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TEXAS – The nation’s average price of gasoline has risen for the third straight week, increasing 10.6 cents compared to a week ago and stands at $3.21 per gallon, according to GasBuddy® data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is up 13.2 cents from a month ago and is 35.6 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has increased 3.6 cents in the last week and stands at $3.594 per gallon.

“While the national average price of gasoline saw its largest weekly gain of the year, it likely won’t last long, as oil prices have plummeted amid growing concerns about the global economy following the U.S. announcement of some of the most significant tariffs in over a century, along with OPEC+ restoring oil production faster than anticipated,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “In addition to falling oil prices, the stock market has dropped sharply, and the risk of a recession has increased — raising the likelihood of reduced global energy and oil demand, which is sending prices lower. As a result, motorists can expect gas prices to begin falling nearly coast-to-coast, with oil now at its lowest level since the early days of the pandemic in 2021. If tariffs aren’t scaled back soon, the national average could fall below $3 per gallon in the weeks ahead, with no clear indication of how long it might stay there as market volatility persists.”

DALLAS — Texas lawmakers could imperil the future of public transportation in two of the state’s largest urban areas, transit officials and advocates warn.

Republican legislators are entertaining proposals to sap hundreds of millions of dollars from Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the state’s largest public transit system, and thwart the voter-approved expansion of public transportation in Austin known as Project Connect.

Texas Republicans have long been wary of investing in public transit, given the state’s cultural ties to oil and gas and automobiles — and have long pursued ways to undercut the state’s urban areas. In the case of Project Connect, lawmakers see state intervention, at least in part, as a way to rein in high property taxes.

Here’s what the proposed legislation would do.

North Texas legislators want to reroute 25% of the sales tax revenue collected by DART, which serves Dallas and 12 neighboring cities, toward a “general mobility program.” Those cities could then draw upon those funds to pay for projects like building sidewalks and roads and installing traffic signals.

Transit agency officials say such a move would be catastrophic, costing DART more than $234 million in the upcoming fiscal year. That loss would spur deep service cuts and layoffs. More than 125,000 people would completely lose access to bus and light rail service, the agency projects, including vulnerable residents like seniors and lower-income families. With decreased service, the agency would collect less in rider fares and lose federal funds, further compounding budgetary problems and creating a downward spiral.

“I think this is the end of DART if we do it,” board chair Gary Slagel said at a recent DART meeting discussing the legislation. “I don’t know how we survive if we do this.”

Some cities have sought to reduce how much in sales tax revenue they pay into the transit agency, complaining that they don’t benefit in proportion to how much they contribute. Plano, for example, contributed $109 million in sales tax revenue to the system in 2023, but received about $44 million worth of investment, according to a survey conducted by EY, a consulting firm. DART officials have said the EY survey doesn’t capture the full financial benefit transit service brings to member cities. The disparity has undergirded those cities’ push to establish the mobility program, which proponents said is modeled on a similar program in Houston.

“Plano is not looking to leave DART,” said Andrew Fortune, Plano’s director of policy and government relations. “We are interested in a transit system that is going to work not only for our residents, but also the visitors and the employees who come to our city. Our hope is that this bill will not only protect against inequities like what we’ve experienced, but it will help us make a better transit solution and ultimately help those who need to move from place to place in Plano and to connect to the region as a whole.”

In an attempt to appease those cities’ concerns and convince them to stop pursuing the legislation, the DART board voted in March to create its own general mobility program — though using 5% of its sales tax revenue, not 25%. Such a plan would still prompt service reductions and budget cuts, though not as deep as those prompted by the legislation.

Regional transportation planners warn cutting DART’s funding so drastically will hamper mobility across the entire Dallas-Fort Worth region, worsen air quality and throw a wrench in public transit plans for next year’s FIFA World Cup, when the region will host nine matches. The Trinity Railway Express, a commuter rail line that runs between Dallas and Fort Worth, plays a central role in the region’s plans to ferry soccer fans to and from matches at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. DART projects a 25% cut in its sales tax revenue would wipe out its ability to fund the rail line. Officials with Trinity Metro, the Fort Worth area’s transit agency which co-owns and -operates the line, have said they would not be able to pick up the cost.

“This could not be occurring at a worse time,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Lawmakers once more have taken aim at how Austin plans to pay for Project Connect, a multibillion-dollar public transit plan that includes an expansion of the city’s light-rail network.

Austin voters in 2020 approved a hike in city property taxes to pay for the plan and create the Austin Transit Partnership, a local government corporation set up to build the light-rail extension. Under the plan, the partnership receives city property tax revenue to help secure loans needed to fund construction.

