HEALTH CARE

Beginning today, a new law restricts abortion-inducing medication, the most common abortion method in Texas.

So much is unknown about the new COVID-19 variant: the severity of the illness it causes, whether it can resist vaccines and natural antibodies and whether it’s more contagious than the delta variant that has burned through Texas and the U.S. for months.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had called the mandate “an unprecedented federal vaccine decree” on health care workers.

Texas has passed legislation that ensures abortion would be made a felony if Roe v. Wade is overturned “wholly or partly,” as the court considers Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.

A surge in COVID-19 cases from the West is impacting El Paso.

Female clergy say the state's new abortion restrictions fail to consider women's lives.

For two months, providers have had to work in a sort of limbo as they wait to see if the new law passes the Supreme Court's review.

As the political season starts, the contestants got an unexpected bit of good news: The state comptroller says the next Legislature will start with almost $25 billion in the state treasury. Expensive campaign promises just got a lot easier to make.

Hospital officials cited privacy for children as a reason behind the decision and said patients will still receive care through other departments.

At least 770,000 Texans are ineligible for both Medicaid and health insurance subsidies through the state-run marketplaces.

The state has also challenged the federal government’s vaccination mandates for big businesses and federal contractors.

Unsure of how broadly the “aiding and abetting” portion of the law could be applied, Sueños Sin Fronteras — which helps women with an array of basic needs — is launching a legal defense fund.

Fifty-seven percent of voters support mask requirements in indoor public spaces based on local conditions, while 58% support mask requirements in public schools.

The new state survey is the first time Texas health officials have been able to statistically measure the vaccine's true impact on the pandemic.

Gov. Greg Abbott has a higher approval rating among Texans than Biden, but more Texans still disapprove of the governor’s performance than approve.

The order followed a joint petition filed by a handful of states, including Texas, plus several businesses and advocacy groups that argued overreach by the administration.

Appointment slots filled up quickly for the first pediatric doses. More kid-friendly shot sites come with therapy dogs, toys and snacks.

The new rules preempt state and local laws, including part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on vaccine mandates.

A gun rights group filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to Texas’ abortion law, fearful that similar statutes could be crafted in other states to target gun ownership.

The approval marks a long-awaited milestone in the nearly two-year fight against the deadly virus that experts say has likely already infected nearly half the population in that age group.

Appointment wait times at out-of-state clinics since the law’s implementation were longer than those in July 2020, according to the study.

Anti-abortion groups and reproductive rights activists faced off outside the U.S. Supreme Court as it heard Texas' abortion case.

Six justices — including two who voted against blocking Senate Bill 8 when it first went into effect — voiced concern that other states could replicate the controversial law’s enforcement mechanism.

In South Texas, poverty and immigration status compound the obstacles facing pregnant people seeking abortions.

The federal government will now send a first shipment of more than a million doses destined for children in that age group to providers in nearly half of the state's counties.

The vaccine’s protection goes down with time, so medical experts recommend a supplemental dose after two to six months. Find out here if it’s time to get one.

Genetic screenings can help determine if a fetus will have certain conditions — or even be viable. But those usually occur at the end of the first trimester, long after Texas' new abortion law bans people from terminating their pregnancies.

Laurel Ridge Treatment Center is dealing with a surge of admissions and is attributing the increase in mental health needs in the community to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move opens the door to emergency use approval by the FDA. In Texas, about 2.9 million children would be newly eligible if that happens.

Another hearing on the matter is scheduled for Nov. 5.

The U.S. Department of Justice asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in on the ongoing case, but Texas argues that the federal government lacks the standing necessary to overturn the law.

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.

A prohibition on vaccine mandates was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities for the special session, but it did not have enough support in the Legislature.

Court decisions have gone back and forth on the law’s enforceability over several weeks.

Senate Bill 8 barred abortions as early as six weeks, before many people know they are pregnant. It is the strictest abortion ban in the nation.

The halt comes after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded his ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates — which previously applied to cities, counties and school districts — to private employers.

The borders were closed to nonessential travel in March 2020, which hurt businesses in Texas border cities that rely on Mexican shoppers.

¿Busca asistencia para pagar su renta? Esto es lo que sucede cuando se intenta acceder a los fondos de ayuda distribuidos entre ciudades y condados de Texas.

Collier says his 2018 close call against Patrick was no fluke. Next year, he’s out to prove that his campaign can make a real challenge to the two-term incumbent.

American Airlines and Southwest Airlines say they will continue requiring employee vaccinations despite Abbott’s new order, which has left federal government contractors, nursing homes and other companies caught between conflicting rules from the Biden administration and the state.

Abbott also called on the Legislature to pass a law expanding the ban on vaccine mandates.

The judge who blocked enforcement of the new abortion restrictions in Texas said lawmakers knew it was unconstitutional and tried to prevent federal courts from saying so — and said he wanted to keep other states from copying the idea.

West, the former chair of the state Republican party, tweeted that his oxygen levels are low and he will likely be hospitalized, but says his condition is “not serious.”

Because of the way the law is written, it appears that clinics and doctors who performed abortions outlawed by the statute even while the block was in effect would now be vulnerable to lawsuits.

The ruling late Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman doesn’t protect providers who perform abortions while the Texas law makes its way through the courts.

It wasn't immediately clear how the temporary order may affect access to abortions in the state. The law is constructed in a way that people who violate it could be liable to litigation if enforcement is reinstated.

Thousands turned out at demonstrations across the state and protested Texas’ new abortion restrictions. Texas Tribune photographers were there.

About 40% of Texas nursing home workers are unvaccinated and could face dismissal or quit their jobs under a federal vaccination requirement for the industry.

A panel of five judges indefinitely blocked the lawsuits last week upon the request of an anti-abortion group.

The U.S. sued Texas after the Biden administration vowed to oppose Texas’ new near-total abortion ban. The lawsuit joins several legal challenges already in progress.

Filipe Ribeiro of Doctors Without Borders Afghanistan talks to NPR about the future of the country's health care system under Taliban rule.

The average stock in the index entered 2019 with a projected 24% gain, according to Bespoke. Company analysts see only modest upside for stocks overall this year, a rare view for the normally bullish crowd. For the 10 largest stocks, two Apple and JP Morgan Chase are already trading above their average price target. Consumer staples, financials and utilities are the three sectors with the lowest average upside, all below 3%. Energy is the only sector that cracks double digits, with the average price target 15.2% above the stock price.