Federal public health cuts could cost Texas $700 million
State and local health agencies are having to cut programs and staff to make up the loss and more cuts could be coming. Full Story
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![A funding meeting at the Texas Department of State Health Services building in Austin on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Among the topics discussed were concerns regarding federal funding and a current measles outbreak in parts of Texas.]()
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State offers specific measles guidance for 10 West Texas “outbreak” counties
State health officials added four more counties to what they consider “outbreak areas” and advise those visiting or living in those counties to consult measles vaccination guidance for those areas. Full Story
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![Signs inform people of measles prevention and testing at the Gaines County Court House in Seminole on Sunday on April 6, 2025.]()
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Search the newly updated Texas state employees salaries database
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of October 1. Full Story
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State health department blocks transgender Texans from changing sex on birth certificates
The agency quietly rolled out the policy change on its website last week, days after DPS blocked changes to the sex listed on a Texas driver’s license. Full Story
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![Scenes from Austin Pride 2024 on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, at on Congress Ave in Austin. The day-long celebration featured drag performances, booths and floats of Austin’s businesses and many Texans clad in rainbow.]()
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Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of July 1. Full Story
![Government Salaries Explorer]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Ben Hasson / Texas Tribune -
Texas’ maternal mortality committee questions recent changes after anti-abortion doctor’s appointment
The committee’s chair also raised concerns about the state’s possible departure from a federal system to share data about maternal deaths. Full Story
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![Dr. Carla Ortique speaks at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 29, 2018.]()
Credit: Thomas Meredith for The Texas Tribune -
Anti-abortion doctor appointed to Texas maternal death review committee
Dr. Ingrid Skop, an influential anti-abortion advocate, will now be reviewing maternal deaths for the state. Full Story
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![Dr. Ingrid Skop speaks at the Texas Medical Board meeting to discuss guidance around physicians for medical exceptions to the state's abortion ban laws at the George H.W. Bush State Office Building on March 22, 2024.]()
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New $305 million Austin State Hospital unveiled as Texas revamps psychiatric system
The facility has 240 single-person rooms, a basketball gym and outdoor courtyards. It’s part of a $2.5 billion overhaul of the state’s mental health hospital system. Full Story
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![Patient rooms include a bed, desk and private bathroom in the Austin State Hospital on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 in Austin. The hospital has 240 beds for adult inpatients.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of April 1. Full Story
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Credit: Photo Illustration by Ben Hasson / Texas Tribune -
First human case of bird flu in Texas detected after contact with infected dairy cattle
The person had contact with infected cattle, state health officials said. It's the second recorded human case in the U.S. Full Story
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![Cattle stand in the burn scar from the Smokehouse Creek fire on March. 3, 2024 in Hemphill County.]()
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Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of January 1. Full Story
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The number of Texas midwives is increasing — but advocates say the state needs more
The state agency that oversees midwives is trying to make it easier for women to join the profession, including lowering fees. Full Story
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![Nancy Pedroza, 27, who is pregnant, is supported by Nichollette Jones, her doula, and Ryan Morgan, 30, her partner and father to their unborn child, as she experiences contractions in a birthing tub, while laboring at the home of Pedroza's licensed midwife, Susan Taylor, where Pedroza plans to give birth, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Fort Worth, Texas,?U.S.,?April 7, 2020.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare -
Free COVID-19 tests and updated vaccines as the cold season approaches
As COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths rise slightly across the nation, here’s how you can get more at-home tests and the updated vaccine for free. Full Story
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![Take home COVID-19 self-testing kits provided by the District of Columbia government, which provides city residents four free take-home tests per day, in this illustration on Jan. 11, 2022.]()
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‘An epidemic’: Syphilis rages through Texas, causing newborn cases to climb amid treatment shortage
Syphilis rates in Texas continue to climb, alarming healthcare workers who see the highest increases among pregnant people and newborns. A shortage of treatment is complicating efforts to combat it. Full Story
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![An HIV/STI testing and treatment van in Philadelphia, PA, on Dec. 14, 2022.]()
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Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of July 1. It includes detailed data for the 113 agencies in state government and positions at each of those agencies. Full Story
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Credit: Photo Illustration by Ben Hasson / Texas Tribune -
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of April 1. It includes detailed data for the 113 agencies in state government and positions at each of those agencies. Full Story
![Government Salaries Explorer]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Ben Hasson / Texas Tribune -
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of Feb. 1. It includes detailed data for the 113 agencies in state government and positions at each of those agencies. Full Story
![Government Salaries Explorer]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Ben Hasson / Texas Tribune -
Jennifer Shuford named commissioner of Texas public health agency
The infectious disease doctor has been at the helm of the department in an interim capacity since the fall, replacing longtime commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt following his retirement. Full Story
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![Dr. Jennifer Shuford has been appointed commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.]()
Credit: DSHS website -
Texas lawmakers, advocates push for more data on pregnancy and childbirth complications
A state report detailing how many Texans die from pregnancy or childbirth is now more than two months delayed and may not be available before the 2023 legislative session. Full Story
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![Catalina Leano, a licensed vocational nurse at Houston Women's Reproductive Services, performs an ultrasound with the clinic doctor present, to determine whether the woman is less than six weeks pregnant and eligible to have an abortion in Texas on Oct. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein -
State agencies push for better worker pay as critical staffing crunch hits Texas government
Texas agencies say they are being hammered by a historic staffing crisis, particularly when it comes to those in the trenches serving the state’s most vulnerable populations. Full Story
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![Exterior of the Texas State Capitol on Nov. 19, 2020.]()
Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune