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Edgar Walters worked at the Tribune from 2013 to 2020, most recently covering health and human services. Before that, he had a political reporting fellowship with the Berliner Zeitung, a daily newspaper in Berlin. He is a graduate of the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked as an editor for The Daily Texan. When not in the newsroom or at the Capitol, he could be found on the volleyball court, standing 6 feet, 7 inches tall.
A state program that helps with speech and occupational therapy and other services is in need of a new funding strategy, the officials say. They've instructed the state to craft a plan to ensure such services are available for all eligible Texans. Full Story
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State officials are asking doctors, nurses and pharmacists to identify “critical populations” as they predict an initial shortage of coronavirus vaccine doses. Full Story
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Earlier in his career, media reports called the now 33-year-old real estate investor a “wunderkind,” a “rising star” and a “prodigy.” Now he’s fighting more than a dozen bankruptcies and has been linked to criminal allegations against an embattled Texas politician. Full Story
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Two new trials in the Houston area are recruiting participants to study whether giving people infusions of blood from recovered COVID-19 patients can help treat early-stage infections or even prevent people from catching the disease. Full Story
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Experts say the Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down the law in its entirety. Texas’ GOP leaders have yet to produce a promised plan to replace it. Full Story
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Local health officials describe the electronic system as “cumbersome,” “archaic” and “really slow," though its performance has improved since it was upgraded in August. Full Story
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Budget cuts meant skimpier caches of protective equipment, and Texas' chronic shortage of public health workers has made the response more difficult, experts said. Full Story
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The changes to the budget proposal come after lawmakers and advocates protested the previous plan would hurt vulnerable Texans. Full Story
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The Texas Department of State Health Services said it will now rely on a calculation that takes into account the date on which a coronavirus test was administered, rather than when it was reported. Full Story
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The Texas Academy of Family Physicians is also asking legislators to expand Medicaid insurance coverage to low-income adults and restore funding for a program that studied racial health disparities. Full Story
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