INSIDER
Texas’ uneven population boom is creating ghost towns in many rural counties
Read full article: Texas’ uneven population boom is creating ghost towns in many rural countiesLocal leaders and rural revitalization experts say Texas’ smallest towns can survive — despite a shift to urban and suburban counties — but it will take investments.
What Texas can learn from Italy’s big bet on tiny community health homes
Read full article: What Texas can learn from Italy’s big bet on tiny community health homesIn Italy, as in Texas, funding hospitals over primary care leaves many feeling “medically homeless.” Italy’s post-COVID plans show another way.
With too few mental health providers, more patients turn to primary care
Read full article: With too few mental health providers, more patients turn to primary careWhile primary care is experiencing its own workforce shortage, the profession is shouldering more mental health screenings to help bridge the behavioral health provider gap.
Watch Texas Tribune journalists discuss their experience on a rural reproductive health project
Read full article: Watch Texas Tribune journalists discuss their experience on a rural reproductive health projectReporter Eleanor Klibanoff and photojournalist Shelby Tauber talked with Tribune editor Terri Langford about their reporting on a story of a 26-year-old Texan who was told her twin sons had a zero percent chance of survival after childbirth.
The percentage of uninsured Texans in 2022 dropped to the lowest in a decade
Read full article: The percentage of uninsured Texans in 2022 dropped to the lowest in a decadeTexas is still the state with the highest percentage of uninsured residents, at nearly 17 percent, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau survey released Thursday.
Texas AG appeals judge’s order that allows women with complicated pregnancies to get abortions
Read full article: Texas AG appeals judge’s order that allows women with complicated pregnancies to get abortionsState District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum on Friday issued a temporary exemption to Texas’ abortion ban. Hours later, the attorney general’s office filed an appeal, which blocked the order.
As Texas sizzles, heat experts say preparation is needed for future extreme weather events
Read full article: As Texas sizzles, heat experts say preparation is needed for future extreme weather eventsThe panelists at a Texas Tribune event emphasized the need for a response to combat the dangerous impacts of extreme events that ensures communities receive support to effectively plan, prepare, and recover.
Texas Senate moves to set aside billions for future water needs
Read full article: Texas Senate moves to set aside billions for future water needsThe Senate on Monday passed a bill that would create a new state fund tailored for large or long-shot water supply projects, including marine desalination. The bill will advance to the House.
This Texas town has the highest rate of youth attempted suicides in the state. A grieving father hopes to reverse it.
Read full article: This Texas town has the highest rate of youth attempted suicides in the state. A grieving father hopes to reverse it.According to a new analysis by a national health care company, Lubbock has the highest rate of attempted suicides by children between the ages of 6 and 17. A local leader suggests a dearth of resources isn’t helping.
Volunteer networks in Mexico aid at-home abortions without involving doctors or clinics. They’re coming to Texas.
Read full article: Volunteer networks in Mexico aid at-home abortions without involving doctors or clinics. They’re coming to Texas.Before abortion was legal in parts of Mexico, an extensive “accompaniment” system grew to help women safely terminate pregnancies on their own. Its organizers are now moving abortion-inducing medication across the border and helping replicate the system in the United States.
En México, grupos de voluntarias ayudan a tener abortos en casa, sin personal médico. Este modelo de aborto ha llegado a Texas.
Read full article: En México, grupos de voluntarias ayudan a tener abortos en casa, sin personal médico. Este modelo de aborto ha llegado a Texas.Antes de que el aborto fuera legal en algunos estados de México, los grupos de “acompañamiento” establecieron un sistema de apoyo para que las mujeres interrumpieran sus embarazos en casa. Ahora, estos grupos están ayudando a trasladar al norte de la frontera medicamento para abortar y a replicar este modelo en los Estados Unidos.
Broadband, jobs, school vouchers and more: State, local leaders reflect on the topics driving conversations in rural Texas
Read full article: Broadband, jobs, school vouchers and more: State, local leaders reflect on the topics driving conversations in rural TexasLawmakers also discussed their stances on the issues impacting the region the most in a two-day event hosted by The Texas Tribune.
Abortion rights demonstrators take to the streets in Texas: ‘It’s just unbelievable’
Read full article: Abortion rights demonstrators take to the streets in Texas: ‘It’s just unbelievable’Through speeches, signs and chants, protesters across the state expressed their concerns Friday about the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
'I can’t have one more baby with this man': Some domestic violence victims see abortion as vital option that would be lost post-Roe
Read full article: 'I can’t have one more baby with this man': Some domestic violence victims see abortion as vital option that would be lost post-RoeAdvocates say abortion has often been the safest option for many experiencing intimate partner violence.
From staffing shortages to lack of guidance, the pandemic made Texas’ rural health issues worse, providers say
Read full article: From staffing shortages to lack of guidance, the pandemic made Texas’ rural health issues worse, providers sayThe COVID-19 pandemic also cut down on clinics’ revenue and underscored broadband access disparities in rural Texas, health care providers said in a conversation with The Texas Tribune.
Texas hospitals prepare to pick up the tab for uninsured COVID-19 patients as federal funds dry up
Read full article: Texas hospitals prepare to pick up the tab for uninsured COVID-19 patients as federal funds dry upHospitals and other health care providers in Texas, which has the lowest rate of insurance coverage in the nation, have gotten some $1.8 billion in federal help for uninsured COVID-19 patients.
Analysis: Rural Texas hospitals still searching for a remedy
Read full article: Analysis: Rural Texas hospitals still searching for a remedyThe good news is that no rural hospitals in Texas have closed in the last two years. The bad news? They’re still in crisis mode, and the state government is still struggling to find a remedy.
An end to the omicron surge is in sight, but relief comes slowly in hard-hit Laredo
Read full article: An end to the omicron surge is in sight, but relief comes slowly in hard-hit LaredoCOVID-19 numbers are plummeting statewide, but on Texas’ southern border with Mexico, Laredo is still battling its fourth surge.
With questions about omicron’s severity still unanswered, Texas braces for new COVID-19 wave this winter
Read full article: With questions about omicron’s severity still unanswered, Texas braces for new COVID-19 wave this winterHospitalizations related to the virus remain low in the state, but the number of people testing positive is rising and once again fueling worries about the struggling health care system’s ability to weather a new surge.
It’s cheap, easy to make and in demand overseas. So why can’t this Texas-born COVID-19 vaccine break into the U.S. market?
Read full article: It’s cheap, easy to make and in demand overseas. So why can’t this Texas-born COVID-19 vaccine break into the U.S. market?A Houston vaccine team would like a U.S. distributor but for now focuses its efforts abroad to inoculate those in countries where COVID-19 variants surface more quickly.
Rural schools shut down to keep COVID-19 from overwhelming their small communities
Read full article: Rural schools shut down to keep COVID-19 from overwhelming their small communitiesThe small districts aren’t fighting Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask rules, but fears for staff, students and local medical facilities are driving them to fight COVID-19 with temporary closures.
Texas congressional Democrats propose bill to let local governments expand Medicaid without state consent
Read full article: Texas congressional Democrats propose bill to let local governments expand Medicaid without state consentThe bill would let counties and cities apply to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for funds that were declined by their states.
Watch: Meet the Texas doctors on a mission to vaccinate their rural communities
Read full article: Watch: Meet the Texas doctors on a mission to vaccinate their rural communitiesWorried about a possible resurgence of COVID-19 infections, doctors Carolyn Salter and her husband, Michael Gorby, have taken it upon themselves to get lagging vaccination rates up in rural East Texas.