Texas Republicans have taken issue with that funding mechanism and resurrected legislative efforts to kill it at the state level. The funds are generated from the portion of Austin’s property tax rate that funds maintenance and operations, or “M&O.” Attorney General Ken Paxton has argued that those dollars can’t be used to pay for debt and has contested the mechanism in court.

A pair of bills authored by state Rep. Ellen Troxclair, a Lakeway Republican and former Austin City Council member, and state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, would enshrine that argument in state law.

The legislation would effectively get rid of Project Connect’s funding plan by outlawing the mechanism approved by voters. Taxpayers could also sue to stop the city from collecting property taxes used to fund the project if a court finds the project now “materially deviates” from how it was initially pitched — a nod to how planners, owing to inflation and other factors, reduced the project’s scope in the years after voters first approved it.

“We don’t mix M&O tax revenues with debt, and we don’t allow them to be mixed through a third party,” Bettencourt said earlier this year. “That’s not how things work. Taxpayers deserve transparency and that’s not transparency.”

Austin transit officials have defended the project and argued that the funding mechanism is legal.

“Austin voters overwhelmingly approved this transformative project that will reduce travel times, spur the development of much-needed housing, and generate jobs and state-wide economic benefits,” Greg Canally, Austin Transit Partnership CEO, said in a statement. “The need for more local investment in our transportation infrastructure will only increase as our state and community continue to grow.”

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

LUBBOCK (ABC) — A second child in Texas has died of measles, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“The school-aged child who tested positive for measles was hospitalized in Lubbock and passed away on Thursday from what the child’s doctors described as measles pulmonary failure,” the statement said, in part. “The child was not vaccinated and had no reported underlying conditions.”

The University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, said the child had been receiving care for “complications of measles while hospitalized” and also emphasized, as the state health department did, that the child was unvaccinated with no underlying conditions.

An unvaccinated school-aged child also died of measles in Texas in late February, according to the Texas Department of Health Services – the first measles death in a decade in the United States. A week later, an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico died with measles, the New Mexico Department of Health reported.

The outbreak has so far led to 642 confirmed cases across 22 states, but the vast majority — 499 cases — have been in Texas, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy posted on X on Sunday afternoon.

Kennedy also said in the post that he visited Texas on Sunday to “comfort” the family of the child. He said he’d developed a close relationship with the impacted community — which has largely been unvaccinated — including the family of the first child to die in the outbreak.

He added that the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles” is the measles, mumps and rubella — or MMR — vaccine.

The HHS secretary, who has a long history of vaccine skepticism, has come under fire from public health officials for downplaying the measles outbreak and not advocating enough for widespread vaccination.

In Kennedy’s first public comments on the measles outbreak last month, he said that outbreaks were not “uncommon” because they happen every year and declined to specifically encourage vaccination.

Public health experts who criticized Kennedy pointed out that outbreaks do not have to happen every year and are preventable with the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective with two doses. Kennedy has since repeated that the vaccine is the “most effective way” to prevent measles, though often also noted that it’s a “personal choice.”

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who publicly wrestled with his support for Kennedy but eventually voted to support him as HHS secretary, said the second death in Texas proved that “top health officials” should be “unequivocally” encouraging the vaccine.

“Everyone should be vaccinated!” Cassidy wrote on X Sunday. “There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles. Top health officials should say so unequivocally [before] another child dies.”

The Texas Department of State Health Services said on April 4 that Texas is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 30 years.

There are more than double the number of cases of measles in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year than the entirety of last year, which saw 285 cases nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These are the highest number of measles cases in the U.S. since 2019, which saw 1,274 cases, according to the CDC. New Mexico is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 40 years, with 54 cases. Kansas and Ohio are also experiencing outbreaks.

If the number of this year’s cases continues to grow at the current rate, the U.S. would likely surpass that 2019 number, which would lead to the highest number of cases in the U.S. since 1992.

The U.S. declared measles eliminated in the year 2000, after finding no continuous spread of the highly contagious disease over 12 months. The country would be at risk of losing that status if an outbreak continued for more than one year. The Texas outbreak saw its first measles cases in January.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles.

In his statement on Sunday, Kennedy said a CDC team was deployed to Texas in early March to support state and local health officials and to supply pharmacies and clinics with MMR vaccines.

“I’ve spoken to Governor Abbott, and I’ve offered HHS’ continued support. At his request, we have redeployed CDC teams to Texas. We will continue to follow Texas’ lead and to offer similar resources to other affected jurisdictions,” he said in the post.

Kennedy’ visit to Texas comes shortly after the secretary, a prominent vaccine skeptic, has cut one-fourth of the HHS workforce and one-fifth of those employed by the CDC.

