FEATURES OF THE TEXAS ALMANAC 2014–2015 • Sketches of eight historic ranches of Texas by Texana writer Mike Cox. • Article on the Texas art and artists by Houston businessman and art collector J.P. Bryan, who has amassed the world’s largest Texana collection. • Coverage of the 2012 elections, redistricting, and the 2012 Texas Olympic medalists. • An update on Major League Baseball in Texas. • Lists of sports champions — high school, college, and professional. MAJOR SECTIONS UPDATED FOR EACH EDITION • The Environment, including geology, plant life, wildlife, rivers, and lakes. • Weather highlights of the previous two years, plus a list of destructive weather dating from 1766. • Two-year Astronomical Calendar that shows moon phases, times of sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, eclipses, and meteor showers. • Recreation, with details on state and national parks and forests, landmarks, and fairs and festivals. • Sports, including lists of high school football and basketball champions, professional sports teams, Texas Olympians, and Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductees. • Counties section, with detailed county maps and profiles for Texas’s 254 counties. • Population figures from the 2010 US Census and State Data Center estimates as of 2012. • Comprehensive list of Texas Cities and Towns. • Politics, Elections, and information on Federal, State, and Local Governments. • Culture and the Arts, including a list of civic and religious Holidays. • Religion census of 2010 by denomination and adherents; breakdown on metro areas and counties. • Health and Science, with charts of vital statistics. • Education, including a complete list of colleges and universities, and UIL results. • Business and Transportation, with an expanded section on Oil and Gas. • Agriculture, including data on production of crops, fruits, vegetables, livestock, and dairy. • Obituaries of notable Texans. • Pronunciation Guide to Texas town and county names.

Getting Ready for the 4th Grade Assessment Test: Help Improve Your Child’s Math and English Skills – Many parents are expressing a demand for books that will help their children succeed and excel on the fourth grade assessment tests in math and English –especially in areas where children have limited access to computers. This book will help students practice basic math concepts, i.e., number sense and applications as well as more difficult math, such as patterns, functions, and algebra. English skills will include practice in reading comprehension, writing, and vocabulary. Rubrics are included for self-evaluation.

The fiscal year 1991 U.S. DOT Appropriations Act directed the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a National Bicycling and Walking Study. The five objectives of the study as specified in the Act were to: (1) Determine the current levels of bicycling and walking and identify reasons they are not better used as means of transportation; (2) Develop a plan for the increased use and enhanced safety of these modes and identify the resources necessary to implement and achieve this plan; (3) Determine the full costs and benefits of promoting bicycling and walking in urban and suburban areas; (4) Review and evaluate the success of promotion programs around the world to determine their applicability to the role required of the U.S. DOT to implement a successful program; and (5) Develop an action plan, including timetable and budget, for implementation of such Federal transportation policy. The purpose of this Interim Report is to document progress in addressing these five objectives. In dealing with each objective, this report summarizes available information, discusses what additional information is required, and outlines the approach to be used in collecting it.

The definitive account of the incomparable Lone Star state by the author of Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico. T. R. Fehrenbach is a native Texan, military historian and the author of several important books about the region, but none as significant as this work, arguably the best single volume about Texas ever published. His account of America's most turbulent state offers a view that only an insider could capture. From the native tribes who lived there to the Spanish and French soldiers who wrested the territory for themselves, then to the dramatic ascension of the republic of Texas and the saga of the Civil War years. Fehrenbach describes the changes that disturbed the state as it forged its unique character. Most compelling is the one quality that would remain forever unchanged through centuries of upheaval: the courage of the men and women who struggled to realize their dreams in The Lone Star State.