AUSTIN, Texas — Few aspects of Christmas season bring joy to so many as do holiday lights, whether they decorate a Christmas tree, adorn gingerbread-trimmed Victorian homes or illuminate courthouses in many Texas communities.

AUSTIN, Texas - As Hurricane Rita bears down on the Texas coast, coastal state parks are temporarily closing, while others open their doors at no cost to hurricane evacuees. Meanwhile, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens, many of them fresh from Katrina duty in New Orleans, are staging for a possible new round of rescues in their home state. (The Governor's Emergency Management Council is coordinating Rita response for all state agencies, including TPWD game wardens.)

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department this week announced that the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regulations Committee has accepted the Texas proposal to expand the Special Whitewing Dove Zone, adding a new portion of land west of I-35 and south of U. S. Highway 90 near San Antonio.

ATHENS, Texas — Anglers contributed two lunker largemouth bass to the Budweiser ShareLunker program over the weekend, bringing the number of fish entered into the program this season to 12. Mark LeBlanc of Orange caught a 13.59-pound bass from Sam Rayburn Reservoir about 10:00 a.m. Saturday. Roger Frazier, Jr., of The Colony took a 13.9-pounder from Ray Roberts Lake the next day. Le Blanc was fishing in 5 feet of water with a Senko plastic bait in a watermelon red/green flake pattern. His fish measured 25.5 inches long and 21 inches around. Frazier’s fish hit a fluke in two feet of water in the north end of Ray Roberts. The fish was 25.5 inches long and 20.75 in girth. Both fish showed light to moderate hemorrhaging of the fins and appeared to have spawned. The Le Blanc fish was the first ShareLunker caught from Sam Rayburn since 2002 and only the third since 1998. That lake has contributed a total of 21 fish to the Budweiser ShareLunker program. Frazier’s fish was the first ShareLunker taken from Ray Roberts since 2000 and only the fourth in that lake’s history.