AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports that the Texas Senate on Thursday passed a bill to ban the use of courier services that facilitate the sale of Texas Lottery tickets. Senate Bill 28 by Republican Sen. Bob Hall of Edgewood was approved 31-0 amid concerns that couriers have hurt the lottery’s reputation. Courier services take orders online or through an app, buy lottery tickets from a retailer and send a scanned copy to the buyer, holding the ticket until the drawing is held. Couriers charge a fee to buy and manage the tickets, according to the Lottery Commission. The legislation next goes to the House, where state Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Prosper, has a companion bill. Shaheen also has a bill to abolish the lottery.
Speaking Thursday to the Senate, Hall said the Lottery Commission “created loopholes specifically to allow the use of telephone and internet group purchases, resulting in underage gambling and other changes to open the door wide for what the Legislature intended to be illegal gambling practices.” “This bill is intended to send a strong message, not just to the Lottery Commission, but to all state agencies … that have taken it upon themselves to defy legislation and create rules that clearly violate the word and the intent of legislation,” Hall said as he introduced his proposal. “SB 28 will not restore integrity to the Texas lottery. I don’t even know if that’s possible. But it will reiterate the responsibility we have given the commission to ensure lottery couriers and their licensed retail outlets are no longer able to operate in the state in language even they should be able to understand,” he said. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hailed the unanimous vote as a step in protecting the lottery’s integrity, saying Texans must have “faith the game is not rigged.” “Today, the Senate made it clear that the first step in restoring public trust in the commission, if even possible, is to ban lottery couriers. The decision on whether the lottery will continue will be made in the coming days and weeks of the legislative session,” he said in a statement. The Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers lamented passage of the bill. “We are disappointed that a pro-business state like Texas would consider shutting down companies that have for years followed the guidance and instruction of the Texas Lottery and honored the trust of millions of Texas customers,” the group said in a statement.
TYLER – Our news partner, KETK, reports that school choice may soon pass it’s final hurdle in the Texas House of Representatives. Governor Greg Abbott said that for the first time in our state’s history, a school choice proposal has enough backing from representatives.
“I think House Bill Three is going to be one of the finest, if not the finest, school choice bill in America,” said State Rep. Brent Money (R) Greenville.
Money, who represents Hopkins and Van Zandt counties in Austin, said the bill will allow parents another option for education and should only affect the students and families who apply for the program.
“There are strong protections, legal protections, the strongest in the state that say that this program cannot be used to change the way homeschoolers homeschool, private schoolers private school and it’s not going to change the public schools either,” Money said. Continue reading East Texas Rep says school choice will pass in State House
(GAINES COUNTY, Texas) -- The number of measles cases associated with an outbreak in western Texas has grown to 146, according to new data released Friday.
Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, with 79 unvaccinated and 62 of unknown status. At least 20 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
Just five cases have occurred in people vaccinated with one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases with 70, followed by 46 cases among children ages 4 and under.
So far just one death has been reported in an unvaccinated school-aged child, according to DSHS. It marks the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gaines County is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 98 cases confirmed among residents, according to DSHS. State health data shows the number of vaccine exemptions in the county have grown dramatically.
Roughly 7.5% of kindergarteners in the county had parents or guardians who filed for an exemption for at least one vaccine in 2013. Ten years later, that number rose to more than 17.5% -- one of the highest in all of Texas, according to state health data.
The CDC as separately confirmed 93 cases in eight states so far this year in Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas.
The total, however, is an undercount due to delays in reporting from states to the federal government.
The majority of nationally confirmed cases are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Of the cases, 4% are among those who received one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) shot.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles to up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the CDC.
Health officials have been urging anyone who isn't vaccinated to receive the MMR vaccine.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, 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. Most vaccinated adults don't need a booster.
Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to the highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
HENDERSON – Our news partner, KETK, reports that during a search of a Henderson home on Thursday, authorities reportedly found illegal narcotics and a firearm.
The Henderson Police Department said multiple agencies conducted a joint operation, executing a state search warrant at a home on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive at around 7 a.m. The police department said they found methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a pistol. One person was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The police department has not released the identity of the person arrested.
Henderson PD was joined by the Kilgore Police Department, Rusk County Sheriff’s Office and the North East Texas Regional SWAT Team.
