To ensure safety in assisted living facilities and nursing homes during power outages, AARP Texas supports SB481 for backup power.
Health care
In-depth reporting on public health, healthcare policy, hospitals, and wellness issues shaping communities across Texas, from The Texas Tribune.
Texas’ first abortion arrests stem from monthlong attorney general investigation
These represent the first criminal charges under Texas’ near-total abortion ban.
TribCast: Measles, COVID and the state of our public health system
On the fifth anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemic, we discuss the measles outbreak and the state’s ability to respond to health crises.
After COVID, Texas is less prepared for the next pandemic
Five years after Texas’ first COVID death, the state spends less on public health, vaccination rates have dropped and a distrust of authority has taken hold.
Texas Republicans seek to clarify when doctors can intervene under abortion bans
A Senate bill filed Friday does not expand abortion access, but aims to give doctors clarity while operating under laws that come with up to life in prison.
Paxton says trans Texans can’t use court orders to change sex on driver’s licenses, birth certificates
Per the attorney general’s nonbinding opinion, state agencies should change gender markers on government documents back to a person’s sex assigned at birth.
Will lawmakers let Texas’ maternal mortality committee review abortion deaths?
The Legislature is considering bills that would lift long-standing restrictions on how Texas’ panel can investigate maternal deaths and near-misses.
Following Trump’s lead, Gov. Abbott pushes state agencies to end telework
The directive comes as some state agencies have downsized their office spaces after the pandemic forced many employees to work remotely.
With crumbling public health infrastructure, rural Texas scrambles to respond to measles
The measles outbreak in rural Texas has exposed how hospital buildings are ill-equipped. Meanwhile, long distances between providers makes testing people and transporting samples difficult.
Obstacles slow Texas’ effort to improve conditions at substance abuse recovery homes
A new law was meant to uphold standards at homes where substance abusers are trying to rebuild their lives. But compliance is proving difficult.
