Marijuana multistate operators are among the 12 companies selected to enter the rapidly expanding Texas medical cannabis marekt.
Marijuana MSOs enter Texas as medical cannabis market rapidly expands is a post from: MJBizDaily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs
Bitcoin Magazine
Texas Becomes First U.S. State to Buy $5M of BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF
On November 20, Texas became the first U.S. state to buy Bitcoin for its Strategic Reserve, acquiring $5 million at roughly $87,000 per BTC, according to Lee Bratcher, President of the Texas Blockchain Council.
The purchase was made through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) while the state finalizes plans for self-custody.
The move signals growing state-level interest in Bitcoin as a reserve asset. Texas had previously explored strategic Bitcoin legislation last year, wanting to create a Bitcoin reserve without using taxpayer funds.
In June of this year, the Texas governor signed the legislation into law, creating a state Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Institutional investors are increasingly following suit. Harvard University’s endowment recently tripled its IBIT holdings to $442.8 million, making it the university’s largest publicly disclosed investment.
Emory University and Abu Dhabi’s Al Warda Investments have also significantly increased Bitcoin ETF exposure.
Bitcoin’s price is currently trading near $87,500, roughly 30% below its all-time high. Lee Bratcher was the first to disclose this news.
“Texas will eventual self-custody bitcoin,” Bratcher said, “but while that RFP process takes place, this initial allocation was made with BlackRock’s IBIT ETF.
Bratcher is the President and Founder of the Texas Blockchain Council, an industry association with over 100 member companies and hundreds of individuals promoting Texas as a hub for Bitcoin and blockchain innovation.
He actively championed the state’s Bitcoin reserve legislation, working on the ground to guide it through the state Senate.
In the legislation explored last year, Texas State Representative Giovanni Capriglione filed a bill to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the state.
The legislation proposed that the state buy and hold bitcoin as a strategic asset, store it in cold storage for at least five years, allow resident donations, and enable state agencies to accept and convert cryptocurrencies to bitcoin.
It also mandated transparency through yearly audits and reports. Modeled after a federal proposal by President Donald Trump and Senator Lummis, the bill mirrored the growing global interest of bitcoin.
Earlier this month, New Hampshire became the first government worldwide to approve a $100 million Bitcoin-backed municipal bond. The state’s Business Finance Authority (BFA) authorized the conduit bond, allowing private companies to borrow against over-collateralized Bitcoin held in custody, with repayment risk resting solely on the collateral.
Borrowers must post roughly 160% of the bond’s value in Bitcoin, and automated liquidation protects bondholders if values drop. Fees and any BTC appreciation will fund the state’s Bitcoin Economic Development Fund.
This move follows New Hampshire and Arizona’s earlier creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
This post Texas Becomes First U.S. State to Buy $5M of BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Texas, the largest hemp THC market in the U.S., is forging ahead with state-level regulations despite looming federal restrictions.
Texas advances hemp regulations despite federal THC crackdown is a post from: MJBizDaily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs
Tifany Swulius and Antonio Guevara originally partnered to seek glory at the State Fair of Texas. In a shift that surprised both of them, they ended up opening a barbecue joint instead. Now they’re serving some of the best breakfast tacos in Dallas.Swulius and Guevara had worked together at Lakewood Landing, a Dallas institution that describes itself as “an upscale dive.” Swulius was a bartender who often brought in home-baked treats for coworkers and customers. Guevara ran the kitchen while also operating his own barbecue and taco pop-up, Tejas BBQ & Tacos, which became Tejas Brisket Co. after a similarly named Texas barbecue restaurant sent him a cease-and-desist letter. “I wasn’t making any money, but I was getting my name out there,” he said.While working…The post These New Dallas Barbecue Joint Owners Are Not Giving Up on Their State Fair Dream appeared first on Texas Monthly.
Federal health officials have linked two massive US measles outbreaks, confirming that the country is about two months away from losing its measles elimination status, according to a report by The New York Times.
The Times obtained a recording of a call during which officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to state health departments that the ongoing measles outbreak at the border of Arizona and Utah is a continuation of the explosive outbreak in West Texas that began in mid- to late-January. That is, the two massive outbreaks are being caused by the same subtype of measles virus.
This is a significant link that hasn’t previously been reported despite persistent questions from journalists and concerns from health experts, particularly in light of Canada losing its elimination status last week. The loss of an elimination status means that measles will once again be considered endemic to the US, an embarrassing public health backslide for a vaccine-preventable disease.
