The longtime Laredo congressman fended off Republican challenger Jay Furman despite a federal indictment accusing the incumbent of bribery and money laundering.

The county decided to not have an early voting site at a Laredo university because of historic low turnout. It will have one on Election Day.

Texas desperately needs more and denser housing to keep up with the demand. But zoning restrictions get in the way, a Texas Tribune analysis found.

The South Texas city has hired a consulting firm for $200,000 to provide an interim director for the utility amid a restructuring of the department.

Despite the group’s strong participation, Hispanic students graduate college at a lower rate than peers in the program, according to a report.

The South Texas city is the latest to grapple with aging water infrastructure, which officials suggested could have been the cause for the E. coli outbreak.

Reporters from both organizations spent a day documenting the reality on the border. Here’s a summary of what they found.

The Texas Tribune and The Associated Press visited five locations along the 1,254-mile span to separate the facts from the political narrative during a heated election year.

Court records showed two dealers met up in Laredo to sell fentanyl, and the next day were caught trying to hide the drugs inside a tire wheel.

The Laredo Democrat faces allegations of bribery, money laundering and working on behalf of a foreign government.

Furman won the Republican nomination in a runoff against Lazaro Garza. Cuellar’s criminal charges have suddenly made it a high-profile race.

Irada Akhoundova pleaded guilty to facilitating a $60,000 payment to Imelda Cuellar, the congressman’s wife, that she believed would benefit Azerbaijan and its state-run oil company.

Cuellar was expected to cruise to reelection. Now he’ll need to rely on support from local and national Democratic leaders to help him overcome scandal.

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.

An Amber Alert has been issued for an infant who police believe was abducted from Laredo sometime before Wednesday morning.

Cuellar was unharmed in the incident, and law enforcement eventually retrieved the car.

Jose Sanz worked for the Democrat for two years, as his press secretary and then his district director. Sanz said he realized his values didn’t align with the incumbent’s.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he has directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to deploy additional buses to Eagle Pass and El Paso to assist in what he called a “border crisis.”

Rosie Cuellar, former Webb County tax assessor and the sister of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, confirmed to The Texas Tribune on Thursday she intends to run in the Democratic primary for House District 80.

The moderate Democrat from Laredo announced endorsements from top Democrats in the U.S. House, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

As the Biden administration prepared to launch speedy asylum screenings at the border this spring, authorities pledged a key difference from a Trump-era version of the policy: Migrants would be guaranteed access to legal representation.

U.S. authorities have announced the arrests of four men they say were part of a human smuggling effort last year that ended in the deaths of 53 migrants, including eight children, who were left in a tractor-trailer in the scorching Texas summer.

Corpus Christi logged a heat index of 125 degrees at one point in the past week, as Laredo, Del Rio, San Angelo and Junction also set new highs.

Anti-border wall activists are racing to find landowners along the Rio Grande before they sign contracts with the state.

A 16-year-old has been arrested and charged after Texas DPS troopers say he led them on a chase and smuggled six illegal immigrants into the United States.

A Facebook friend sent me this forecast for Wednesday down in Lopeno, Texas which definitely caught my attention:

A Texas-based online citizen journalist wants a federal appeals court to revive her lawsuit against Laredo area officials over her 2017 arrest.

One year later, there have been no arrests or charges filed related to the case. Cuellar maintains that he was never the target of the investigation and will ultimately be cleared of wrongdoing.

Priscilla Villarreal was arrested over her Facebook postings. In a rare proceeding, the entire 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will weigh whether she can sue, a case that could have major ramifications for citizen journalists like her -- and professional ones.

For some local relief programs, a lack of staffing, political support and effective community outreach got in the way of spending federal funds to prevent evictions, a new report found. More than $30 million went unspent and had to be returned.

Gov. Greg Abbott received the Broadband Trailblazer Award and delivered remarks during a news conference with MileOne and AT&T Tuesday in Laredo.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said its Office of Field Operations officers seized cocaine that totaled over $11.8 million in street value over the weekend.

