Tuberculosis is a rare disease, but public health experts are urging Texas legislators to invest in expensive medication, nurses who can help patients and supporting local health departments to test and treat people who may have been exposed.
2018
Posted in
Politics
A Texas school contractor says she lost her job because she won’t promise not to boycott Israel. Now she’s suing.
The school severed its contract with the speech pathologist because of state law banning Texas government contracts with companies that boycott Israel.
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State Government
Gov. Greg Abbott selects deputy chief of staff as new secretary of state
David Whitley was named Texas’ top election official on Monday, years after he started working for Abbott when the governor served as the state’s attorney general.
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Politics
Texas secession was a key theme in Russian disinformation campaign during 2016 elections, report says
The Russian-based Internet Research Agency used two social media accounts in particular – “Heart of Texas” on Facebook and @rebeltexas on Instagram – to spread falsehoods and exert divisions during the 2016 elections, according to a new report.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: You can’t fix Texas school finance until you agree on the meaning of “fix”
Changing the way public schools are funded is hard even when everyone agrees on the problem. But Texas lawmakers will first have to figure out if they’re aiming to lower property taxes, increase spending on public education — or just change how the money is distributed.
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Health care
Texas still hasn’t expanded Medicaid. That’s leaving a gap in coverage for hundreds of thousands.
More and more states have decided to expand Medicaid, but Texas has not budged. With more than a half million Texans in the so-called health coverage gap, will the politics of the issue shift in next year’s legislative session?
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Immigration
Family of 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in federal custody speak out, call for “objective and thorough investigation”
“Premature and inaccurate statements undermine the integrity of the investigation,” attorneys for the family of Jakelin Caal Maquin said in a statement Saturday.
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Politics
State Rep. Joe Pickett to resign from Texas House after nearly 24 years in office
Citing health issues, the El Paso Democrat announced Saturday that he would step down from his post effective Jan. 4, four days before the start of the next legislative session.
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Immigration
Beto O’Rourke and other Democrats urge public to keep Tornillo migrant facility in spotlight
The population at the detention center for migrant children has quietly swelled from a few hundred to about 2,800 in about six months.
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Health care
Federal judge rules Obamacare unconstitutional, handing Texas an early win
Fort Worth U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the individual mandate — a critical component of Obamacare — is unconstitutional, rendering the rest of the law invalid as well.