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Presidio and Brewster counties, home to the popular tourist destinations, along with nearby Culberson County, lead the state in cases per 1,000 residents in the last two weeks. In fact, all of West Texas is ablaze with increasing COVID-19 cases, while being low on hospital beds.
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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also called for the Supreme Court to hear one of Donald Trump's election lawsuits.
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Burgess, a Lewisville Republican, and Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, spent much of the last year pursuing colleagues to support their bids as their parties' top representatives of a pair of high-profile committees. Full Story
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The state's leaders are as anxious as everyone else to talk about vaccines and a Texas without the coronavirus. But this is going to take time, and while they're hopeful, they are planning for more months of pandemic. Full Story
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The state reported 15,182 new cases of the coronavirus, while 9,047 people are currently hospitalized, an increase of 552 patients from a week ago. Full Story
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Three units across the state will be at least temporarily closed this month, according to the Texas prison system. The agency hopes it will help with dangerously low staffing levels. Full Story
Springer and Luther, who has been a vocal opponent of Abbott's pandemic management, are in a Dec. 19 special election runoff. Full Story
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The Legislature is set to convene in January. Full Story
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The request for review by the state’s highest criminal court was filed by Mason’s attorneys as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the national ACLU and the Texas Civil Rights Project. Full Story
National data shows just 24% of Texas high school seniors have filled out federal financial aid forms, a nearly 15% decline from the same time last year. Full Story
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Among the task force’s recommendations: Officials in Texas should significantly reduce capacity in indoor spaces, including those that are privately owned. Full Story
Nearly a dozen pieces of legislation, all of them filed by Republicans, target mail-in balloting, illegal voting and misbehaving elections officials — inspired by events and talking points from the previous election cycle. Full Story
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Keith Nielsen won the job in March, but as he prepared to take office this summer, he faced widespread condemnation for posting a Facebook graphic juxtaposing a Martin Luther King Jr. quote with a banana. Full Story
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Outgoing President Donald Trump's administration wants to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count that determines how many congressional seats each state gets. Texas could lose at least one congressional district under the plan, according to a study. Full Story
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Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar didn't provide details as he told lawmakers Monday that the financial forecast isn't as dire as earlier feared. But he said revenues are still down "significantly" compared with last year. Full Story
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Food banks and nonprofits are providing free meals, internet access and housing assistance. As they face an increase in demand during another coronavirus surge, the organizations are also asking for help. Full Story
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At a housing unit turned health clinic in rural Brown County, the director of a family planning clinic laughs at the idea of offering tele-health visits to limit the virus' spread: “Where we are, that is just not an option for us.” Full Story
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The seasons change in the political world, too. We're in that periodic move from electioneering to governing. The Washington version is noisy. The Texas version is a bit quieter, but it's underway. Full Story
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More than 60 election-related bills have been filed in the House and Senate in the three weeks since the election. About half of them are aimed at increasing voter access, which lawmakers said became a more urgent issue during the pandemic. Full Story
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Officials in the San Antonio area are following in the footsteps of El Paso County, which issued a similar order earlier this week. The curfews come as coronavirus infections surge to new levels in Texas. Full Story
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The apparent record comes one day before the Thanksgiving holiday. Public health authorities have urged people to celebrate apart this year as many Texas hospitals report overwhelming volumes of COVID-19 patients. Full Story
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