Cecilia Lenzen | The Texas Tribune

The rate increase will help replenish a state fund to maintain and operate cellphone networks in rural Texas. A court determined the state’s Public Utility Commission needed to restore $200 million in overdue money to the fund.

The parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis are suing Jones for falsely claiming that the 2012 mass school shooting was a hoax meant to take away Americans’ guns. The trial is the first of three to determine monetary penalties against the Texas-based conspiracy theorist for his lies about the tragedy.

The Republican incumbent’s lead over his Democratic challenger shrank last month, according to a Texas Politics Project poll. The 6-point gap is smaller than when Republican George W. Bush ousted Democrat Ann Richards in 1994.

Experts said the plan, announced at the state GOP convention on Saturday, is not realistic and possibly not legal.