Local leaders see data centers, which help power the world’s shift to artificial intelligence, as a way to keep their towns open. Residents worry their way of life — and water — is at stake.

Economic uncertainty, inflation, strict state limits on property tax collections and uncertainty around future federal funds have crimped local budgets.

These ten tornadoes remain the deadliest in the state's history.

The legislation was written after the state’s largest wildfire scorched more than 1 million acres in the Panhandle last year.

A proposal to create a statewide system connecting emergency personnel and agencies is among several bills that target problems exposed in 2024.

Very strong winds have caused damage in the Texas Panhandle

Among the proposals is a bill that would force more inspections of power lines, which a committee concluded ignited a blaze that burned more than 1 million acres last year.

The Panhandle town of Canadian is determined to move beyond the deadly fire. And yet, they are reminded almost daily another catastrophe is possible.

Several prominent Amarillo business people donated to support the so-called travel ban. Meanwhile, statewide progressive groups helped the opposition.

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

Watch this documentary about the final run of the Canadian Record, a small-town, family-owned newspaper that closed last year.

No state agency is taking responsibility for making sure the privately built lines that power many oil and gas sites are safe. Such lines have been blamed for sparking two recent Panhandle fires.

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.

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

Rising temperatures intensify drought and increase costs for the heavily subsidized crop insurance program.

Short of an immediate statewide response, Texans who lost homes and livestock are taking matters into their own hands to better prepare their property for a wildfire.

Dairy farmers and veterinarians in northern Texas furiously investigated a mysterious illness among cattle before the government got involved. Farm cat deaths were the tip off.

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

Clarendon is one of the first cities in Texas to reject the ordinance, after several cities and counties passed similar measures

The Republican senator and congressman introduced a bill that would expand a federal aid program to pay ranchers when pregnant cattle are killed in disasters.

A lack of air support and ineffective coordination hurt efforts to contain this year's Panhandle fires, the committee said.

Local officials said the public was not put in any danger and the attempts were reported to federal authorities.

In testimony to state lawmakers, Dale Jenkins and his Panhandle peers shared the “hidden cost” of the wildfires.

Thursday’s hearing marked the end of the Legislature’s three-day marathon of public hearings.

The Texas A&M Forest Service concluded that a fallen decayed utility pole caused the Smokehouse Creek fire.

A special legislative committee is investigating what caused the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest in state history.

Phillips 66 says two employees have been injured in a fire at a refinery in the Texas Panhandle.

Federal officials said the nation’s milk supply should be not at risk after a bird flu outbreak hits dairies in Texas, New Mexico and Kansas.

A series of deadly wildfires have burned for nearly three weeks, destroying farms and ranches in several counties.

As ranchers recover from the Smokehouse Creek fire, they face the agonizing choice of what to do with an unknown number of injured cattle.

The panel of three lawmakers and two residents will also look at disaster preparedness.

As crews fight to keep deadly blazes under control, weather conditions could increase risk of more fires.

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

Experts say utilities need to be ready for extreme weather, which could be a challenge in a state where discussing climate change is often taboo.

Rural Texans are more than twice as likely to go without homeowners insurance than their urban peers.

The full scope of damage still isn’t known, but some Panhandle residents have returned home. Firefighters continue battling the infernos.

Planes have dropped fire retardant over the northern Texas Panhandle as firefighters are continuing efforts to stamp out the largest wildfire in state history.

As the Texas Panhandle continues to suffer through the largest wildfire in state history, H-E-B and its chairman announced Saturday they are pitching sizable donations to the affected area.

Ranchers in the fire-scarred Texas Panhandle are facing a grim task of disposing possibly thousands of dead cattle killed by smoke and flames.

Texas wildfires have consumed acres of agricultural land, killing thousands of livestock, destroying crops and exacerbating challenges lingering from last year’s drought.

Get the latest updates as firefighters continue battling massive fires that have burned more than 1 million acres.

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

The fires have left at least two people dead and four injured firefighters. Cattle have been lost and homes and businesses decimated in their wake.

Firefighters across Bexar County are actively being deployed to assist with batting devastating fires in the Texas Panhandle.

Healthy winds and low humidity are forecasted for the Panhandle this weekend, which could add more fuel to the Smokehouse Creek Fire.

Wildfires raging in the Texas Panhandle have been growing at a staggering rate, resulting in widespread evacuations.

Wildfires raging in the Texas Panhandle have been growing at a staggering rate, resulting in widespread evacuations.

A series of wildfires in the Texas Panhandle has devastated communities in at least 60 counties this week, and one of them has swelled to become the second-largest in state history.

A cluster of wildfires is scorching the Texas Panhandle.

The Amarillo Area Foundation is funding new day care facilities in Friona and Claude after the towns found that a shortage of child care is making it harder to fill job openings.