© Getty | Jan Sonnenmair
The investment will boost AI capacity while raising questions about power and water demands.
The post Google Plans $40B Investment in Texas Data Centers appeared first on TechRepublic.
The investment will boost AI capacity while raising questions about power and water demands.
The post Google Plans $40B Investment in Texas Data Centers appeared first on TechRepublic.
President Donald Trump signed a spending measure Nov. 12, funding federal operations through January and ending the longest government shutdown in US history after 43 days. The Senate had approved the measure the previous day, with seven Democrats crossing party lines to reach the needed 60-vote majority. They were won over by a Republican pledge to revisit the question of subsidies for Obamacare in December.
However, a sideshow to the fight over the Affordable Care Act is causing outrage in the hemp industry—and among farmers in hemp-producing states like Kentucky. A last-minute provision added to the spending bill will effectively ban all hemp-derived THC products.
This concerns what has been derided as a “loophole” in the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized the production of industrial hemp in the United States. The Farm Bill kept the federal ban on cannabis and cannabis products with more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC—and on Delta-9 THC itself, whether derived from hemp or “marijuana.” However, in a measure intended to legalize the CBD market, it allowed extraction and sale of cannabinoids other than Delta-9 THC, if derived from hemp.
This had an unanticipated effect. In the wake of the 2018 law, an industry suddenly boomed around hemp-derived cannabinoid products—and not just CBD but psychoactive THC. Particularly at issue was Delta-8 THC, an isomer of Delta-9, which behaves much the same way in the human organism. Products containing Delta-8 were suddenly available in convenience stores, gas stations and truck stops coast to coast.
A backlash also quickly emerged. Critics argued that because the industry was essentially using a subterfuge to skirt the law, these new products were basically unregulated.
The new law contains a provision added to Agriculture Department funding that restricts hemp and hemp-derived products to those containing low concentrations of all THC—not just Delta-9 THC. It is to take effect on Nov. 12, 2026, one year from the date of signing.
The new provision “prevents the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores, while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products,” reads a Senate Appropriations Committee summary.
Media reports warn of an “extinction-level event” for the hemp industry when the provision kicks in.
Kentucky’s Republican Sen. Rand Paul pushed an amendment to strip the provision from the bill, but this failed in a 76-24 vote. And his principal opponent was fellow Bluegrass State GOP senator, Mitch McConnell—who had championed the 2018 Farm Bill as then-majority leader of the Senate.
The Louisville Courier-Journal quoted Kentucky farmers fearing that the new law could be a “death sentence.”
The move is also meeting with pushback in Texas, where the GOP-dominated political establishment is divided over an effort to ban Delta-8 at the state level. Officials with the Texas chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars told Waco’s KWTX that many vets use hemp-derived THC products to treat PTSD and other ailments related to their service.
“What in the world just happened last night?” Thus responded Mitch Fuller, legislative chair for Texas VFW, after the Congressional logjam broke. Fuller had successfully lobbied Gov. Greg Abbott to veto the Delta-8 ban in the statehouse earlier this year.
Abbott’s big rival on the question in his own administration was Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had pushed for the state ban and enthused in a tweet about the federal one after it passed: “As part of the resolution, consumable, highly intoxicating hemp-derived THC is essentially banned in America. Farmers are protected to produce industrial products. CBD and CBG are still legal. However, Delta-8, Delta-10, and candies, snacks, and gummies with high dosages of intoxicating THC are all banned. Hemp-derived Delta-9 will only be allowed to be sold in very low, non-intoxicating dosages.” (This is a reference to the 0.3% cap, well below the threshold for any psychoactive effect.)
Mitch Fuller retorted: “Of course, safety is important, of course children not having access to this is important. But let’s not use a chain-saw approach to this, let’s use a scalpel approach to it, and regulate it.”
The VFW chapter said they will use the year before the ban takes effect to organize pressure to have it reversed.
The hemp and cannabis industries are, predictably, distressed over the new measure. Adam Stettner, CEO of financial lender FundCanna, said in a statement: “Banning intoxicating hemp through a government funding bill isn’t policymaking; it’s panic disguised as progress. You can’t erase a $28 billion market or the millions of consumers who already exist. You can only decide whether those dollars flow through legal, regulated channels or into the shadows. You’re kidding yourself if you think consumers will stop buying hemp beverages, gummies or wellness products because Congress flipped a switch.”