WHITEHOUSE- A 35-year-old man was injured on Thursday while pouring gasoline on a controlled burn in Whitehouse.
The Smith County Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the 17000 block of Forest Lane in Whitehouse at around 1:41 p.m. According to our news partner, KETK, officials said the man was burning plastic household items, a toaster and aerosol cans. He was transported by helicopter to a local hospital for treatment after being issued a Class C Misdemeanor citation for illegal burning.
“Smith County Fire Marshal Chad Hogue reminds residents to never use ignitable liquids when conducting controlled burn,” the Smith County Fire Department said.
(NEW YORK) -- More measles cases are being confirmed across the United States as health officials work to treat patients in an ongoing outbreak in Texas.
The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) and the Franklin County Health Department announced on Wednesday a confirmed case of measles in an adult resident, the first in the state in two years.
The departments said the resident recently traveled internationally to an area where measles is spreading.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, health officials confirmed two new measles cases in Bergen County linked to a patient whose case was confirmed earlier this month.
Officials haven't found any links between the cases in Kentucky and New Jersey, and there's no evidence the cases in Kentucky or New Jersey are connected to the outbreak in Texas, which has so far sickened 124 people and led to one death in an unvaccinated school-aged child.
Kentucky health officials are now attempting to contact anyone the infected resident may have come into contact with. The resident attended a Planet Fitness in Frankfort on Feb. 17 while contagious, officials said.
"Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world," KDPH Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said in a statement. "Fortunately, measles can be prevented with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is safe and effective. Vaccines are an essential tool to keep children and adults safe and healthy."
An official briefed on the situation told ABC News on Thursday that the new cases in New Jersey are members of the same family and were not vaccinated. Because they are in the same family, public health officials are hopeful public spread will have been limited.
The original case tested positive after traveling internationally. The New Jersey Department of Health said people may have been exposed to measles if they visited Englewood Hospital's Emergency Department on Feb. 5.
Health officials said people who were exposed could develop symptoms until as late as March 6.
Also on Thursday, health officials in the Seattle area confirmed the first measles case so far this year in an infant in King County. The infant may have been exposed to measles during recent travel abroad, officials said. Last year, there were three measles cases in King County.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles to up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials have been urging anyone who isn't vaccinated to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, 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. Most vaccinated adults don't need a booster.
Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to the highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An 1842 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the kidnapping conviction of a white man who seized a Black family and forced them into slavery south of the Mason-Dixon line is still being cited in American jurisprudence, 160 years after enslaved people throughout the U.S. were freed.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania has been cited in 274 other rulings since then, according to the Citing Slavery Project at Michigan State University. They are among more than 7,000 direct citations of slavery-law precedents that continue to guide lawyers and judges, said the project’s director, law professor Justin Simard.
This research into the lasting impact of legal principles related to the ownership of other humans is a counterpoint to efforts by the Trump administration and elected officials in Republican-led states to remove references to America’s racial history and dictate what teachers can discuss in classrooms.
“Because people are invested in trying to pretend that our history of slavery didn’t happen and that its effects are not still with us,” Simard told The Associated Press, “I thought, what better way to prove that slavery had an influence on our legal system than using official legal sources?”
Citations show American jurisprudence is founded on slavery
Most of the slavery precedents concern how property rights were protected by the U.S. Constitution, which was written by wealthy property owners in an era when much of the young nation’s economy was powered by the buying and selling and sweat of enslaved people.
The Supreme Court made slavery’s importance to the America’s founding clear when it ruled that Pennsylvania’s anti-slavery law was an unconstitutional affront to the federal Fugitive Slave Act, and ruled in favor of Edward Prigg, who had forced Margaret Morgan and her children into slavery in Maryland.
The U.S. Constitution clearly granted “to the citizens of the slaveholding states the complete right and title of ownership in their slaves, as property, in every state in the Union, into which they might escape from the state where they were held in servitude,” the court wrote.
The slaveowner’s right to “this species of property” was so fundamental to the framers of the Constitution that without it, “the Union could not have been formed,” the justices added.
Slavery became illegal when the 13th Amendment was adopted in 1865, but Prigg has been most often cited in the decades thereafter, mostly in cases involving property law, as guidance regarding the boundaries between state and federal power, Simard said.