The HHS recently clawed back roughly $11 billion in funding from state and local health departments for COVID recovery efforts, saying the money was no longer needed as the pandemic was over. But health officials said the money was being used to better equip communities’ abilities to deal with the spread of diseases — including measles — and better prepare for the next pandemic.

Dr. Philip Huang, the top health official for the city of Dallas, told ABC News that the cuts to the HHS funding and its workforce could impact efforts to respond to the measles outbreak in his state.

“This definitely impacts our measles response,” he said. “We were looking to build out our lab capacity, some of our ability to get immunizations out into the community and into schools.”

“These smaller health departments, they don’t have many staff. You make a small cut and that takes away a considerable percentage of their workforce and ability to respond to anything at all,” Huang said.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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MOSCOW (AP) — An appellate court in Russia’s far east on Monday reduced the prison sentence for an American soldier convicted of stealing and making threats of murder, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok to see his girlfriend and was arrested in May 2024 after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. officials and Russian authorities. A month later, a court in Vladivostok convicted him and sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Black was also ordered to pay 10,000 rubles ($115 at the time) in damages.

Black lost one appeal in a regional court that upheld his sentence, but the judge in the 9th Court of Cassation on Monday agreed to reduce his sentence to three years and two months in prison. Black’s defense had asked the court to acquit him of making threats of murder and reduce the punishment for theft, a request the judge partially sustained, according to the RIA report.

Russia has jailed a number of Americans in recent years as tensions between Moscow and the West grew. Some, like corporate security executive Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and teacher Marc Fogel, were designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained and released in prisoner swaps.

A few others remain jailed in Russia on drug or assault convictions. They include Robert Gilman, 72, who was handed a 3 1/2-year sentence after being found guilty of assaulting a police officer following a drunken disturbance on a train, and Travis Leake, a musician who was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to 13 years in prison in July 2024.

Black was on leave and in the process of returning to his home base at Fort Cavazos, Texas, from South Korea, where he had been stationed at Camp Humphreys with the Eighth Army.

The U.S. Army said Black signed out for his move back home and, “instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons.”

Under Pentagon policy, service members must get clearance for any international travel from a security manager or commander.

The U.S. Army said last month that Black hadn’t sought such travel clearance and it wasn’t authorized by the Defense Department. Given the hostilities in Ukraine and threats to the U.S. and its military, it is extremely unlikely he would have been granted approval.

Black’s girlfriend, Alexandra Vashchuk, told reporters last year that “it was a simple domestic dispute,” during which Black “became aggressive and attacked” her, stealing money from her wallet. She described Black as “violent and unable to control himself.”

U.S. officials have said that Black, who is married, met Vashchuk in South Korea.

According to U.S. officials, she had lived in South Korea, and last fall she and Black got into some type of domestic dispute or altercation. After that, she left South Korea. It isn’t clear if she was forced to leave or what, if any, role South Korean authorities had in the matter.

A second school-age child who was hospitalized with measles is the third measles-related death in the U.S. since the virus started ripping through West Texas in late January.

The child died Thursday, according to state health officials. The child was 8 years old, according to a statement from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, confirmed the child was unvaccinated and being treated for measles complications.

The U.S. now has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024, with Texas reporting another large jump in cases and hospitalizations on Friday. Other states with active outbreaks — defined as three or more cases — include New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma. The virus has been spreading in undervaccinated communities.

The multi-state 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 said last week that 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 more than two months ago. State health officials said Friday there were 59 new cases of measles since Tuesday, bringing the total to 481 across 19 counties — most of them in West Texas. The state also logged 14 new hospitalizations, for a total of 56 throughout the outbreak.

More than 65% of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus stated spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county now has logged 315 cases since late January — just over 1% of the county’s residents.

New Mexico announced six new cases Friday, bringing the state’s total to 54. New Mexico health officials say the cases are linked to Texas’ outbreak based on genetic testing. Most are in Lea County, where two people have been hospitalized, and two are in Eddy County.

A child died of measles in Texas in late February — Kennedy said age 6 — and New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult on March 6.
How many cases are there in Kansas?

Kansas has 24 cases in six counties in the southwest part of the state as of Wednesday. Kiowa and Stevens counties have six cases each, while Grant, Morton, Haskell and Gray counties have five or fewer.

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 Friday: eight confirmed and two probable cases. 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 Tulsa and Rogers counties, but wouldn’t say which counties had cases.
How many cases are there in Ohio?