Stettner raised the specter of backsliding toward prohibition: “Dismantling compliant supply chains won’t make these products disappear; it will make them untraceable, untaxed and unsafe. What we need isn’t a ban, it’s balance and logic. If lawmakers want safer products and clearer rules, they need to regulate, not eradicate. The responsible path forward is to regulate hemp like we do alcohol or caffeine at the federal level, with age limits, testing and labeling. Inserting a blanket prohibition by sneaking it into a budget deal won’t work; prohibition never works.”
Thomas Winstanley, executive vice president of infused products purveyor Edibles.com, emphasized the ironic role of the former Senate majority leader, who has announced that he will retire next year.
“Mitch McConnell has once again proven himself the architect of the law of unintended consequences,” Winstanley said. “When he introduced the 2018 Farm Bill, it was celebrated as a lifeline for America’s farmers—a rare bipartisan achievement that gave rural communities a new cash crop and built a thriving, homegrown industry. What no one expected was that it would also ignite a $28 billion consumer market, create over 300,000 American jobs, and form a domestic supply chain rooted in U.S. agriculture and innovation. That was the first unintended consequence, a positive one. Today, history repeats itself, but this time, the fallout will be devastating. By attaching a sweeping hemp restriction to the government spending bill, McConnell has chosen to end his career by crippling the very industry he created.”
He too pledged to use the one-year grace period to organize resistance: “Farmers, brands, and consumers, once fragmented, are now mobilizing together to defend what they’ve built and to finally push for the federal framework the hemp industry has long demanded.”
The post New Legislation Bans Hemp-Derived THC appeared first on Cannabis Now.
Texas is fast becoming America’s AI power base. As gigawatt-scale data centers chase cheap energy and quick permits, the Lone Star State gains on Virginia’s long-held lead.
The post Why Texas is Dominating as a Site for AI Factories appeared first on TechRepublic.
Texas is fast becoming America’s AI power base. As gigawatt-scale data centers chase cheap energy and quick permits, the Lone Star State gains on Virginia’s long-held lead.
The post Why Texas is Dominating as a Site for AI Factories appeared first on TechRepublic.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott plans to issue an executive order to regulate THC products and establish a minimum purchasing age of 21.
Texas governor expected to regulate hemp-derived THC with executive order is a post from: MJBizDaily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs
Arnis and Mallory Robbins thought they’d be slinging brisket with ease when they opened a new location of Evie Mae’s Pit Barbeque in Miramar Beach, Florida, last year. The couple is a decade into a successful run at the joint’s original location, in Wolfforth, just southwest of Lubbock, which has landed a top ten ranking in the last three of our Top 50 barbecue lists. They assumed the reputation they built in Texas would transfer elsewhere, and that barbecue lovers all over the Florida Panhandle would flock to Evie Mae’s once it opened. “Texas barbecue transcends Texas,” Arnis said. In a recent conversation at Evie Mae’s in Wolfforth, the couple shared some of the unexpected hurdles they’ve encountered and a stark realization about expanding to…The post A Top Ten BBQ Joint Struggles to Find Its Footing in Florida appeared first on Texas Monthly.
A push to ban all hemp-derived cannabinoid products in Texas, a market worth an estimated $5.5 billion, failed on Wednesday night.
$5.5 billion reprieve as Texas hemp THC ban fails is a post from: MJBizDaily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs
One of the toughest vape bans in the country went into effect on Monday in Texas.
Vaporizers with CBD, THC now banned in Texas is a post from: MJBizDaily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs
In September 2022, Sara and Dustin Treviño called it quits on their barbecue venture, Treviño’s Craft Smokehouse. It had made an impression on North Texas diners from its opening the April prior. Customers came in droves, but whether the couple parked their food trailer in Graford or Haslet, both west of Dallas, the sales were barely paying the bills. “We hadn’t figured it out,” Dustin said. “We weren’t making sense of the business part of it.” They felt the smart financial decision was to return to Midland, where Dustin had previously worked in oil and gas. “We raised the white flag and retreated, and we regret that decision daily,” Dustin said.Two years later, Dustin was miserable doing work that he now hated, and he longed…The post A Barbecue Couple’s First Joint Wasn’t Making Money. Now They’re Back With a New Plan. appeared first on Texas Monthly.