How rulings are still shaped by slavery laws
The continuing use of such citations shows that slavery wasn’t just a historic stain that the 13th Amendment cleaned up — these precedents have an insidious effect on jurisprudence even today, said Leonard Mungo, a Michigan-based civil rights and employment discrimination attorney.
“The unashamed use of human beings as property and as the foundation for the development of jurisprudence regarding property law is the same reason courts across this country rarely find violations of civil rights in employment and other contexts in its rulings and decisions,” Mungo said.
And it’s not like only minorities are affected: Prigg was cited in a 1989 Supreme Court decision overruling most of the $850,000 judgment awarded by a Texas jury to a white football coach who alleged that he was reassigned and demoted from a mostly Black high school because of his race.
Sometimes, slavery precedents are invoked in efforts to reaffirm civil rights. In a 2016 Iowa Supreme Court opinion, dissenting justices said people arrested but not yet formally charged with a crime must be allowed private in-person attorney consultations. Citing how Fugitive Slave Act enforcement shaped the Iowa Constitution, these justices said enslaved people were given the right of counsel — and so should an Iowa man accused of driving under the influence. They were outvoted, 4-3.
‘Digging and digging’
Simard was doing research for his dissertation when he began compiling evidence that northern judges had cited slave cases in the 19th century. He discovered that these citations were more numerous, widespread and recent than he imagined.
“I kept digging and digging and digging and realizing that this wasn’t something just one judge did or some very racist judge or something,” Simard said. “This was just a basic feature of the legal system and it really shocked me, really surprised me.”
More than 12,000 slavery rulings have been identified to date by Simard’s team, which then searches for citations.
And yet many lawyers and judges are either unaware of these origins or don’t think it matters that enslaved humans were the property in question, and consider them “just like regular law,” Simard said. “Not only are we ratifying their treatment as property in the past but also continuing to treat them as property in the present.”
Noting how to move forward
Simard’s team successfully lobbied the editors of The Bluebook, a guide to citations used by the legal profession, to require case notations such as “enslaved party” or “enslaved person at issue.”
“I think just eliminating these cases is impossible,” Simard said. “I think the best approach that lawyers and judges can take is to be thoughtful when they find these cases and cite these cases and to consider whether the law that these cases stand for is still good or not.”
Dylan Penningroth, a professor of law and history at the University of California-Berkeley, agreed.
“These slavery cases are everywhere,” Penningroth said. “How are we ever going to get them all off the book? One answer is you don’t really have to. If lawyers stop relying on these cases, they lose their power.”
Identifying those cases should keep their origins and intents on the minds of judges and litigators, according to Michigan Appeals Court Judge Adrienne Young. She said, “the real harm is in failing to acknowledge the horrific history.”
BANGKOK (AP) — The U.S. registered its first death from measles since 2015 this week, as a child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in Texas.
Normally, most U.S. cases are brought into the country by people who have traveled overseas. So far, Texas officials have reported 124 cases. New Mexico has reported nine.
Experts point to declining measles vaccination rates worldwide since the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, most states now are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks.
Britain reported 2,911 confirmed measles cases in 2024, the highest number of cases recorded annually, since 2012.
Measles cases in the United States last year were nearly double the total for all of 2023, raising concerns about the preventable, once-common childhood virus. Health officials confirmed measles cases in at least 18 states in 2024, including in New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.
“Measles anywhere is a threat everywhere,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control say on their website.
Here’s a brief look at the global measles situation.
Are measles outbreaks common outside the U.S?
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10.3 million people were infected with measles in 2023 and 107,500 died. Most were unvaccinated people or children younger than 5. Cases were most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where incomes are low and health services insufficient.
In places where measles have largely been eradicated, cases have been spread by travelers from other countries.
While measles-related deaths declined slightly in 2023, the number of outbreaks increased. Major outbreaks took place in 57 countries in 2023, including India and Indonesia, Russia, Yemen and Iraq. The largest number of cases in 2023 was 311,500 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
What is the impact of vaccinations?
The worldwide rate of childhood vaccinations has fallen in recent years, to 83% in 2023 from 86% in 2019, partly due to disruptions in immunization and health care due to the pandemic.
