Texas Medical Board proposes new guidance for abortion medical exceptions
The guidance was disappointing to reproductive rights advocates who were seeking more specificity and a list of conditions that could qualify. Full Story
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![Executive Director of the Texas Medical Board Stephen Brint Carlton, J.D., speaks prior to the start of the Texas Medical Board Full Board Meeting in the George H.W. Bush Building in Austin, Texas on Mar. 22, 2024. The meeting was postponed 15 minutes from the original start time of 8 a.m.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas libraries work to bridge state’s mental health services gap
Information-rich public libraries are using their websites and facilities to address the ever-increasing demand for counseling, housing and substance abuse services. Full Story
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![Librarian Judy Bergeron answers the phone in her office at the Smithville Public Library in Smithville, Texas on Mar. 11, 2024. Bergeron and her team participated in the It's Time Texas Community Challenge where her and her team worked for eight weeks on this challenge by logging hours of healthy activities and would push each other to do self care and community events such as getting together to exercise and eat healthy meals. Smithville won for the statewide extra small community a seventh year in a row.]()
Credit: Maria Crane for The Texas Tribune -
New EPA rule to slash cancer-causing emissions from sterilization facilities
Laredo residents who live near a sterilization plant say the new federal limits on the pollutant will improve air quality and reduce their city’s high cancer risk. Full Story
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![The Midwest Sterilization Corporation in Laredo on May 13, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas Medical Board to consider issuing guidance on abortion laws’ medical exceptions
On March 22, the board will discuss clarifying what counts as a medical exception to the state’s abortion restrictions. Full Story
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![An ultrasound machine sits next to an empty patient's bed at Whole Women’s Health of Austin on Sept. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Expuestos y en el olvido: El aire tóxico en una comunidad latina de Texas revela los fallos del sistema estatal de control de calidad del aire
Los datos públicos de una red de monitores de la calidad del aire alrededor del Canal de Navegación de Houston son difíciles de interpretar y a menudo son insuficientes, dejando a vecindarios de mayoría latina, como Cloverleaf, sin saber si el aire que respiran es seguro. Full Story
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![People walk through San Jacinto Park as a tanker ship passes through the Houston Ship Channel in La Porte. Thousands of families live and play near the world’s largest petrochemical complex.
Un grupo de personas camina por el Parque San Jacinto mientras un barco cisterna pasa por el Canal de Navegación de Houston en La Porte. Miles de familias viven y juegan cerca del complejo petroquímico más grande del mundo.
People walk in San Jacinto Park as a large tanker ship pass through Houston Ship Channel on the background in Saturday October 28, 2023 in La Porte, TX]()
Credit: Go Nakamura for The Texas Tribune -
Neglected and exposed: Toxic air lingers in a Texas Latino community, revealing failures in state’s air monitoring system
Public data from a network of state air monitors around the Houston Ship Channel is hard to interpret and is often inadequate, leaving Latino-majority neighborhoods like Cloverleaf unaware of whether the air they breathe is safe. Full Story
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![Cristina Lazo starts the daily routine of washing her daughter Alina’s hands, changing clothes and rubbing an ointment on her irritated eyes after coming home from the outside. Lazo believes the fumes from the nearby industrial sector are contributing to her 7-year-old daughter’s symptoms.
Al llegar a su casa desde el exterior, Cristina Lazo inicia la rutina diaria de lavarle las manos a su hija Alina, cambiarla de ropa y aplicarle una pomada en los ojos irritados. Lazo cree que la fuga de gases del complejo industrial cercano están contribuyendo a los síntomas de su hija de 7 años.
