January, 2019

• 2 January

  AARP Warns of ‘Sticker Shock’ at Freestanding ERs

  

  Confusion by Texas consumers over freestanding emergency rooms has left many families with unexpected and unnecessary high medical bills. A new AARP survey of Texas freestanding ERs finds that, unlike urgent care clinics, many of freestanding ER …

December, 2018

• 12 December

  Groups Rally to Help Texans Get Health Coverage Before Saturday Deadline

  

  AUSTIN – To enroll for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, Texans must sign up at Healthcare.gov by no later than this Saturday. Stacey Pogue, senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy …

June, 2018

• 19 June

  Texas House Speaker Straus Asks Trump to End Policy of Separating Immigrant Children

  

  Texas’ Republican House Speaker Joe Straus asked President Donald Trump on Tuesday to rescind the “zero tolerance” policy of his administration that has led to thousands of immigrant children being separated from their parents at the border. …

May, 2018

• 6 May

  Study: Texas Has High Rate of Food Insecurity, Hunger

  

  LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas ranks among the top states in the country for food insecurity, according to a new report, with more than 4.3 million people who may not know where their next meal is …

April, 2018

• 25 April

  Texas Law Blocks Teachers From Striking for Better Pay, Benefits

  

  AUSTIN – Statistics out this week show that teachers’ salaries in Texas now rank among the bottom third of all 50 states. Although teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona have walked out or are …
• 17 April

  Study: Texas Foster Care System has High Teen Pregnancy Rate

  

  AUSTIN  – Teen girls in Texas foster care are almost five times more likely to become pregnant than other teens, according to a new study. The “Fostering Healthy Texas Lives” report says the high pregnancy …

March, 2018

• 19 March

  Study: Texas Needs Alternatives to Sending Women to Prison

  

  AUSTIN – Prison reform advocates say too many of the 12,000 women in Texas prisons don’t need to be behind bars. A study by the nonpartisan Texas Criminal Justice Coalition finds that more than two-thirds of the …

February, 2018

• 25 February

  LULAC Sues Texas, Others Over Electoral College Vote System

  

  SAN ANTONIO – A coalition of activists and attorneys is suing Texas and three other states over their “winner-take-all” system of allocating Electoral College votes. The goal is to overturn a practice that they claim …
• 14 February

  Study: Texas, U.S. Elections Vulnerable to Foreign Hacking

  

  DALLAS – When you cast your vote March 6 in the Texas primary, how will you know if your ballot is secure? A new study warns that most states – and particularly Texas – have …

January, 2018

• 21 January

  Texas Supreme Court to Settle Dispute Over Plastic Bag Ban

  

  AUSTIN – A decades-old dispute between Texas cities and state officials over plastic grocery bags has finally made its way to the state Supreme Court. At least 10 Texas cities, including Austin, Brownsville and Lardeo, …
• 8 January

  Texans Face New Voter ID Law for March 6 Primaries

  

  AUSTIN – When Texans head to the polls March 6 for the first primary of the 2018 midterm elections, they’ll face a new Voter ID law. That law, which went into effect Jan. 1, keeps …
• 3 January

  Feds Grant Texas $25 Billion Extension of Medicaid Waiver

  

  AUSTIN – Health care providers in Texas are getting a $25 billion shot in the arm with the five-year extension of a Medicaid program by the federal government. The plan, known as an 1115 Demonstration …

December, 2017

• 29 December

  Study: Emissions From Fracked Wells Linked to Low Birthweight Babies

  

  ODESSA, Texas – Pregnant women living next to fracked gas wells in Texas and elsewhere are more likely to have a low birth-weight baby – that’s the finding in a new study from Princeton University. The …
• 27 December

  Groups Sue EPA to Enforce Texas Regional Haze Plan

  

  A coalition of conservation groups is taking the Environmental Protection Agency to court over changes to the Texas Regional Haze Plan. The suit maintains that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt violated the agency’s own regulations by replacing the …
• 26 December

  Texas’ ACA Signups Almost Match Last Year’s Enrollment

  

  AUSTIN – With the help of a coalition of consumer and faith-based groups, 1.1 million Texans have signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act for 2018. The Cover Texas Now coalition stepped in after the Trump …