The vaccine isn’t widely available yet and testing levels are low. That’s driving concern about a virus that is expected to keep spreading.
Karen Brooks Harper
Karen Brooks Harper reported on the state budget and health and human services from 2020 to 2024. An alumna of the Missouri School of Journalism, 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.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Texas abortion foes use legal threats and propose more laws to increase pressure on providers and their allies
No criminal charges have been filed under two current Texas laws restricting abortion, but abortion opponents are looking to build on the momentum of recent victories, including the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texans have been slow to vaccinate their youngest against COVID-19, but they’re slightly ahead of the national average
For some parents of kids under 5 who want to vaccinate them, the wait has been excruciating, fraught with delays and close calls. Others are hesitant to have their young children vaccinated.
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Migrant Tragedy in San Antonio
A “cloned” 18-wheeler made it easy for smugglers to pass through the border, say state officials vowing to crack down
A federal agency estimates that about 75 trucks are reported nationally each year with copied or stolen state and federal ID numbers, which industry experts say is likely a significant undercount.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Wealth will now largely determine which Texans can access abortion
The U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade will not fall equally. Texans most likely to seek out abortion care in the past are now the least likely to be able to afford it. People of color will be most disproportionately affected.
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Uvalde school shooting
Texas Senate Democrats call again for a special session on gun safety in response to Uvalde shooting
The senators said they would support proposals like raising the age to legally own an assault weapon from 18 to 21, creating red flag laws and regulating private gun sales.
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Uvalde school shooting
Texas was building a program to find troubled students and prevent school shootings. It hadn’t reached Uvalde yet.
Created in 2019, the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium identifies distressed students and refers them to mental health services.
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Uvalde school shooting
“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.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Dallas facility that serves transgender children can accept new patients, judge rules
The clinic had stopped accepting new patients after increased political pressure.
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Coronavirus in Texas
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.
