KTBB News, Weather, Talk

Kansas health officials confirmed five new cases of measles Wednesday in an outbreak in the southwest corner of the state that’s linked to Texas and New Mexico.

Last week, U.S. measles cases topped 700 as Indiana joined five others states with active outbreaks. Even as the virus continued to spread and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention redeployed a team to West Texas, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed in a televised Cabinet meeting Thursday that measles cases were plateauing nationally. The U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.

Texas is reporting the majority of measles cases. Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses near the epicenter of the outbreak in rural West Texas. An adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated also died of a measles-related illness.

Other states with active outbreaks — defined as three or more cases — include Indiana, Oklahoma and Ohio.

The multistate outbreak confirms health experts’ fears that the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year. The World Health Organization has said cases in Mexico are linked to the Texas outbreak.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.

Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.
How many measles cases are there in Texas and New Mexico?

Texas’ outbreak began in late January. State health officials said Tuesday there were 20 new cases of measles since Friday, bringing the total to 561 across 23 counties — most of them in West Texas. Two more Texans were hospitalized, for a total of 58 throughout the outbreak, and Reeves County logged its first case.

State health officials estimated Tuesday that about 4% of cases — fewer than 25 — are actively infectious.

Sixty-five percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has logged 364 cases since late January — just over 1% of the county’s residents.

The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Kennedy. Health officials in Texas said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February — Kennedy said age 6.

New Mexico announced five new cases Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 63. Three more people are in the hospital, for a total of five since the outbreak started. Don?a Ana County reported its first case. Most of the state’s cases are in Lea County. Two are in Eddy County and one in Chaves County.

State health officials say the cases are linked to Texas’ outbreak based on genetic testing. New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult on March 6.
How many cases are there in Kansas?

Kansas has 37 cases in eight counties in the southwest part of the state, health officials announced Wednesday.

Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray and Morton counties have fewer than five cases each. Haskell County has the most with eight cases, Stevens County has seven, Kiowa County has six.

The state’s first reported case, identified in Stevens County on March 13, is linked to the Texas and New Mexico outbreaks based on genetic testing, a state health department spokesperson said. But health officials have not determined how the person was exposed.
How many cases are there in Oklahoma?

Cases in Oklahoma remained steady at 12 total cases Tuesday: nine confirmed and three probable. The first two probable cases were “associated” with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks, the state health department said.

A state health department spokesperson said measles exposures were confirmed in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Rogers and Custer counties, but wouldn’t say which counties had cases.
How many cases are there in Ohio?

The Knox County outbreak in east-central Ohio has infected a total 20 people as of Tuesday, according to a news release from the county health department, but seven of them do not live in Ohio. In 2022, a measles outbreak in central Ohio sickened 85.

The Ohio Department of Health confirmed 20 measles cases in the state last week: 11 in Ashtabula County near Cleveland, seven in Knox County and one each in Allen and Holmes counties. The state updates its count on Thursdays, and it only includes Ohio residents.

The outbreak in Ashtabula County started with an unvaccinated adult who had interacted with someone who had traveled internationally.
How many cases are there in Indiana?

Indiana confirmed six connected cases of measles in Allen County in the northeast part of the state — four are unvaccinated minors and two are adults whose vaccination status is unknown.

The cases have no known link to other outbreaks, the Allen County Department of Health said Wednesday. The first case was confirmed Monday.
Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?

Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an outbreak as three or more related cases. The agency counted seven clusters that qualified as outbreaks in 2025 as of Friday.

In the U.S., cases and outbreaks are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. It can then spread, especially in communities with low vaccination rates. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles. So far in 2025, the CDC’s count is 712.
Do you need an MMR booster?

The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.

People at high risk for infection who got the shots many years ago may want to consider getting a booster if they live in an area with an outbreak, said Scott Weaver with the Global Virus Network, an international coalition. Those may include family members living with someone who has measles or those especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases because of underlying medical conditions.

Adults with “presumptive evidence of immunity” generally don’t need measles shots now, the CDC said. Criteria include written documentation of adequate vaccination earlier in life, lab confirmation of past infection or being born before 1957, when most people were likely to be infected naturally.

A doctor can order a lab test called an MMR titer to check your levels of measles antibodies, but experts don’t always recommend it and health insurance plans may not cover it.

Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says.

People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said. That also includes people who don’t know which type they got.
What are the symptoms of measles?

Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.

The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.

Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
How can you treat measles?

There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
Why do vaccination rates matter?

In communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called “herd immunity.”

But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.

The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.

___

AP Science Writer Laura Ungar contributed to this report.

