KTBB News, Weather, Talk

McALLEN (AP) — Drenching rain along the Texas-Mexico border let up Friday, but rescues were still ongoing a day after severe storms trapped residents in their homes, forced drivers to abandon their vehicles on flooded roads and shut down an airport.

In Harlingen, officials said their city received more than 21 inches (53 centimeters) of rain this week, with the heaviest rainfall on Thursday causing severe flooding that had authorities rescuing more than 200 residents, with another 200 people still waiting to be rescued.

“This of course has been a historic and challenging event for the city. But Harlingen is strong. We have faced adversity before and we will get through this together,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda said at a Friday afternoon news conference.

In Alamo, the police and fire department responded to more than 100 water rescues, including people stranded in their vehicles and trapped in their homes, Fire Department Chief R.C. Flores said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

Officials estimated a couple hundred homes in Alamo were flooded by the heavy rainfall.

Flores said Alamo was one of many cities in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas that were flooded and had damage from Thursday’s thunderstorms but that all were working to help their residents.

“I assure the public that we are assessing the situation on the hour, every hour. We’re constantly going out, not just in our city,” Flores said. “Just because the storm is over, it doesn’t mean that the emergencies and the disaster is over. We are going to continue to work as long as we need to.”

Weslaco Mayor Adrian Gonzalez said his city was inundated with about 14 inches (36 centimeters) of rain, prompting 30 to 40 water rescues of stranded motorists and residents trapped in their homes by rising floodwaters.

“It’s a historic rainstorm and it’s affecting all the Valley, not just Weslaco. It’s just so much water in a short period of time,” Gonzalez told reporters at a news conference.

Television news footage from flooded communities in South Texas showed multiple waterlogged cars abandoned on streets on Thursday and drivers waiting on sidewalks for the floodwaters to recede.

Between 6 inches (15 centimeters) and 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain fell in many parts of South Texas in the past 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service.

In neighboring Cameron County, officials asked Gov. Greg Abbott to declare a disaster for the county after more than 17 inches of rain caused significant flooding.

“The rainfall amounts we received have been record-setting, and not in a good way. All county resources are being utilized right now, and we are assisting in all ways possible,” Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., the county’s top elected official, said in a Facebook post.

Valley International Airport in Harlingen was closed on Friday and all flights were canceled due to area flooding.

“We are working tirelessly to reopen and focused on ensuring safety,” airport officials said in a statement.

More than 3,400 in several counties in South Texas remained without power on Friday afternoon, according to AEP Texas.

A flood warning was still in effect for portions of South Texas, including Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties, through early Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

“There’s a break from the rain this morning, which will allow flood waters to gradually recede, but we’ll still need to keep an eye on the development of isolated showers and thunderstorms once again this afternoon,” the National Weather Service said on social media. “Any additional rainfall will be quick to cause flooding issues given the heavy rainfall that has already fallen.”

One middle school in Alamo was scheduled to remain open as a shelter for residents through Friday. One shelter had been opened in Weslaco and officials in Harlingen had opened the city’s convention center as a shelter.

More than 20 South Texas school districts and college campuses canceled classes on Friday due to the severe weather and flooding.

TEXAS (AP) – At least five states have active measles outbreaks as of Friday, and Texas’ is the largest with 400 cases.

Already, the U.S. has more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. Other states with outbreaks — defined as three or more cases — include New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma. Since February, two unvaccinated people have died from measles-related causes.

The new outbreaks confirm 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 this week 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 two months ago. State health officials said Friday there were 73 new cases of measles since Tuesday, bringing the total to 400 across 17 counties — most in West Texas. Forty-one people have been hospitalized since the outbreak began, and Andrews and Midland counties were new to the list.

New Mexico announced one new case Friday, bringing the state’s total to 44. 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 school-age child died of measles in Texas in late February, and New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult on March 6.
How many cases are there in Kansas?

Kansas has 23 cases in six counties in the southwest part of the state. 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?

Oklahoma stayed steady at nine cases this week — seven 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 has 10 cases of measles in Ashtabula County in the northeast corner of the state, nine of those newly reported this week. The first case was in an unvaccinated adult who had interacted with someone who had traveled internationally.

