“What do we say?” Texas parents struggle with kids’ questions over Uvalde shooting
As the news of the Uvalde shooting spread through schoolyards and homerooms on Wednesday, experts advise openness when talking with kids. Full Story
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Karen Brooks Harper
Health and Human Services Reporter
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Karen Brooks Harper reports on health and human services. An alumna of the University of Missouri-Columbia Journalism School, Karen arrived in Texas in 1995 to join the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, spent several years in Laredo and Mexico covering immigration and the drug war for Knight-Ridder newspapers, and has covered Texas politics for more than two decades for news organizations including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News and Reuters.
Latest Contributions
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![Entrance to K-12 public school in Harrold, Texas. Harrold ISD began to arm teachers for safety in 2007.]()
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Abortion restrictions threaten care for pregnant patients, providers say
Women’s health care providers are holding back when counseling pregnant patients about treatment options, doctors report pharmacists are hesitant to distribute some prescriptions, and OB-GYN training is diminishing for Texas medical school students. Full Story
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![A nurse with a patient at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Austin.]()
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Looming end of federal pandemic emergency threatens to shake Texas’ Medicaid safety net, advocates say
The federal emergency declaration is expected to last through at least mid-October and has kept states from dropping people from Medicaid rolls. Full Story
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![A medical clinic in Austin.]()
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Dallas facility that serves transgender children can accept new patients, judge rules
The clinic had stopped accepting new patients after increased political pressure. Full Story
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![People gather in front of the Texas Capitol during a protest for transgender kids' rights in Austin on Tuesday, March 1, 202…]()
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How Texas’ powerful but fractured abortion opposition helped bring down Roe v. Wade
Texas’ anti-abortion movement is on the cusp of achieving a goal 50 years in the making. Now, it’ll be up to the old guard and new torchbearers to decide what’s next. Full Story
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![Mark Lee Dickson speaks during a worship service at New Hope Church in Abilene on Dec. 12, 2021, calling on the audience to …]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Abortion remains legal in Texas, but confusion reigns after Supreme Court document leak
Providers, advocates and doctors spent much of the day Tuesday reassuring people that the procedure remains legal until the high court issues an official opinion overturning it. Full Story
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![Protesters gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court on May 3, 2022. Demonstrators turned out after a leaked draft opinion obtai…]()
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If Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, Texas will completely ban abortion
Politico said it obtained a draft Supreme Court majority opinion indicating the landmark abortion ruling will be overturned. Abortion is still legal in Texas up to six weeks of pregnancy. Full Story
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Biden administration drops fight over Texas’ Medicaid waiver, now in place until 2030
Debate over the waiver was key to the federal government’s push for Texas to expand Medicaid for more working poor. Full Story
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![A nurse dons full PPE before entering the room of a COVID-19 patient at Goodall-Witcher Hospital in Clifton on Wednesday, Au…]()
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Texas hospitals prepare to pick up the tab for uninsured COVID-19 patients as federal funds dry up
Hospitals and other health care providers in Texas, which has the lowest rate of insurance coverage in the nation, have gotten some $1.8 billion in federal help for uninsured COVID-19 patients. Full Story
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In Laredo, a bus brigade is vaccinating Mexican citizens with COVID-19 shots that Texans aren’t using
Launched in June, a cross-border effort using buses and donated vaccines is helping roughly 2,000 Nuevo Laredo residents per day get COVID-19 shots in Laredo — 10% of Texas’ daily total. Full Story
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![Victor Trevino administers a vaccine against COVID19 to Yaidra Lucas inside a bus on Thursday, March 3rd, 2022 in Laredo, TX…]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune
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