DALLAS (AP) — The student accused of injuring four in a shooting at a Dallas high school was let into the building through an unsecured door and then walked down a hallway toward a group of students, opening fire on them and then appearing to take a point-blank shot at one, according to an arrest warrant released Wednesday.

The 17-year-old suspect was being held in Dallas County jail on Wednesday on a charge of aggravated assault mass shooting. He was taken into custody several hours after the shooting, which happened just after 1 p.m. on Tuesday at Wilmer-Hutchins High School.

Four male students were injured in the shooting and taken to hospitals, according to authorities. By Wednesday, two had been discharged and two remained hospitalized for observation but were expected to recover, the Dallas Fire-Recue Department said.

Three of those injured were between the ages of 15 to 18 and were shot, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue. A fourth person whose age was unknown had an injury that Dallas Fire-Rescue said could only be identified as a “musculoskeletal injury” to the lower body.

Dallas Fire-Rescue said Wednesday that a fifth person — a 14-year-old female — was later taken to the hospital for anxiety-related symptoms. She had not been shot.

The shooting drew a large number of police and other law enforcement agents to the roughly 1,000-student campus.

School surveillance camera footage showed that an unidentified student let the suspect in through an unsecured door prior to the shooting, according to the arrest warrant. The arrest warrant said that after spotting the group of students in the hallway, he displayed a firearm and began firing “indiscriminately” before approaching a student who was not able to run and walking toward that student and appearing to take a point-blank shot.

Christina Smith, assistant police chief for the Dallas Independent School District, said during a Tuesday news conference that she did not have any information on what led to the shooting.

Smith said the gun didn’t come into the school during “regular intake time.” She said “it was not a failure of our staff, of our protocols, or of the machinery that we have.” But she said she could not elaborate on that.

Dallas school district officials did not immediately respond to an email or call from The Associated Press seeking additional information on Wednesday.

Stephanie Elizalde, the school district’s superintendent, said at the Tuesday news conference that there would be no school at the high school for the rest of the week. But she added that counselors would be available to students.

The suspect’s bond was set at $600,000. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.

At the same school last April, one student shot another in the leg.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A real estate developer, whose relationship with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was at the center of the Republican’s historic impeachment trial in 2023 and a recently-ended federal corruption investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to five years’ supervised release and fined $1 million for lying to a financial institution.

Nate Paul, 38, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge David Ezra to serve four months’ home confinement at night, but he is allowed to leave for work and other appointments during the day. Paul had faced up to six months in prison under a previous plea agreement.

Paul’s attorney, Gerry Morris, did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas declined comment.

Paul was accused by federal prosecutors of overstating his assets and understating his liabilities while seeking loans in 2017 and 2018.

Paul had claimed that federal investigators acted improperly when they raided his Austin home in 2019. He later sought help from Paxton, and the relationship and dealings between the two men played a prominent role in state lawmakers impeaching Paxton, who was later acquitted in the Senate.

Paxton has long denied wrongdoing and was not mentioned in federal indictments against Paul.

A close ally of President Donald Trump, Paxton is now running for U.S. Senate in the Republican primary against Sen. John Cornyn.

A separate federal criminal investigation of Paxton over his relationship and dealings with Paul was quietly ended by President Joe Biden’s administration in late 2024 with no charges. Paxton has called that investigation a “bogus witch hunt.”

Earlier this month, a state district judge awarded more than $6 million to four former Paxton aides who were fired in retaliation for reporting allegations that he was using his office to accept bribes from Paul.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Damian Felipe Jimenez has many dreams about his future — he could be a restaurant owner, a scientist or maybe something else. As he works through sixth grade, he knows education will be critical in making his dreams a reality, but he’s increasingly worried that option could soon disappear for some of his classmates.

Felipe Jimenez is one of hundreds of children who have packed the Tennessee Capitol this year to oppose legislation designed to upend the long-standing U.S. constitutional right to free public education for children, regardless of immigration status. It’s a protection established by the landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe, which struck down a Texas law that sought to deny enrollment to any student not “legally admitted” into the country.

“I am the son of immigrant parents who have shown me to respect and value everyone,” Felipe Jimenez told lawmakers earlier this year, speaking on behalf of the impact the bill would have on his peers. “Just like me and all the kids in this country, we have the right to dream and make those dreams come true. The right to an education should not be taken away from us because of our immigration status.”

A growing number of conservative leaders are pushing states to overturn Plyler v. Doe — including the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. This year, Tennessee’s Republican lawmakers appear the most willing to take up the cause by advancing legislation that directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision and would spark a legal battle that supporters hope will not only go before the high court but also allow justices to reverse the ruling.

