the last week, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Texas Business reports:  Washington state’s Radiant Logistics Inc., a domestic and international logistics services company, agreed to acquire the assets of Laredo-based Isla International Ltd., a  privately-held company that provides a full range of cross-border transportation and logistics services between the United States and Mexico. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION — Rain came to large parts of Texas, an early Thanksgiving feast for already planted winter pastures, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Texas Business reports:  The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) selected Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP to manage $3 billion of TRS' capital across a variety of private markets' asset classes.

Though seasonal ups-and-downs are to be expected, fed-cattle prices are being driven to unprecedented levels by several factors this year. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Fueled by declining beef production due to the drought and booming exports, fed-cattle prices soared to “unprecedented” levels, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Texas Business reports:  DALLAS—Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the first Texas Greenhouse Gas (GHG) permit for the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant in Llano County, Texas. 

November rains came too late for most Texas rangeland, such as this stretch in Schleicher County, south of San Angelo, where the only things left growing are cacti and mesquite. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Charles Hart)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Large swathes of the state received rain, from slow drizzles to heavy downpours, but the moisture came too late this year for most rangeland, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Texas Business reports: Texas economic growth continues at a moderate rate, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Conditions in the housing market are improving, with increased home sales and lower inventories; house prices, however, are stagnant. Despite recent weakness in oil prices, energy activity remains strong. Concerns regarding the European debt crisis, continued sluggishness in the national economy and prospects of further job losses in the state and local government pose notable downside risks.

Texas Business reports: DALLAS—Many Texas Credit unions had a steady stream of new accounts open on Saturday as "Bank Transfer Day" drew attention online and on the streets across the state.