Former lawmaker says don't blame ERCOT for outages, AT&T spins DirecTV off into new company: Your Thursday evening roundup

And: Texas college students are struggling with bills after the winter storm disrupted campus jobs.  [Morning roundup] [NEWS]( | [BUSINESS]( | [SPORTS]( | [HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS]( | [ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT]( | [FOOD]( | [THINGS TO DO]( | [OPINION]( | [GAMES AND PUZZLES]( 02/25/2021 By Todd Davis and Chelsea Watkins Good Evening! Here is a look at the top headlines of the day. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here](. ADVERTISEMENT [AT&T, TPG strike deal to spin off DirecTV, AT&T TV and U-verse into new company]( [In Houston, Abbott will lobby Biden to add 54 more counties to disaster list, and Biden will refrain from lecturing Texas on grid failure]( [North Texas killing-spree suspect indicted on three more murder charges]( [At least 1 injured in fire at recycling facility in Richland Hills, officials say]( [What you need to know about COVID-19 vaccines in Dallas County now that FEMA is at Fair Park]( [25 Dallas nonprofits to receive $20,000 grants to provide winter storm relief]( [‘Things are hard’: Thousands line up at Globe Life Field for food after winter storm]( [Cowboys owner Jerry Jones makes a property play south of Dallas]( [Texas college students struggle with bills after winter storm disrupted campus jobs]( [North Texas man indicted in highway killing of Dallas rapper MO3]( Vehicles drive down East Seventh Street as power outages continued to darken most of East Austin on Feb. 17. (Bronte Wittpenn) OPINION [I co-authored the law that deregulated the Texas electrical grid. ERCOT didn’t cause winter outages]( David Sibley, who co-authored Senate Bill 7 in 1999, which deregulated the Texas electric market, writes: “Misinformation rides the greased algorithmic rails of powerful social media platforms and travels at velocities and in volumes that make it nearly impossible to stop,” New York Times opinion writer Charlie Warzel recently wrote. Then, no matter how incorrect the misinformation is, it becomes “information.” We’ve seen that a lot recently as state leaders, the public and many others have loudly blamed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas for widespread power failures during statewide subfreezing temperatures. [I write to defend ERCOT and set the record straight on what is information vs. misinformation](. This op-ed is part of a series published by The Dallas Morning News Opinion section to explore ideas and policies for strengthening electric reliability. Find the full series here: [Keeping the Lights On](. TEXT THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS [Readers often tell us they want to stay informed but that they're short on time. That's why we're launching a new way for you to stay connected, with texts from The Dallas Morning News.]( [Want to get a quick hit of the biggest headlines of the day? Sign up for The Roundup. It's a Monday-Friday, daily briefing of the latest news impacting D-FW residents. Text us back with your questions or thoughts and we'll respond.]( 📱 Get connected. [Sign up here](. ❓ Got questions? We've got [answers](. *The Roundup is free to receive. Standard text messaging and data rates may apply. ADVERTISEMENT  👋 That's all for this afternoon! For up-to-the-minute news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com](. Share the love! If you like this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend and [check out our other newsletters here](. Do you have feedback? Submit your thoughts, questions, praise and corrections to[the newsroom.]( ADVERTISEMENT STAY CONNECTED WITH US [Unsubscribe]( | [Free newsletters]( | [Dallasnews.com]( | [Subscriber login]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact us]( Copyright 2020 - [The Dallas Morning News, 1954 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75201, United States](