GOP-led states have introduced a plethora of anti-immigration bills following President Donald Trump’s reelection and his subsequent moves to aggressively deport immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally. But few have followed Tennessee’s lead to focus on revoking public education from children, and none have made it out of committee.
An uphill fight but a different Supreme Court

The Republican-controlled Tennessee Senate has approved a proposal requiring proof of legal residence to enroll in public K-12 public schools and allowing schools to either turn away students who fail to provide proper documentation or charge them tuition. The House version differs by letting public schools check immigration status, rather than requiring it.

The two versions will need to be reconciled before they can head to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. If it passes, the legislation is all but certain to face a lawsuit.

The sponsors of the proposal have largely downplayed denying children the right to education, but instead have focused on the fiscal impact states are facing in educating children residing in the U.S. illegally.

“It’s been argued that undocumented illegal aliens pay sales tax and property tax,” said Republican Sen. Bo Watson, the backer of the bill in the Senate. “True. But one doesn’t know if those payments come close to offsetting the additional costs. We argue they do not.”

It’s unknown how many undocumented children live in Tennessee, and it’s unclear if the proposal would result in any savings. When Texas made similar economic arguments in the Plyler case, it was rejected by the court.

Lawmakers and other conservative supporters repeatedly point to the 5-4 vote that determined Plyler in 1982, stressing the narrow decision means there is wiggle room to overturn the precedent — particularly under the current Supreme Court that has been open to reversing legal precedent, including on the right to abortion.

“It doesn’t take one too long to figure out that there’s a strong appetite by the conservatives on the Supreme Court to overturn precedent,” said Brett Geier, a professor of educational leadership at Western Michigan University. “And where does it come from? It starts with the states.”

The first test against the Plyler decision came in 1994 in California. Voters there approved a proposition prohibiting immigrants in the country without legal authorization from receiving public health care, education or other social services. That law was overturned.

In 2011, the Plyler precedent was challenged again after Alabama lawmakers required schools to determine student immigration status. That statute was eventually blocked after a legal challenge resulted in a settlement.

“I don’t see real debates about this. I see symbolic measures that are supported by some groups of Republican legislators,” said Thomas Saenz, president of the law firm Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which successfully defended the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court in the Plyler case.

“They do trot up same old arguments from the 1970s about the burden of the costs, etc., etc.,” Saenz added. “They never balance that against the benefit of taxes being paid by these kids and their parents.”
For children, the fight turns personal

For months, as GOP lawmakers have defended the legislation, the tone of those who have shown up to fight against the bill has often turned emotional. Students have broken down in tears, distraught over their classmates being removed from their school and worries over who might be next.

As the Senate voted earlier this month, 12-year-old Silvestre Correa Del Canto stood outside in the crowded second floor of the Capitol with his mother, alarmed that the legislation could hurt children who don’t make the decisions about where they live and could impact their lives for years.

His family brought him to Nashville when he was 3 from Santiago, Chile. He now attends a public middle school that was originally a segregated school for African Americans. He connected that legacy to the Tennessee legislation.

“I feel like we’ve worked a lot to be connected again, people with people and going to school together,” Correa Del Canto, a sixth grader, said. “And I feel like that would be just going steps back, just going back in time and like losing all that we’ve worked for.”

___

Associated Press writer David Lieb contributed from Jefferson City, Missouri.

AUSTIN — A real estate developer, whose relationship with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was at the center of the Republican’s historic impeachment trial in 2023 and a recently-ended federal corruption investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to five years’ supervised release and fined $1 million for lying to a financial institution.

Nate Paul, 38, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge David Ezra to serve four months’ home confinement at night, but he is allowed to leave for work and other appointments during the day. Paul had faced up to six months in prison under a previous plea agreement.

Paul’s attorney, Gerry Morris, did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas declined comment.

Paul was accused by federal prosecutors of overstating his assets and understating his liabilities while seeking loans in 2017 and 2018.

Paul had claimed that federal investigators acted improperly when they raided his Austin home in 2019. He later sought help from Paxton, and the relationship and dealings between the two men played a prominent role in state lawmakers impeaching Paxton, who was later acquitted in the Senate.

Paxton has long denied wrongdoing and was not mentioned in federal indictments against Paul.

A close ally of President Donald Trump, Paxton is now running for U.S. Senate in the Republican primary against Sen. John Cornyn.

A separate federal criminal investigation of Paxton over his relationship and dealings with Paul was quietly ended by President Joe Biden’s administration in late 2024 with no charges. Paxton has called that investigation a “bogus witch hunt.”

Earlier this month, a state district judge awarded more than $6 million to four former Paxton aides who were fired in retaliation for reporting allegations that he was using his office to accept bribes from Paul.