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.

Police say one arrest has been made and others are expected after a man was killed and three others were injured when multiple people pulled guns and shots were fired during a fight in a small city in the Texas Panhandle.

Buc-ee’s recently announced that it is breaking ground on the Amarillo location, which will include a 74,000-square-foot store and 108 fueling stations.

The Amarillo Republican has led six committees and was among the rural GOP members to oppose school voucher proposals.

Communities from Houston to New Orleans are opening cooling centers to bring relief as steamy hot temperatures settle across a broad swath of the U.S. South.

More than 100 people were injured in the tornado that hit the Panhandle town. Gov. Greg Abbott sent emergency crews to assist with recovery efforts.

A tornado that tore through the town of Perryton in the Texas Panhandle late Thursday afternoon has killed at least three people and injured dozens more.

Three people have been killed after a tornado tore through the Texas Panhandle town of Perryton, leaving dozens more injured widespread damage.

On the eve of a historic investment in connecting the Lone Star State, advocates worry maps that will help establish which communities get funding have bad information.

Investigators say the fire was an accident and started with an engine fire in a manure vacuum truck.

State investigators determined that a fire and explosion at a dairy farm in the Texas Panhandle that injured one person and killed an estimated 18,000 head of cattle was an accident that started with an engine fire in a manure vacuum truck.

The women are accused of helping their friend terminate her pregnancy, but they now claim her ex-husband, who brought the lawsuit, knew she had obtained the medication and did nothing to stop her.

The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office has ruled the fire and explosion that killed thousands of cows in the Texas Panhandle an accident, according to media reports.

Protests continued Wednesday at a university in the Texas Panhandle after the school’s president said a planned campus drag show wouldn’t be allowed and expressed the view that such events “discriminate against womanhood.”.

The end of The Canadian Record’s print edition — even if temporary — is another indication of how perilous the news business is for local publishers and the communities they’re a part of.

A West Texas man has been sentenced to life plus 300 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child and 10 counts of producing child pornography, including filming himself sexually assaulting children.

Hundreds of wildfires have broken out this spring. More than a dozen areas are under voluntary or mandatory water use restrictions, and more than 200 Texas counties have been designated as crop disaster areas.

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

Ongoing La Niña conditions have brought warm, dry weather and deepened drought conditions across the state.

AMARILLO, Texas – Several suspected tornadoes touched down Saturday afternoon in the Texas Panhandle between Lubbock and Amarillo, according to the National Weather Service, but no injuries or fatalities were reported. “There are no reports of injuries,” and only minor damage, Merchant said. “We can't answer that until afterwards when we examine the damage,” Merchant said. Storm survey teams could be sent to the areas as early as Sunday morning, according to Merchant. ___This story has been corrected to show the name of the Amarillo area emergency management director is Chip Orton, not Chad Orton.

Not for anything could Raymond Reeves bluff his way through a game of poker. When Reeves died he still had 120 cows and calves, down from 300 at the height of his work. Raymond Reeves did not suffer a mean animal. “It was very difficult for him to grasp that this was serious,” Carol Reeves said. That day in November, after Reeves died, there was no tearing of wrapping paper or laughter of children.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Snow, sleet and freezing rain were reported Tuesday in parts of the Texas Panhandle as an early season ice storm bore down on the Southern Plains. The National Weather Service issued an ice storm warning for areas in the Big Country, Concho Valley, the Northern Edwards Plateau and portions of the Heartland. Freezing rain is expected in parts of West Central Texas. Snow was also reported near Amarillo and San Angelo, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department shared images of a snowy Chaprock Canyons State Park near Quitaque. NWS-El Paso also reported snowy conditions in the Borderland, where temperatures were in the upper 20- and low 30-degree range.

AUSTIN, Texas Signs in the Texas Panhandle urged voters to wear masks. By and large, most voters covered their faces, even though Texas' mask mandate exempts polling locations. On Wednesday, Texas again set a new high with nearly 10,800 new cases, along with a record 110 deaths. The rising toll includes 35 deaths that officials on the Texas-Mexico border said happened Wednesday morning alone in Hidalgo County. Although it remains too early to tell the impact since Texas' mask order was announced before the Fourth of July weekend, other former holdouts to requiring face coverings continued relenting Wednesday.

Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas TribuneEnough people to pack the bleachers at Faith Christians football stadium in Grapevine. By the state's official count, the coronavirus pandemic has now killed 2,029 people in Texas, a toll experts agree is an undercount. Connecticut, a state with one-eighth of Texas population, is mourning twice as many known fatalities. Most Texans died where most Texans live, state data show. The state health department has collected only limited data about them, reporting demographic information for just 664 lost Texans.