Jerry Clayton

When storms like Helene and Milton sever traditional wireless and web networks, these operators can step in to provide weather updates and damage assessments, connect people with worried loved ones far away, and even relay emails.

About 3 million people live in rural parts of the state, and this year they’ve gotten more visits from Democratic candidates.

After weeks of changes in the official narrative about the response, the committee report was the clearest, most-detailed picture yet of what happened that day, during which local, state, and federal law enforcement waited for more than an hour to confront the gunman.

The blazes, known collectively as the Eastland Complex fires, have killed at least one person, destroyed more than 140 structures and burned around 50,000 acres of dry and windy West Texas landscape.