Latest Contributions

• “If you are vaccinated, go for it”: Large counties roll back some pandemic-era limits as COVID-19 deaths drop statewide

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 18, 2021

  Officials in Travis and Harris counties — both early adopters of pandemic restrictions — rolled some back Tuesday in an effort to allow vaccinated residents to return to pre-pandemic living. Full Story 

• New Texas lawsuit accuses Biden administration of threatening state’s health care funding to force Medicaid expansion

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 14, 2021

  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit, filed Friday, argues that the Trump-era extension of the federal 1115 Medicaid funding waiver was lawful and that overturning it was a political move. Full Story 

• How a small Texas town doubled its COVID-19 vaccination rate in a month as the state’s rate declined

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 12, 2021

  Mount Pleasant in northeast Texas lags behind the state in its vaccination rate, but the town is boosting its numbers by mobilizing churches, nonprofits and other trusted community leaders to help overcome residents’ fears and doubts. Full Story 

• Medicaid expansion for uninsured Texans had bipartisan support, but lawmakers won't pass it this session

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 7, 2021

  Nothing is truly dead until the session ends. But committee chairs in both chambers have blocked bills from getting hearings, and supporters have dim hopes that Republican leaders will revive it in time. Full Story 

• Texas House advances bill that would ban homeless encampments in public

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Duncan Agnew May 5, 2021

  The bill still needs final approval by the House — usually a formality after it's passed in the chamber's first vote — and then will head to the Senate. Full Story 

• With half of eligible Texans still unvaccinated and supply exceeding demand, Texas shifts COVID-19 vaccination strategies

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 3, 2021

  Locals are also brainstorming incentives, sending out emergency cellphone alerts, running clinics in workplace break rooms and hanging sign-up sheets in churches. Full Story 

• U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Ken Paxton’s challenge to California law banning state-funded travel to Texas

  by Karen Brooks Harper April 26, 2021

  California banned state-funded travel to Texas because of a 2017 religious-refusal law for adoptions in the state, which critics called discriminatory against LGBTQ families. Full Story 

• Texas recommends resuming Johnson & Johnson vaccine shots after CDC, FDA give green light

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: April 23, 2021

  The news comes a day after state health officials said that a Texas woman who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been hospitalized with blood clots and whose condition was being investigated by the CDC as potentially connected to the vaccine. No other details were released. Full Story 

• Texas House votes down budget amendment aimed at giving health coverage to more uninsured Texans

  by Karen Brooks Harper April 22, 2021

  The Texas Legislature has declined to pass any broad expansion of state and federal health care coverage for uninsured Texans since the Affordable Care Act of 2010 required states to expand Medicaid — a provision later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Full Story 

• Medicaid expansion picks up bipartisan support in the Texas House, but hurdles remain

  by Karen Brooks Harper April 21, 2021

  Expanding the Medicaid rolls to include more than a million Texans could get a floor vote during House budget hearings on Thursday. Full Story