The WHO estimates that vaccination helped to prevent more than 60 million deaths worldwide between 2000 and 2023, as efforts to get the shots to more people ramped up. In 2000, 800,062 people are estimated to have died of measles. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, major epidemics caused about 2.6 million deaths a year.
Measles is so highly infectious that 95% immunity is required to prevent epidemics, the WHO says. Put another way, it infects about 9 of 10 people exposed if they lack immunity.
What international efforts are underway to prevent epidemics?
The WHO and others are backing an effort called “Immunization Agenda 2021-2030,” to push for elimination of measles.
Independent experts declared the Americas free of endemic measles in 2016 but that status was lost in 2018 due to measles outbreaks in Brazil and Venezuela. Reduced vaccination rates are undermining efforts to fully eradicate the disease, experts say.
Global health organizations and other groups have increased their efforts to speed up immunization programs and close the gaps in prevention.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — For most people in Florida, misdemeanor theft can result in up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. For an immigrant illegally in Florida, that same crime now carries a felony punishment of up to five years behind bars and a $5,000 fine.
The new laws in Florida come as President Donald Trump cracks down on illegal immigration. They impose harsher penalties for offenses committed by people illegally in the U.S. than for everyone else. The consequences are particularly stiff for first-degree murder, which now carries an automatic death sentence for anyone who is in the U.S. illegally.
While Florida is more aggressive than most, there are other states considering similar measures to enhance criminal penalties based on immigration status.
A deterrence, but is it constitutional?
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis says “Florida will be safer and securer,” and a model for other states, because of its sweeping immigration laws.
The stiffer penalties are meant to be a deterrent, Republican state Rep. Lawrence McClure said.
“Don’t come to the state of Florida illegally,” he said. “That’s the premise.”
Some civil rights advocates and legal experts are raising alarm.
The laws are “leading into a head-on collision with the constitutional guarantee of equal protection to everyone who is in the United States,” said César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, a law professor at Ohio State University who specializes in immigration and criminal law.
Are mandatory death sentences allowed?
On his first day in office, Trump ordered a renewed emphasis on the death penalty. His executive order highlighted two particular grounds for it: murdering a law enforcement officer or committing any capital offense while in the U.S. illegally. But jurors and federal judges would still decide whether to impose the death sentence.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 ruled North Carolina’s mandatory death sentence for first-degree murder violated the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. States since then have generally used court proceedings in which jurors first decide guilt, then weigh aggravating and mitigating factors when deciding whether defendants should be sentenced to death.
“There is longstanding precedent making clear that mandatory death penalty laws are unconstitutional,” said Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
But Florida’s new laws eliminate judicial discretion in certain cases. They require courts to impose a death sentence on defendants in the U.S. illegally who are found guilty of capital offenses such as first-degree murder or child rape.
Republican state Sen. Randy Fine acknowledged the legislation he co-sponsored will likely face a legal challenge, but he expects the Supreme Court to overturn its prior ruling.
“It’s almost 50 years later,” Fine said, adding, “The Supreme Court changes its mind on things.”
More time for the same crime
Last year, DeSantis signed a law enhancing penalties for people who commit state felonies after being previously deported and convicted of illegal reentry under federal law. The measure increased sentences by one classification, meaning someone convicted of a third-degree felony typically punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine would instead be sentenced for a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The latest Florida laws apply similar sentencing enhancements to anyone in the U.S. illegally, regardless of any convictions for reentering, and apply the enhanced penalties to misdemeanors.
If the new laws get challenged, García Hernández said, a court would likely look to a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The justices said Texas failed to show a substantial state interest for a law barring state school funding for children not “legally admitted” to the U.S. The high court cited the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which says a state shall not “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
To defend Florida’s law, state attorneys would probably have to answer a similar question: “What is your compelling justification for treating individuals who are accused of a crime — the same crime — differently based solely on their citizenship status?” García Hernández said.
Other states may follow Florida’s lead
Legislation pending in several states — including Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, South Carolina and Texas — would allow enhanced penalties for some state crimes committed by immigrants illegally in the U.S., according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural.
A bill by Texas state Sen. Pete Flores would raise penalties one notch for most felonies committed by people in the U.S. illegally.