Ohio reported one new measles case Thursday in west-central Allen County. Last week, there were 10 in Ashtabula County in the northeast corner of the state. The first case was in an unvaccinated adult who had interacted with someone who had traveled internationally.

In central Ohio, Knox County officials reported two new measles cases in international visitors, for three cases in international visitors total. Those cases are not included in the state’s official count because they are not in Ohio residents. A measles outbreak in central Ohio sickened 85 in 2022.
Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?

Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, 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 six clusters that qualified as outbreaks in 2025 as of Friday.

In the U.S., cases and outbreaks are generally 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 607.
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 health experts don’t always recommend this route and insurance coverage can vary.

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.

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AP Science Writer Laura Ungar contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the epicenter of Texas’ still-growing measles outbreak on Sunday, the same day a funeral was held for a second young child who was not vaccinated and died from a measles-related illness.

Kennedy said in a social media post that he was working to “control the outbreak” and went to Gaines County to comfort the families who have buried two young children. He was seen late Sunday afternoon outside of a Mennonite church where the funeral services were held, but he did not attend a nearby news conference held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the outbreak.

Seminole is the epicenter of the outbreak, which started in late January and continues to swell — with nearly 500 cases in Texas alone, plus cases from the outbreak believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mexico.

The second young child died Thursday from “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure,” and did not have underlying health conditions, the Texas State Department of State Health Services said Sunday in a news release. Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, said that the child was “receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized.”

This is the third known measles-related death tied to this outbreak. One was another elementary school-aged child in Texas and the other was an adult in New Mexico; neither were vaccinated.

It’s Kennedy’s first visit to the area as health secretary, where he said he met with families of both the 6- and 8-year-old children who died. He said he “developed bonds” with the Mennonite community in West Texas in which the virus is mostly spreading.

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine advocate before ascending to the role of nation’s top health secretary earlier this year, has resisted urging widespread vaccinations as the measles outbreak has worsened under his watch. On Sunday, however, he said in a lengthy statement posted on X that it was “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for more than 60 years and is 97% effective against measles after two doses.

Dr. Manisha Patel, CDC incident manager, said in a Sunday news conference that the MMR vaccine is the best way to protect against measles. She also told parents in Gaines County that it was important not to “delay care” for a child who is sick with measles.

“Call your doctor and make sure you’re talking to a health care professional who can guide you on those next steps,” Patel said.

CDC teams arrived in early March, Patel said. But Kennedy’s social media post noted that CDC employees have been “redeployed,” and the nation’s public health agency never relayed it had pulled back. Neither the CDC nor the state health department included the death in their measles reports issued Friday, but the CDC acknowledged it when asked Sunday.

The number of cases in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 more people were hospitalized. Nationwide, the U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.

Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, a liver doctor whose vote helped cinch Kennedy’s confirmation, called Sunday for stronger messaging from health officials in a post on X.

“Everyone should be vaccinated! There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles,” he wrote. “Top health officials should say so unequivocally b/4 another child dies.”

Cassidy has requested Kennedy to appear before his health committee Thursday, although Kennedy has not publicly confirmed whether he will attend.

A CDC spokesperson noted the efficacy of the measles vaccine Sunday but stopped short of calling on people to get it. Departing from long-standing public health messaging around vaccination, the spokesperson called the decision a “personal one” and encouraged people to talk with their doctor. People “should be informed about the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines,” the spokesperson added.

Misinformation about how to prevent and treat measles is hindering a robust public health response, including claims about vitamin A supplements that have been pushed by Kennedy and holistic medicine supporters despite doctors’ warnings that it should be given under a physician’s orders and that too much can be dangerous.

Doctors at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, where the first measles death occurred, say they’ve treated fewer than 10 children for liver issues from vitamin A toxicity, which they found when running routine lab tests on children who are not fully vaccinated and have measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer, said the patients reported using vitamin A to treat and prevent the virus.

Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s former vaccine chief, said responsibility for the death rests with Kennedy and his staff. Marks was forced out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine safety.

“This is the epitome of an absolute needless death,” Marks told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. “These kids should get vaccinated — that’s how you prevent people from dying of measles.”

Marks also said he recently warned U.S. senators that more deaths would occur if the administration didn’t mount a more aggressive response to the outbreak.

Experts and local health officials expect the outbreak to go on for several more months if not a year. In West Texas, the vast majority of cases are in unvaccinated people and children younger than 17.

With several states facing outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable disease — and declining childhood vaccination rates nationwide — some worry that measles may cost the U.S. its status as having eliminated the disease.

Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the CDC. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.

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Seitz reported from Washington. Photojournalist Annie Rice in Seminole, Texas, and AP reporter Matthew Perrone in Washington contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.