Environment

The spring rain has fallen, the air has warmed, and the flowers are blooming. A drive in almost any direction will lead you to bluebonnets.

There are bluebonnets all over Texas right now. And with this being called a good year to see them, many people will be taking drives into the country this weekend.

COTTON CENTER — After years spent studying the dust that blows across the southern Great Plains, Phil Smith no longer looks at the dark haboobs that routinely rise over Lubbock without a healthy dose of apprehension. 

In a study slated for publication next month, he and Texas Tech University colleague Greg Mayer may have made their biggest discovery yet: DNA from antibiotic-resistant bacteria in cattle feedlots is airborne.   

For years, scientists have known that humans can contract antibiotic-resistant bacteria by consuming contaminated meat or water. The findings by Smith and Mayer indicate that humans could also be exposed to so-called “super bugs” or “super bacteria” traveling through the air. 

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for the entire San Antonio area and the Hill Country from 1 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday.

There is the possibility of widespread 2 to 4 inches of rainfall with isolated totals of 6 to 7 inches from slow moving and training thunderstorms.

GEORGETOWN — A Central Texas city will be among the first in the U.S. to get its electricity exclusively from solar and wind energy.

SunEdison, which makes solar panels and develops power plants, said Wednesday that it is building a 150-megawatt solar farm in West Texas to serve the municipal utility of Georgetown, about 30 miles north of Austin. That’s enough to supply about half the city’s residents, and the rest of the electricity will come from wind.