Flores, who is chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and co-founder of the Texas Hispanic Republican Caucus, described the legislation as “a common-sense, tough-on-crime response to enforce the rule of law and better protect Texans.”
Legislation that passed the Utah Senate and is now pending in the House takes a more narrow approach focused on theft and drug dealing. It would impose mandatory jail sentences, without the potential for early release, for repeat offenders who are lawful U.S. residents or for any offenders who were previously deported and then convicted in federal court of illegally reentering the U.S.
Republican state Sen. Cal Musselman said his legislation targets “a small group of individuals.” Law enforcement officers have told him they see “a clear connection between being deported multiple times, coming in, and committing crimes within the state.”
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri.
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Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
VAN ZANDT COUNTY – According to our news partner KETK, a traffic stop in Van Zandt County led to the arrest of a Canton woman for multiple drug related charges on Wednesday. While officers were searching the vehicle they reportedly found what was suspected to be marijuana along with suspected methamphetamine and a firearm inside of the car. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Terry Lawson of Canton. Lawson was arrested and charged for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Lawson was booked into the Van Zandt County Detention Center and has been released on bond. The case is still being investigated and officials said that Lawson is considered innocent until proven guilty.
“We have a renewed emphasis on stopping illicit drugs in Van Zandt County and having a Drug Interdiction Team is just the first step,” Van Zandt County Sheriff Kevin Bridger stated.
VAN ZANDT COUNTY – One person was flown to a local hospital on Thursday after a high-speed chase started in Van Zandt County and ended in a crash according to our news partner KETK.
Delta County Sheriff Marshall Lynch said the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office started a pursuit but then lost the vehicle they were chasing down. The Rains County Sheriff’s Office reportedly found the vehicle and started the pursuit which then entered Delta County where deputies joined in the chase. According to Lynch, the chase continued on Texas State Highway 154 heading west at high speeds when the vehicle crashed near FM 1529.
The driver was removed from the vehicle by Delta and Hopkins County deputies along with local first responders. The injured driver was then flown by an Air Evac flight to a local hospital.
(WASHINGTON) -- In his first public comments on the measles outbreak hitting West Texas and New Mexico, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic whose first steps in combatting the outbreak will be closely watched, said his department was monitoring the situation daily but called it "not unusual."
"Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year there were 16. So, it's not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year," Kennedy said Wednesday at the White House.
However, some public health experts were quick to point out that the outbreak in Texas has defied America's recent history with highly contagious disease.
Prior to this outbreak, the U.S. had not seen a death from measles since 2015. And in 2000, years after the U.S. implemented a two-dose vaccine schedule, measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., meaning that the disease had stopped spreading within the country.
Only in recent years have cases and outbreaks been rising, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico is already drawing close to the halfway mark of total cases seen nationally last year, when there were at least 285 cases of measles – which were also the highest numbers since 2019, according to the CDC's latest figures.
And while there were 16 outbreaks last year, that was a four-time increase from the number of outbreaks in 2023, when there were just four outbreaks. The U.S. has nearly hit that 2023 number already, just two months into 2025.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, called Kennedy's comments about measles cases happening "every year" an attempt to normalize an outbreak that has been anything but normal.
"First of all, we eliminated measles from this country by the year 2000. The reason measles have come back is because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children, because they've gotten misinformation and disinformation from people like him and his Children's Health Defense," Offit told ABC News.
Children's Health Defense, a group founded by Kennedy, advocates against the recommended vaccine schedule for children.
"It's unconscionable enough that he's done that, but that he sort of glibly says, well, measles outbreaks occur every year — the point is they don't have to occur at all, because we've shown we could eliminate this disease," Offit said.
ABC News has reached out to HHS about RFK Jr.'s comments.
The increase in cases and outbreaks over the last few years coincides with decreasing vaccination coverage for measles among kindergarteners nationally from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7% in the 2023-2024 school year – leaving about 280,000 kindergartners at risk, according to the CDC.
Kennedy, prior to taking his role as HHS secretary, said the measles vaccine is effective at preventing measles, but has also suggested that it's not necessary because people who die from measles are typically malnourished or have other comorbidities.
"The measles vaccine definitely eliminates measles, or, you know, close to eliminates it," Kennedy said in 2022.
But he went on to question the deadliness of the disease.