Marc Solis, after a 23-year teaching career, is ready to retire. He told me this over the phone as he trimmed briskets during his lunch break from Heights Elementary School in Laredo, where he teaches special education students. The ten-minute walk to LowPoint Barbecue from the school has become a weekday routine since he opened the restaurant in 2023. “I can’t serve two masters,” Solis told me. To become the pitmaster he hopes to be, Solis needs to make barbecue his full-time job. “I’m going to be taking the plunge,” he said.Solis has been taking steps to get here since 2020. He taught his students virtually during the pandemic and used his extra time to work on his backyard smoking skills. In 2022, he got…The post A Special Education Teacher Fulfills His Dream of Becoming a Full-Time Pitmaster appeared first on Texas Monthly.
Nothing much happens on the barbecue front in Del Rio. My full-time job is to travel all over the state looking for the next great barbecue joint. Until recently, I hadn’t been to Del Rio since I started this job twelve years ago because there was no reason to go. This year is different. After Hot Pit B-B-Q closed for good after operating for more than fifty years, a trio of Del Rio natives held the grand opening of their new restaurant, Humo Prime Barbecue.Hervey Huerta, Elias Mtanous, and Michael Willard left the city shortly after graduating from high school. They moved to San Antonio, where Huerta had his first barbecue experience (having never visited Hot Pit back home). It was a spot next to…The post Three Pitmasters Want to Make Del Rio a Barbecue Town appeared first on Texas Monthly.
Smoked Turkey Recipe using a Sweet Tea Brine, Texas Flavors and Mesquite Wood.
Turkey Injection
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Nike is one of the largest footwear and athletic gear companies in the world, known for its familiar slogan “Just Do It.” The company recently issued a trademark complaint on Jan. 18 against a Texas-based CBD company called Revive Farming Technologies, who filed to use the trademark “Just Hemp It” on Dec. 16, 2019.
“JUST DO IT … which has been in use in commerce for more than 30 years, and registered for more than 25 years, is famous within the meaning of Lanham Act Section 43(c), 15 USC § 1125(c),” Nike stated. It is asking the Patent and Trademark Office and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to deny Revive’s attempt to trademark the phrase “Just Hemp It.”
Nike argues that it owns multiple trademark registrations for the “Just Do It” mark, describing it as “widely recognized and famous,” and that the Revive should not be allowed to trademark “Just Hemp It” because it would lead to confusion and cause injury and damage to Nike.
According to Green Market Report (GMR), Revive already features the phrase on its website followed with a trademark symbol. GMR also states that the website contains language that makes unauthorized medical claims about CBD.
Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign first launched in 1988 by the late Dan Wieden, who has successfully launched other slogan campaigns for companies like Old Spice, Procter and Gamble, and Coca Cola. Apparently Wieden said that “Just Do It” was inspired by the final words of an inmate on death row, who said “You know, let’s do it” before his execution.
Nike has led successful trademark complaints against other companies attempting to use variations of “Just Do It” in the past. In 1992, Nike targeted a company called “Just Did It,” which also sold athletic gear, for trademark infringement. In 2020, Nike went after a business for using “Just Believe It.” More recently, a small business owner who started a succulent shop called JustSuccIt in 2020, was also contacted by Nike regarding trademark infringement.
This hasn’t been an uncommon trend in the cannabis industry either. In August 2017, the glue company known as Gorilla Glue took Gorilla Glue Strains to court. The results meant that strains known as Gorilla Glue #1 or Gorilla Glue #4 would be referred to as GG1 or GG4.
In February 2018, The Hershey Co. began suing cannabis companies for copyright infringement, and targeted both the Oakland-based Harborside dispensary and a California edibles company called Good Girl Cannabis Co. for selling items with similar Hershey product branding.
UPS targeted cannabis delivery services that were using its acronym, such as United Pot Smokers, UPS420, and THCPlant in February 2019.
Later in August 2019, Sour Patch Kids targeted illegal cannabis products like Stoney Patch for infringing upon the trademark as well. Cinnabon took on a vape company in October 2019 for selling an e-liquid using the brand’s name, just one month before the Center for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that vaping lung injuries were being caused by vitamin E acetate in November 2019.
More recently in August 2022, Mars Wrigley won a lawsuit against cannabis companies using the logo font and colors to sell illegal edibles. “I have placed significant weight on the issue of harm not only to the Plaintiff but also to members of the public who might accidentally consume the Defendants’ Infringing Product believing it to be a genuine SKITTLES product. The fact that SKITTLES are a confectionary product that are attractive to children reinforces the need to denounce the Defendants’ conduct,” said Judge Patrick Gleeson in his ruling.
The post Nike Challenges Trademark of Hemp Company Slogan ‘Just Hemp It’ appeared first on High Times.
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