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports A proposal to ban public school displays of unapproved flags is heading to the Texas House after passing the Senate on Tuesday in a 23-8 vote. Public schools would only be allowed to display a dozen specific flags, including those of the United States, Texas, the armed forces, flags representing colleges and universities, a school’s official flag and flags that are temporarily displayed as part of required class curriculum. The list of approved flags do not include flags representing LGBTQ pride or transgender people. If enacted, schools that violate the bill and fail to report a remedy within a certain timeframe would be subject to a $500 daily fine. Shortly before the vote, Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, told her colleagues she would oppose the bill because it targets LGBTQ students and teachers.

“It’s truly devastating to me that this bill fails to distinguish between messages of hate and those of community,” Cook said on the Senate floor. “If pride flags are political, then so are the values of respect and belonging. Our students deserve better than a false neutrality.” In a committee report released earlier this month laying out the bill’s intent, Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, said her proposal addresses concerns over political or ideological classroom displays — such as pride flags, Confederate flags, Blue Lives Matter flags and Black Lives Matter banners — that have led to administrative bans, protests and lawsuits. Campbell cited as an example a North Texas high school where students staged a walkout after administrators removed rainbow “safe space” stickers and pride flags. “Similar incidents across the state illustrate the divisiveness and disruption that competing political symbols can generate in school settings,” Campbell wrote. “S.B. 762 ensures schools prioritize education and shared civic values by establishing a uniform standard that prevents political symbol conflicts, maintaining a neutral learning environment.”

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports leaders of Texas ports and the companies that rely on the ports have spent the past two weeks of tariff upheaval doing what the ship captains do practically every minute of every day: Study the information and keep an eye on the horizon. The one thing they agree on is nobody really knows for sure what the conditions will be for very long at the 23 Texas ports that by many estimates generate more than one-quarter of the state’s gross domestic product. A few predict calm seas. Others see nothing but icebergs. More still cannot even predict what waves and thunderstorms lie ahead. “We’re trying to assess the situation,” Port of Freeport Executive Director Phyllis Saathoff told the crowd at a Greater Houston Port Bureau luncheon on April 10.

Despite the uncertainty of global trade markets as the Trump administration announces American tariff policy, then alters it, and then alters it again, port officials in Freeport and Houston have so far declined to elaborate on what immediate steps they are taking — including the possibility of slowing investment on their own docks or reducing their workforces. Citing the uncertainty and near-daily changes in what tariffs will be in effect and what specific goods will cost, they said it is too soon to either sound an alarm or give the all-clear. “Looking ahead, we will approach our work as we always have,” Port Houston public relations director Lisa Ashley said in a statement. Companies, however, are not waiting to take action, and have been doing so since before tariffs were even discussed, said Tim Sensenig, CEO of TMSfirst, a Spring-based transportation management company whose software helps companies with some 20 million shipments globally each day. Many companies — Sensenig noted the apparel industry — have already changed their patterns to get inventory moved in before tariffs can take effect. Others, such as Apple’s widely reported last-minute flight of Iphones, were temporary measures as they examined the long-term possibilities. “The last thing they want to do is be caught with their pants down with no inventory,” he said of retailers. Other sectors are taking more decisive steps. The impacts of proposed tariffs on auto imports and exports are already leading to layoffs at some automotive factories, as well as declines in the number of cars arriving at Texas ports.

AUSTIN – The Guardian reports that Donald Trump’s plans to expand infrastructure to produce artificial intelligence in the US could face years of delays with the Republican-controlled Texas statehouse poised to pass legislation that imposes regulatory hurdles on data centers. The Trump administration earlier this year announced that a joint venture called Stargate would construct a total of 20 data centers to provide computing power for AI as part of an effort to help the US compete against China for leadership of the technology and spur investors to pursue AI projects. The companies behind Stargate – OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and MGX, an investor backed by the United Arab Emirates, which together have pledged up to $500bn – chose Texas, with its loose regulation and pre-existing energy infrastructure for the first data center.

But the construction of future data centers to support Trump’s AI agenda faces headwinds as a result of the Texas legislation SB6, which introduces new regulatory measures including a six-month review process in addition to the existing 6-18 month evaluation period with the goal of protecting its own power grid in the face of storms. The effects of the proposed bill are two-pronged: the regulatory measures could result in a maximum 24-month approval process, while the requirement to pay additional fees to the Texas grid operator and install backup generators would dramatically raise construction costs. That could lead tech companies to scale back planned construction of data centers in the state, according to equity analysts. Stargate, for instance, has started building its first 10 data centers in Abilene, Texas, but it is unclear if the second set of 10 would be subject to the bill. And if tech companies do not build in Texas, they might not build the data centers at all, directly hampering Trump’s AI initiative. Other states, from Wyoming to Wisconsin to Tennessee, have courted those construction projects, but lack the infrastructure that exists in Texas.