"In 1963, it was killing only 400 kids a year. Mainly, they were kids who had malnutrition, or had some other devastating co-morbidity," Kennedy said. "Those were the kids who were dying."
Kennedy has also questioned that the deaths of 83 people – mostly young children – in Samoa in 2019 were caused by measles, despite widespread evidence that the deaths were due to an outbreak of the disease caused by under-vaccination in the American territory.
"Nobody died in Samoa from measles. They were dying from a bad vaccine," Kennedy told an interviewer last year.
20% of kids with measles in the U.S. require hospitalization, said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, often for measles pneumonia, measles diarrhea, measles encephalitis or deafness from measles otitis, an ear infection — many of which can be life-threatening conditions.
"This is a bad, bad actor. And I'm really concerned that this thing is continuing to accelerate and expand," Hotez said Wednesday night in an interview on MSNBC.
Doctors in West Texas have described shock and feaver-treating a disease they thought was something of the past.
"This is the first time I've had any professional experience with a measles outbreak," Dr. Lara Johnson, pediatrician and Chief Medical Officer at Covenant Children's and Covenant Health in Lubbock, who is currently treating measles patients from the outbreak in West Texas, told ABC news.
"I saw one travel-related case when I was in medical school, very briefly, but at that time, back in around 2000, we really thought that we'd eradicated measles from the United States and didn't have any anticipation of seeing any outbreaks here," she said.
The outbreak in Texas is a prime example of the risk posed to unvaccinated communities. Vaccine exemptions among children in Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak, have grown dramatically in the past few years. Roughly 7.5% of kindergarteners had filed an exemption for at least one vaccine in 2013. 10 years later, that number rose to over 17.5% – one of the highest in all of Texas, state health data shows.
As the response to the outbreak in Texas and New Mexico continues, with cases expected to significantly rise, public health experts like Hotez and Offit say they're watching Kennedy, as leader of the nation's health department, to encourage swift surveillance and widespread vaccination.
"I want him to say to the American public that there's a safe way to prevent these outbreaks from happening so that we don't have the tragedy like what just happened in West Texas," Offit said. "There's so much in medicine you don't know. There's so much we can't do. This we know. This we can do."
(NEW YORK) -- Before there was a vaccine in 1963, measles infected millions and killed hundreds of people in the U.S. every year. Now, with the first measles death occurring in over a decade, doctors warn that declining vaccination rates are bringing the disease back, putting more people — especially children — at risk.
Here are five things to know about measles.
What is measles?
Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious illness. One in nine people who are exposed to the measles virus will become infected if they don’t have immunity through previous infection or vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms often begin one to two weeks after exposure. Early symptoms can look like other common respiratory illnesses starting with a high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and white spots in the mouth.
Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, who treated measles decades ago, warns measles “doesn’t look like measles initially, and so that’s what’s so scary ... this could look like flu.”
A distinct red rash typically appears three to five days later, usually starting on the face and spreading down the body.
What is the earliest my child can get vaccinated?
The CDC recommends all children receive two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, with the first dose given between 12-15 months and the second dose when they reach 4-6 years old.
In some circumstances, children as young as 6 months old may receive the vaccine, and a second dose can be given as soon as 28 days after the first, according to the CDC.
Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s and Covenant Health in Lubbock, Texas, said people worried about their vaccination status should talk to their doctor.
“One of the messages that’s really important in the context of this outbreak is, if you’re behind on your vaccinations, now’s a great time to get caught up,” Johnson told ABC News.
Can you get measles if you are fully vaccinated? One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC.
That means that 3 out of 100 vaccinated people may get sick if exposed to the virus, but these infections are usually less severe than in unvaccinated people who get sick, according to the CDC.
Most people who were vaccinated as children won't need any additional measles vaccines. But adults who only had one measles vaccination or people who were vaccinated in the 1960s may be candidates for an additional vaccination.
Anyone unsure of their vaccination status should have a discussion with their doctor. There's no harm in getting an additional dose of the MMR vaccine. According to the CDC, people born before 1957 are immune to the virus because almost everyone at the time was infected with measles, mumps and rubella during their childhood.
Anyone living in a high-risk area should speak to their doctor about whether they need a booster, according to the CDC.
What can pregnant women do to stay safe?
