Declining vaccination rates, decreasing trust in government and a political unwillingness to endorse vaccines is shaping Texas’ measles response.
Terri Langford
Terri Langford is the Tribune's health services reporter based in Austin. Langford is a veteran journalist, having worked at the Florida Times Union, The Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, WNYC, Honolulu Civil Beat and Texas Standard/KUT. Langford has a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin. She has covered various city and state agencies, criminal justice and health and human services for the Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, The Associated Press, WNYC and Texas Standard at KUT.
Posted in
Texas measles outbreak
First death in West Texas measles outbreak is unvaccinated child
More than 120 people across nine counties have been infected during the largest Texas outbreak in 30 years.
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Criminal Justice
Texas foster home linked to boy’s death had history of fight clubs and sexual misconduct, report says
The death of an 11-year-old at a Greenville residential treatment center is among 16 deaths reported in the Texas foster care system in the last 15 months.
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Health care
Foster child death linked to state-contracted home prompts criminal investigation
The Greenville-based treatment center has closed after the death of an 11-year-old boy the day before Thanksgiving.
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Criminal Justice
Two more state employees fired after accessing Texans’ private information
So far, nine HHSC employees have been fired for accessing without a “business” purpose the private information of Texans seeking public assistance that includes Medicaid and food stamps.
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Texas Legislature 2025
After Hurricane Beryl, Texas lawmakers push for generators at senior living facilities
After failed attempts in 2021 and 2023, southeast Texas lawmakers have filed bills to require generators in nursing homes and assisted living centers.
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Health care
Donald Trump’s push to freeze federal funds sparks confusion in Texas
Texas cities, counties, higher education institutions and nonprofits clambered Tuesday to gauge the potential fallout from the suspension, later blocked temporarily by a federal judge.
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Texas Legislature 2025
Several bills filed to weaken vaccine mandates as more Texas families opt out of immunizations
Emboldened by Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s nomination and disdain for pandemic-era mandates, skeptics are pushing for bills to make it easier to opt out of vaccines.
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Criminal Justice
State employees suspected of stealing from low-income Texans’ public assistance accounts
Seven human services employees were fired after a string of fraud and theft — and the largest data breach in agency history.
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Graphics and data reporting
Texas is silent on whether it will offer summer food assistance for students
After the state missed the Jan. 1 deadline, lawmakers still have time to approve administrative costs before applying for $400 million in federal summer meal assistance.