And in central Ohio, Knox County officials are tracing exposures from person who visited while contagious with measles. 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, 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 five 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.
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.

AUSTIN – The Texas Tribune reports that the Trump administration this week announced plans to clawback $11 billion in pandemic-era grants that could harm local Texas public health departments as they battle a historic measles outbreak.

In Lubbock, where many of the 40 Texans infected with measles have been hospitalized, grant funding affected by the announcement has paid for an epidemiologist who has directly responded to the measles outbreak in West Texas that has killed a 6-year-old girl. In Dallas, the grant funding was helping to equip a biolaboratory that will support more testing for pathogens, including measles.

“It’s kind of crazy to have this funding cut,” said Lubbock’s public health director Katherine Wells. “I don’t have a savings account in public health.”

The Trump administration confirmed Tuesday that it was going to eliminate funding that had been created to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, prioritizing instead on projects that address chronic diseases and the president’s Make America Healthy Again initiative. Much of that funding, however, has been used to pay for infrastructure to respond to infectious diseases other than COVID, including measles, local health officials have said.

The Texas Department of State Health Services notified public health departments late Tuesday of the federal government’s plans. State officials have not provided specifics on how much money is cut or how many health departments are impacted.

“DSHS was notified that the federal grant funding for Immunization/COVID, Epidemiology Laboratory Capacity (ELC/COVID), and Health Disparities/COVID, is terminated as of March 24, 2025,” according to the the notice from the agency’s associate commissioner Imelda Garcia. “The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS or System Agency) is issuing this notice to pause all activities immediately. Please do not accrue any additional costs as of the date of this notice.”

Wells said the funding cut will impact her office’s work combating the spread of measles. Lubbock has been using three grants to help pay for extra temporary staff, a part-time nurse and a full-time epidemiologist to help with vaccinations, answering phones and working with testing of patients. Two of the city’s three grants were not set to expire until 2026.

Ten of the state’s 327 measles cases have been confirmed in Lubbock and 226 cases have been in Gaines County, about 90 minutes southwest of Lubbock.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

This measles outbreak has further exposed Texas’ threadbare public health system.

The grants, she said, allowed her to hire eight people to help shoulder the workload the outbreak has brought. Since January, Lubbock hospitals have treated many of the more than 300 patients infected with measles, including a 6-year-old who died on Feb. 26.

“We’re trying to figure it out,” Wells said. But with state and federal funds cut, city and county health department that counted on those COVID-19 era grants for new programs and outreach will now have to go to local taxpayers to help shore up the abrupt shortfall.

Dallas County has already broken ground on a $52 million biolab to help combat future health threats. Their health director, Dr. Philip Huang, said the grant money Dallas County had received was going to be used to help equip that new lab.

“It was a lot of equipment,” Huang said. “These machines can help with COVID but these machines also help with our preparedness and ability to test a lot of other pathogens … including measles.”

Like Wells, he and other public health officials are now going to have to determine how to still move forward without this funding.

“The things that we’re doing and using the funds for COVID have great implications for our future preparedness for everything else so we’re not in the same situation at the start of COVID,” he said. “We had seen how little investment there had been in public health, so it’s very short sighted to say, ‘OK, well these were COVID funds it’s over.’ It’s not.”

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that Texas Democrats are pondering the path forward after a disastrous 2024 election season that bolstered Republican control of the state and left them nearly powerless against a renewed wave of conservative legislation. The deliberations will accelerate Saturday, when members of the Democratic Party’s Executive Committee pick a new leader to replace longtime chairman Gilberto Hinojosa. Hinojosa announced his resignation in November, just days after the disappointing election results. Though chairpersons of Texas political parties don’t have the clout of their counterparts in other states, the Democrats’ next leader will help with messaging, grassroots activity and fundraising to boost candidates up and down the ballot. Perhaps just as essential, many Democrats agree they need someone — whether it’s the next party leader or an elected official — to pull the sometimes disparate factions of the party together in order to win elections.