Measles in pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and preterm birth, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. However, women should not receive the MMR vaccine while they are pregnant because it is a live vaccine.
If a pregnant person is exposed to measles, they should talk to their doctor as soon as possible — within six days — to know if they should receive a post-exposure prophylaxis with measles immunoglobulin (an injection of antibodies that can help reduce the severity of illness for high-risk people), according to the CDC.
Can measles kill you?
Measles can cause complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, long-term hearing loss and death — as is the case in the current Texas outbreak.
In the decade before the measles vaccine, the CDC estimates 3 to 4 million people were infected and 400 to 400 people died from the virus every year in the United States.
Other long-term complications include subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare but fatal complication that can develop seven to ten years after recovery. SSPE causes a gradual loss of mental abilities, which progresses to a vegetative state and eventually leads to death, according to the National Institutes of Health.
There is no specific treatment for measles, so doctors say the best way to prevent complications of measles is to get vaccinated.
“The vaccine is so effective,” Dr. Summer Davies, a pediatrician currently treating hospitalized patients at Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Covenant Children’s, told ABC News.
Davies said the best way to protect yourself, your children and your community is to get the vaccine, even “if you’re not worried yourself about getting it.”
This is not just like any other virus, Davies said.
“Some people think, ‘Oh, this is just a virus like the flu. I’ll get it, maybe get a fever and rash and get over it,’” Davies said. “But it can be really severe, as we have seen here.”
Johnson said that measles is not just an issue from the past, but something that could progress in the future without proper vaccinations.
“[Measles] seems like something from the past,” Johnson said. “But if we don’t continue to vaccinate and do things that we did in order to make these illnesses of the past, then they’ll be illnesses of the present.”
-Dr. Amanda Hargett-Granato and Jade A Cobern contributed to this report. Hargett-Granato is a pediatric resident at Mayo Clinic and member of the ABC News Medical Unit. Cobern, MD, MPH, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, is a medical fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(WASHINGTON) -- Economists say the uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and mass layoffs of government workers are starting to have a “chilling” effect on the U.S. economy.
“It’s a very difficult business environment, because they can’t plan for what their cost structure is going to be,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “It’s adding to investment uncertainty, and some people are holding back on investments.”
Trump has so far imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese imports and says he’ll impose additional 10%, plus 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4. Trump also says he will impose “reciprocal tariffs” that match the duties other countries levy on the U.S. That comes on top of tariff plans on cars, semiconductors, steel and aluminum. Even if Trump doesn’t ultimately move forward with all his tariff threats, the mere uncertainty has a chilling effect.
“If one of the inputs of your factory goes up by 25%, you might cut your production and say maybe we’ll have to fire some people,” Ziemba added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Government Efficiency’s slashing of the federal workforce across the country “also impacts consumption, because people are losing their jobs or are afraid of losing their jobs, so that might cause them to save more money,“ Ziemba said.
This week, The Conference Board’s consumer sentiment survey found that it registered the largest monthly decline since August 2021.
“Views of current labor market conditions weakened. Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a 10-month high,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist for global indicators at The Conference Board.
“Average 12-month inflation expectations surged from 5.2% to 6% in February. This increase likely reflected a mix of factors, including sticky inflation but also the recent jump in prices of key household staples like eggs and the expected impact of tariffs,” Guichard said.
The Canada and Mexico tariffs would have a sweeping effect, since those are America’s two biggest trading partners. It could raise prices at the grocery store and the gas pump. Ziemba also noted that the cost of cars could increase by several thousand dollars.
“Every time a car part crosses the border, 25% tariffs could be very onerous,” Ziemba said. “We could see the cost of building a house go up quite substantially.”
TYLER – Congressman Nathaniel Moran had the opportunity to meet with President Trump and Vice President Vance to “increase liberty and prosperity for all Americans.”
According to our news partner, KETK, Congressman Moran was in the Oval Office this week discussing the emphasis of joint efforts between House Republicans and the White House to “secure the border, slash government waste, unleash American energy production and increase liberty for the American people.”
“It was an honor to visit the White House this week to speak with President Trump and Vice President Vance,” Moran said. “During our meeting, President Trump laid out his vision to increase liberty and prosperity for all Americans – and House Republicans are hard at work to deliver on that vision.”
