Local leaders and rural revitalization experts say Texas’ smallest towns can survive — despite a shift to urban and suburban counties — but it will take investments.

Tuesday’s vote was a rare chance for Texans to vote directly on abortion restrictions. The state already has a near-total abortion ban.

Democrats in Lubbock and Amarillo hope Kamala Harris’ candidacy and a backlash to abortion laws will help make their long-held vision of a blue wave a reality.

Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley calls himself “pro-life.” But the proposal to police the streets for women traveling out of state to get an abortion is overreach, he said.

Texas Tribune journalist Jayme Lozano Carver has written about health care for years. Most recently, she reported on how little access there is for women and new moms in the Texas Panhandle.

Federal clinics in Texas are already required to get parental permission to prescribe birth control after a 2022 court ruling.

Local leaders of the Nurse-Family Partnership hope they can secure money to expand the program to the region’s rural areas.

After repeated attempts to convince the City Council to make zoning changes, residents asked the federal government to intervene.

After the Amarillo City Council balked at such an ordinance last year, residents collected signatures for a ballot measure.

Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the debate over abortion access is playing out in elections and the courts.

Amid a fight over an “abortion travel ban,” women health care experts say more attention is needed to the plight of pregnant Texans in the Panhandle where there are few hospitals and OBGYNs.

A group of anti-abortion advocates must now decide whether they want the city voters to have the final say on their proposed policy.

Supporters of the petition may ultimately seek a vote of Amarillo residents later this fall.

The council has been reluctant to approve the ban since it first debated the issue last fall.

Supporters began the petition drive after the City Council punted on the proposed policy. Voters may have the final say.

University President Walter Wendler canceled a drag performance last year, claiming such shows “denigrate and demean women.”

Federal Title X clinics do not require parental consent for birth control — except in Texas, where a lawsuit upended the longstanding program.

In the staunchly conservative Panhandle, LGBTQ+ Texans say political and legal battles overlook their humanity.

Senate Republicans are taking aim at a new federal courts policy aimed at curbing “judge shopping,” a practice that gained national attention in a major abortion medication case.

Hemphill County Judge Lisa Johnson said the region has been overwhelmed with the response of support, but work remains.

Texas has a wildfire season in winter, but climate change is extending it, scientists say.

As firefighters work to put out the largest wildfire in Texas history, here’s a guide to fire weather watches, safety tips and how to find organizations collecting donations to directly help local residents, including farmers and ranchers.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire is already the second largest wildfire to ever burn in the state of Texas. By the end of Thursday, it could be the largest ever recorded.

A nuclear weapons facility was forced to evacuate most of its staff due to a fast-moving wildfire blazing across the Texas Panhandle.

After months of consideration from the Amarillo City Council, an abortion travel ban is gaining support through a new citizen-led petition.

More details are coming out about a man accused of punching a flight attendant on an American Airlines plane this week.

After weeks of debate, the council took no action at a politically-charged meeting Tuesday. It is the largest city in Texas to debate an ordinance that would outlaw travel on its roadways to get an abortion.

Rural Texas towns like Levelland on the South Plains are increasingly turning to the arts to help revitalize their downtowns and provide more attractions for families.

A handful of local governments have already put the legally dubious bans in place. The news that Amarillo will take the issue up again comes shortly after a Dallas woman left the state for an abortion after losing a legal battle to obtain one here.

The region that includes Amarillo, a Panhandle city of more than 200,000 people, and surrounding towns has long been a mental health care desert. Officials hope a new $159 million hospital can help reduce a massive spike in suicide attempts.

Amarillo's city council said it will continue to study the issue. The city is one of just a few in Texas to reject the policy pushed by anti-abortion activists.

Buc-ee’s announced the date for the groundbreaking for their new Texas store.

After criticizing Republican leaders on abortion, guns and race, Bishop will run as a Democrat against Rep. Angie Chen Button in a competitive district in Dallas County.

The footage shows Jackson being tackled to the ground and placed in handcuffs, with the Amarillo Republican directing a profanity-laced tirade toward a trooper. His office has said Jackson, a physician, was trying to help with a medical emergency.

The value of a household’s vehicles disqualified nearly 55,000 people seeking federal food assistance in 2022. House Bill 1287 increases the threshold of car values that lead to SNAP applicants being denied aid.

A man who filed a lawsuit in Texas against three women he said helped his now-ex-wife obtain medication for an abortion is accused in a new court filing of using the lawsuit as an extension of the manipulative, controlling and emotionally abusive behavior he displayed toward her during their marriage.

The legal challenge to mifepristone now returns to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The U.S. Supreme Court originally planned to weigh in on the abortion pill case by Wednesday night, but extended the hold on the Amarillo ruling until Friday at midnight.

A woman who lost her full-time job during the pandemic used her $1,200 stimulus check to start a “cash stuffing” business, which is now on track to bring in $1 million this year, MSNBC reports.

A federal judge has heard arguments in a lawsuit that poses a threat to the nationwide availability of a leading abortion medication.

A Texas judge hearing a case that could throw into jeopardy access to the nation’s most common method of abortion is a former attorney for a Christian legal group who critics say is being sought out by conservative litigants because they believe he’ll be sympathetic to their causes.

U.S. District Matthew Kacsmaryk was once deputy counsel for the the First Liberty Institute, the Plano-based conservative Christian law firm.

Texas has had trouble getting a state of 30 million residents online for years — even before the pandemic put a spotlight on poor broadband development.

Experts say local governments should prioritize extreme weather preparedness. Cost can be a deterring factor.

H-E-B supplier Tyson Foods Inc. has issued a recall for nearly 94,000 pounds of Hill Country Fare and H-E-B ground beef products produced at its Amarillo facility that may be contaminated with foreign matter, a mirror-like material, according to the company.

Authorities say a gunman shot three people, including two first responders, at the Tri-State Fair & Rodeo in Texas before he was shot and wounded by sheriff’s deputies.

Technically, summer starts June 21 and ends Sept. 22. But for most people, the season actually begins on Memorial Day weekend and ends with the arrival of Labor Day. Meaning, the finals days of summer are upon us and there are only a handful of weekends between now and Sept. 5 to get out of the house and soak up the last rays of summertime sunshine.

Nearly 500 comments later and people are still weighing in on what exactly was standing outside the Amarillo Zoo’s fencing on May 21 at 1:25 a.m.

She will cover the Panhandle and South Plains through Report for America. She previously reported for Texas Tech Public Media.

Given the arctic cold snap in parts of Texas right now (12° in Amarillo as I write this!), a recent viewer message with the above picture arrived in my Instagram yesterday. Olson writes “My sister lives in northeastern Montana and it is -30 there. These bubbles in the snow happened between this morning and this afternoon and she has never seen anything like that before....she went out and poked them and they are hollow. Any ideas?”

Local health officials are trying to boost vaccinations in this Panhandle city and its surrounding counties, which rank near the bottom of the state’s population centers in the percentage of residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Amarillo police said a mother and child that were reported missing Sunday were found.

U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Sunday in Orlando. A Pentagon report found that he made sexual comments and violated an alcohol policy while he was the White House physician. Credit: REUTERS/Joe SkipperDuring his time working as the top White House physician, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, berated employees, made sexual comments about a female subordinate, and violated the policy for drinking alcohol on a presidential trip, according to a report from the Department of Defense inspector general obtained by CNN. "Three years ago I was the subject of a political hit job because I stood with President Trump,” Jackson said in a written statement. Jackson represents the congressional district that includes most of the Panhandle and parts of northern Texas such as Wichita Falls, where Gov.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday voided rulings from lower courts that upheld a ban on most abortions in Texas early in the coronavirus pandemic. The high court vacated two rulings from the lower U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that sided with Texas GOP officials arguing that Gov. The executive order ended over the summer, allowing abortions in the state to resume, but Planned Parenthood has said leaving the lower court rulings on the books would set harmful legal precedent for abortion rights advocates. Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

Texas is experiencing a second surge of coronavirus hospitalizations, up more than 75% since the beginning of October. On Oct. 28, there were more than 5,600 people with COVID-19 in Texas hospitals, a patient volume not seen since August, when the state experienced a crush of patients that pushed some South Texas hospitals to their limit. But the consequences of Texas’ burgeoning “fall wave” of the coronavirus pandemic extend hundreds of miles beyond those far-flung cities. Fewer than half of the state’s rural hospitals perform surgeries or deliver babies, said John Henderson, chief executive of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals. The 18-bed hospital is grappling with its own influx of COVID-19 patients.

Over the four months of Texas course of the coronavirus, early hot spots Amarillo among them have been eclipsed by new regions in crisis now, South Texas. That behavior, particularly among young people, may be responsible for dozens of new hot spots that will be more difficult to eradicate. Those 123 "red zone" counties are home to some 23 million Texans the vast majority of the state's population. Typically, rural and community hospitals transfer patients to urban hospitals for acute care. Two weeks ago, there were just seven positive COVID-19 patients in the Amarillo hospital; by this week, that had more than tripled to 24.

AUSTIN, Texas The University Interscholastic League (UIL) has released standings for the Lone Star Cup through March 13, 2020. Due to the cancellation of UIL spring events, the Lone Star Cup will not be awarded for the 2019-20 school year. As a result, many activities that earn points toward the UIL Lone Star Cup were not completed. The UIL Lone Star Cup recognizes the top high school in each UIL conference based on overall team achievement in sanctioned academic, athletic and music championships. Below are the Top 25 UIL Lone Star Cup standings for the 2019-20 school year.

AUSTIN, Texas The University Interscholastic League (UIL) has released standings for the Lone Star Cup through March 13, 2020. Due to the cancellation of UIL spring events, the Lone Star Cup will not be awarded for the 2019-20 school year. As a result, many activities that earn points toward the UIL Lone Star Cup were not completed. The UIL Lone Star Cup recognizes the top high school in each UIL conference based on overall team achievement in sanctioned academic, athletic and music championships. Below are the Top 25 UIL Lone Star Cup standings for the 2019-20 school year.

For the second day in a row, data released on Tuesday by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows a record number of hospitalizations due to the new coronavirus. Eddie Gaspar/The Texas TribuneFor the second day in a row, Texas has reported a record number of patients hospitalized with the new coronavirus, a metric Gov. Data released Tuesday by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows 2,056 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, up from 1,935 the day before. The hospitalization figures and the total number of new infections have trended upward since about late May. Experts have said theres a lag between when changes in people's behaviors, like more social interaction, are reflected in coronavirus case data.

Megan Hicks for The Texas TribuneWhat you need to know Monday:No consensus on whether El Paso is ready to reopenGov. Greg Abbott had given El Paso County and the Amarillo area two of the state's biggest recent COVID-19 hot spots a temporary reprieve from implementing Texas' next phase of reopening. While Abbott said the Amarillo area had "turned a corner," the picture in the El Paso area wasn't as clear. El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, on the other hand, said the situation in El Paso is more manageable now. Texas reported 1,949 more cases of the new coronavirus Sunday the highest increase since the state began reporting coronavirus case counts.

Your first time in Canyon, you’ll be forgiven for wondering where this Panhandle community of about 15,000 gets its name. He moved into Palo Duro Canyon Estates, a small residential development overlooking the canyon south of State Highway 217. Keep an eye on the clock, though, because you’ll want to return to Doves Rest and the canyon rim by sunset. Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. At the state park, an $8 entrance fee gives access to gorgeous picnic areas and about 50 miles of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.