One of them is in Laredo, which has elevated rates of cancer, according to a recent state analysis. The findings come after reporting by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.

The Environmental Protection Agency is warning residents who live near medical sterilizing plants in 13 states and Puerto Rico about potential health risks from emissions of ethylene oxide, a chemical widely used in their operations.

Four migrants are dead and three others are injured after an attempted human smuggling incident in Laredo, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

It was the single deadliest migrant smuggling case in U.S. history, according to a Homeland Security official. Citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were among the victims.

A recount is underway in a Texas primary race between Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros.

The state Democratic Party confirmed Monday that Ramirez’s opponent, Michelle Vallejo, won by a slim margin.

The Texas primary runoff between Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, was too close to call Wednesday, more than a week after the election.

One of the last anti-abortion Democrats in Congress is in the toughest reelection battle of his career in South Texas.

An FBI raid on his home before the primary and a threat to Roe v. Wade. Henry Cuellar is heading into the primary runoff election more vulnerable than ever before.

The move provides little relief as trade between Texas and Mexico is hampered along the border because of Abbott’s order. The Colombia bridge is just one of 13 commercial crossings between the two countries and the only one connected to Nuevo León.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will continue truck inspections that have gridlocked the U.S.-Mexico border for days.

Commercial traffic at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge stopped Monday and a similar protest affected traffic into and out of El Paso. The blockades could impact the flow of produce to restaurants and grocery stores.

Trucks delivering products from Mexico are facing hourslong waits at ports of entry.

The governor is pushing for more border security measures, some of which he acknowledges will slow traffic across the Texas-Mexico border.

The bill faces stiff headwinds in the Senate, where it would require 60 votes to pass. A similar measure the House passed in 2020 failed in the upper chamber.

Launched in June, a cross-border effort using buses and donated vaccines is helping roughly 2,000 Nuevo Laredo residents per day get COVID-19 shots in Laredo — 10% of Texas’ daily total.

The U.S. House speaker said during a stop Wednesday in Austin that she always supports her incumbents — “from right to left.”

The county is the most populous to embrace the Republican governor’s “catch-and-jail” policy to arrest people accused of crossing the border illegally for state crimes, including trespassing.

Cisneros came within 4 percentage points of unseating the moderate Cuellar in 2020. He seemed better prepared to fend her off in 2022 — until the FBI raided his office.

COVID-19 numbers are plummeting statewide, but on Texas’ southern border with Mexico, Laredo is still battling its fourth surge.

Police say three men were killed during a shooting at a South Texas sports bar.

On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Abby and Karen about U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar’s legal situation and whether the omicron wave is receding.

For three of the state’s most experienced politicians, bad news comes with the territory. But bad news in the critical stages of an election is another, more serious, kind of trouble.

On Wednesday, the FBI raided the nine-term congressman’s home in Laredo. It could not come at a worse time for Cuellar, who is in the fight of his political life ahead of the Democratic primary on March 1.

FBI agents have conducted a search near U_S_ Rep_ Henry Cuellar's home in Texas as they conducted what an FBI spokeswoman called “court-authorized law enforcement activity.”.

A concertgoer from Laredo is among one of the eight that died during the tragic events at Astroworld Festival Friday night.

A U.S. Marine from Texas was among the service members killed in Thursday’s Afghanistan airport attack, officials said.

Democratic Congressman from Laredo, Henry Cuellar helped lead a meeting between several south Texas community leaders and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Cuellar’s campaign confirmed that the congressman, who has served since 2005, will seek another term in 2022.

A Texas man was ordered to federal prison this month, convicted of trying to smuggle crystal meth into the United States using tacos, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.

A Texas man accused of conspiring to distribute methamphetamines hidden in fire extinguishers entered a guilty plea Friday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation San Antonio Division, Laredo Resident Agency Office, is asking for the public’s help in the search for a missing mother and her two children from Laredo.