On November 10, 2023, Cristina Lazo helps her six-year-old daughter Alina wash her hands at their home in Cloverleaf, Texas.]()
Credit: Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune -
Why covid patients who could most benefit from paxlovid still aren’t getting it
During the pandemic, the federal government offered Americans a 5-day course of Paxlovid, the antiviral drug that lessens COVID-19 symptoms. But now that Pfizer is charging for it, confusion over insurance coverage, price, has made patients wary. Full Story
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![Paxlovid, Pfizer's anti-viral medication to treat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is displayed in this picture illustration taken Oct. 7, 2022. A morning and an evening dose consists of one white 100-milligram tablet of Ritonavir and two pink 150-milligram tablets of PF-07321332.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/Illustration -
5th Circuit upholds Texas law requiring minors to obtain parental consent for contraception
A three-judge panel in New Orleans ruled that a Texas law requiring minors to obtain parental consent to obtain birth control does not conflict with the goals of the federally-funded Title X program, which has given teens birth control confidentially. Full Story
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Two West Texas infants in the same neighborhood diagnosed with rare botulism
A third infant nearby also contracted botulism last August. Local and state health officials said there is no public health emergency. Full Story
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![Downtown Midland is seen on Monday, April 27, 2020.]()
Credit: Ben Powell for The Texas Tribune -
With Texas births rising post-Roe, disability advocates say child services need bolstering
Texas’ fertility rose after new abortion restrictions, raising concerns that special education and specialized health care will be stretched even thinner. Full Story
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![Debbie Wiederhold tallks with Daniel on Feb. 29, 2024. They talk about his favorite artist, Taylor Swift.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Navy demoted Ronny Jackson after probe into White House behavior
Trump’s former physician and GOP ally is now a retired captain, not an admiral Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, listens to speakers during a press conference on border security with other House Republicans, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2023.]()
Credit: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via REUTERS -
Lifesaving Narcan tough to find in Texas pharmacies
Opioid overdoses are not slowing down in Texas. But locating Narcan, which can reverse the effects of an overdose quickly, has been tough for Texans since it was made available without a prescription last year. Full Story
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![Boxes of Narcan Nasal Spray at Janel Rodriguez's home on March 30, 2023, in Hays County. Rodriguez's son, Noah Adam Rodriguez, died from a fentanyl overdose in 2022 and has since started the Forever15 Project where she distributes boxes of Narcan to people who order online.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas anti-abortion activists pushed abortion restrictions in New Mexico, records show
A handful of cities and counties in New Mexico have passed restrictions – with help from Texans Mark Lee Dickson and attorney Jonathan Mitchell. Full Story
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![Clovis, New Mexico.]()
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Texas prosecutor disciplined for allowing murder charge against woman who self-managed an abortion
The State Bar of Texas has fined and suspended Starr County’s district attorney for pursuing a murder indictment against 26-year-old woman after she self-managed an abortion. Full Story
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![The Starr County seal on Jan. 12, 2022.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott signals support for IVF in Texas after Alabama ruling
Abbott stopped short of calling on the Legislature to take actions to protect IVF after a Alabama court ruling threw fertility treatments into legal limbo in that state. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about the recent 88th Legislative Session to an audience at the Texas Public Policy Foundation offices in Austin, on June 2, 2023. Abbott recounted policy victories in regards to fentanyl and the border crisis, as well as limiting gender affirming care and banning DEI practices in higher education. Abbott ended the event by promising to call a special session for school choice, after the current special session for property tax resolves.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Travis County to launch $23 million project to keep mentally ill from jail
Next month, mentally ill individuals accused of committing minor crimes will be “diverted” to a new 25-bed facility instead of jail cells in Travis County. Full Story
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![Tamara Needles moderates a panel including Andy Brown, Ann Howard and Sally Hernandez about the launch of Travis County’s Mental Health Diversion Pilot and the plans for a permanent Mental Health Diversion Center.]()
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Does UT Tyler Health Science Center’s deal with private equity shield doctors from malpractice suits?
A lawsuit claims UT Tyler Health Science Center is trying to pull the veil of governmental immunity over doctors who do all of their work for a for-profit, private equity-backed health care system. Full Story
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![Michelle Simington shows a photo of her father in law before he passed away at 71. By the time Mike learned he had prostate cancer, it had spread to his bones.]()
Credit: Greta Díaz González Vázquez for The Texas Tribune -
In El Paso, panelists stress area’s collaboration, slam false portrayals
During a Texas Tribune symposium, speakers discussed how the region’s mind-set of working together to solve problems can benefit other parts of the state. Panelists also said inaccurate narratives around immigration and border security only hurt progress. Full Story
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Texas passes on $450 million summer lunch program for low-income families
The USDA estimates the families of 3.8 million children could have received $120 per child to cover summer lunches if the state participated in the new $2.5 billion program launching this summer. Texas is one of 15 states opting out. Full Story
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![Siblings Stacy Hurd, 11, Angelica Hurd, 5, and Sheniya Hurd, 8, eat a free meal together at Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, one of more than 70 sites the East Texas Food Bank sponsors in the summer.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Child welfare officials move to reduce Texas judge’s oversight of embattled foster system
The request to remove several court orders marks the first time the state has made any major attempt to get out from under an injunction issued in the 13-year-old case. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services offices in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune