From swimming lessons to 90-foot water slides, Lubbock’s city pools will offer a summer of water-soaked opportunities. Lubbock’s four municipal pools are set to open June 4, but families and organizations already can reserve pools for private parties and sign their children up for swimming lessons, said Whitney Wise, aquatics supervisor for Lubbock Parks and Recreation. Wise said city pools traditionally open the first Tuesday after Lubbock schools end for the spring semester, this year coming after Memorial Day.

From developing arts and culture to cultivating water and energy resources and revitalizing downtown, Lubbock leaders say they’re on board with Imagine Lubbock organizers’ goals for the city. But what leaders are willing to do to help the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce-launched Imagine Lubbock Together steering committee see its plans come to fruition is uncertain.

A proposed Xcel Energy utility fuel factor rate increase could mean an extra $5.87 or more on an average customer's utility bill, a copy of the company’s request to the Public Utility Commission of Texas shows. Xcel Energy filed a proposal with the commission this week to increase its fuel cost factors beginning June 1 to reflect higher prices for fuel — especially natural gas — which, if approved, will result in 6.2-percent average increase in fuel charges through the year, Xcel spokesman Wes Reeves said Thursday, May 16.

Texas ranked among the top five states for friendly environments for small business for the second year in a row, a national survey released earlier this month showed. The survey, conducted by Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and job marketing website Thumbtack.com, polled small-business owners across the country, ranking Texas No. 3 for best employment and labor laws and No. 4 for best environmental rankings.