A Texas chef became the first in her town to win big on Food Network’s “Chopped,”

An increasing number of American citizens have been apprehended as they have tried to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Health care worker Mary Carreon administers a COVID-19 vaccine to an elderly patient in Laredo on Feb. 1. During an emergency city council meeting last week, Laredo officials passed a motion to request that the federal government send National Guard troops to help distribute vaccines. Treviño, the Laredo health authority, has repeatedly argued against stricter measures because of the economic damage they can cause. Martinez, the city council member, said many residents live paycheck-to-paycheck and don’t have savings to help them survive a city lockdown. “The little carnita asadas, the barbecues — as a result, we have high numbers of infections, and so one begets the other.”Richard Chamberlain, the city’s health director, said the best way out of the city’s COVID-19 crisis is through vaccinations.

The city of Laredo, which has been overwhelmed by COVID-19. The 36-year-old is volunteering to administer the vaccine through the local fire department to help stifle the virus’ spread. Start your day with a quick take on the latest Texas politics and policy news. Subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Echo or RSS. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism.

FILE - In this July 27, 2020, file photo, notes to medical personnel are hung in an area as they prepare to ender a COVID-19 unit at Starr County Memorial Hospital in Rio Grande City, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A raging coronavirus outbreak in Laredo, now one of the biggest hotspots in the U.S., is leading to hundreds of new cases a day around the border city as Texas again reported more than 400 new COVID-19 deaths Friday. Overall hospitalizations in Texas continued showing potential signs of stabilizing, but the rising toll of new deaths continued to be the worst since the pandemic began. More than 1,200 new deaths have been reported in the past three days alone as January is already set to go down as the deadliest month of the pandemic in Texas. Abbott said Laredo has received more than 29,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

The lawsuit alleges the administration violated the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, which provides for equal protection under the law. Still, Flores worries that the border barrier may not be among Biden’s immediate priorities, which could allow the Department of Homeland Security to continue moving forward until it gets new marching orders. “Ending the transfer of future funds doesn’t mean in itself that wall construction stops,” she said. Meanwhile, the Trump administration shows no signs of slowing progress on one of his most high-profile campaign promises. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection online tracker of border wall construction indicates a 69-mile stretch of new barrier is under construction in Webb County, and another 52-mile project is in the “pre-construction” phase.

Trump called it the the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA in a December 2019 tweet, then repeated his frequent claim that NAFTA was the countrys worst trade deal. Through June of this year, about $243 billion in trade passed between the United States and Mexico, according to WorldCity. The majority passed through the Laredo and El Paso customs districts, which handled $87.9 billion and $19.6 billion in trade, respectively. "So, across the Texas border region, we've seen total trade decline," Contreras said. U.S. vehicle imports, he said, have sunk to an 18-year low.

Ulysses S. Romero for The Texas TribuneHundreds of the country's immigration judges filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that the Trump administration is muzzling their right to free speech. Part of the job of an immigration judge is to educate the public about the immigration courts and the role they play in society, Judge A. Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, said in a statement. There is significant public interest in these changes and in their effects on the independence of immigration judges and the process afforded migrants who appear before them, the lawsuit states. Immigration judges are uniquely positioned to inform the public on these issues.The judges are also blocked from speaking publicly about the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the immigration system and on detained migrants. Most of the countrys immigration courts have continued to hear cases involving detained migrants despite calls to temporarily shut the courts down because of the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Starting April 2, Laredo residents will have to cover their mouth and nose when entering any building that is not their home, according to the Laredo Morning Times. This includes offices, public transit and outdoor gas stations, per a Laredo City Council vote. Those in violation of the order, which will continue through April 30, could face a fine of up to $1,000 if their mouth and nose aren’t covered with a mask, bandana, scarf or other fabric. The Laredo City Council also voted to extend the city’s curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to pertain to all citizens, not just juveniles. Greg Abbott’s statewide order, residents can still exercise and walk pets after 10 p.m. as long as they comply with social distancing guidelines.

This week is one of the busiest shopping seasons on the border, but after hundreds of federal agents were diverted from international bridges to help with a surge of migrants, retailers and other businesses are fretting about how hours-long wait times will impact them.