The November election was the latest reminder that Democrats can’t figure out how to win elections in a red state they haven’t won statewide in 30 years, even as demographic shifts have given them opportunities to break through. The 2024 elections season demonstrated that as Republicans from President Donald Trump to Gov. Greg Abbott push their conservative agenda, Democrats are often powerless to stop them. It ended with Hinojosa’s resignation after he made comments suggesting the party focused on the wrong issues during the most recent campaign. Some Democrats have offered potential solutions that ranged from being prepared to take advantage of Republican missteps, developing messages that are more relevant to average voters and being tougher in countering Trump and the GOP.

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports that almost 19 years ago, Brad Brown’s daughter, Ashley, was a West Brook High School soccer player bound for a playoff game in Houston when the bus carrying the team flipped over. Ashley was one of two Beaumont students who died in the March 29, 2006, crash. The bus they were riding on didn’t have seat belts. “No one on that bus escaped without life-changing wounds,” Brown said. Brown has spent the past nearly 20 years advocating for safer student transportation, including for school buses to have seat belts. Brown, who hopes a newly proposed bill will help achieve that goal, traveled to the Texas Capitol on Wednesday to voice support for Senate Bill 546.

The bill would tighten the state’s exemptions for installing seat belts on school buses and, for the first time, mandate widespread reporting about the presence of restraints in Texas’ school bus fleet. Sen. Jose´ Mene´ndez, D-San Antonio, who authored the legislation, presented the bill to the Senate Committee on Transportation almost exactly a year after a deadly Bastrop County crash involving a school bus. The March 22, 2024, accident resulted in the deaths of a prekindergarten student and a 33-year-old man when a concrete pump truck collided with a Hays school district bus. The bus was carrying 44 Tom Green Elementary School students returning from a field trip to the Capital of Texas Zoo in Bastrop County. The Bastrop County crash was “horrific,” Mene´ndez said. “Because of tragedies like this and others, the state’s been working to increase school bus safety for almost 20 years.” A 2017 law already requires all school buses to have seat belts but excludes buses purchased before 2017. The law also allows districts to exempt themselves from the mandate if they can’t financially support the purchase of new buses.

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports that in the Baird school district — a rural, two-campus system about 20 miles east of Abilene in West Texas — faith is a big part of the community. The two main churches host welcome dinners for faculty members at the beginning of each school year. The church youth programs are involved with the 350-student district. “It’s a very natural relationship,” Superintendent Tim Little said. Yet, while most residents in the communities the Baird district serves share similar faiths, there’s a line that the superintendent said shouldn’t be crossed. “We would frown on anyone who was coming in and trying to proselytize to our kids,” Little said. To Little and the faith leaders he works with, the relationship to support student and faculty life is separate from students’ counseling needs.

Two years ago, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 763, which required Baird and all other school districts in Texas to decide by March 1, 2024, whether they would create a program in which chaplains could “provide support, services, and programs for students,” similar to the way counselors do. Baird was one among hundreds of Texas districts that voted to uphold existing practices to allow chaplains to volunteer like any other person. SB 763 doesn’t require a chaplain to be certified by the State Board for Educator Certification. “It’s not something that we need pushed on us legislatively,” Little said. “We also realize, and our preachers in the community would tell you, they’re not qualified to be a school counselor. That’s not their calling. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to work with kids, but we want to clearly distinguish those two roles.” The American-Statesman surveyed all 1,019 Texas school districts on their votes dealing with SB 763. Of the more than half that responded, about 36% declined to create a school chaplain program. Most districts — 39% — resolved to uphold their existing volunteer policies, with some noting that chaplains were welcome to volunteer in schools just as any other community member is. About 19% of the districts that responded to the Statesman’s inquiries had agreed to create a chaplain volunteer or employment program. However, about 18 months since the law went into effect, the Statesman found that only two districts had hired, or had immediate plans to hire, a chaplain. Instead, most districts said they wanted the option to bring chaplains to campuses in times of tragedy.

ALAMO (AP) — South Texas worked to dry out on Friday after severe thunderstorms a day earlier flooded streets and compelled dozens of water rescues as many drivers were forced to abandon their vehicles on roads and parking lots, and some areas were inundated with a foot of rain.

“We’re just getting like a bucket of water poured on us and it’s too much for the drainage system,” Alamo Fire Department Chief R.C. Flores told KRGV in Weslaco, Texas. “A lot of these are stranded motorists with no immediate danger, but we do want to make sure we are prioritizing the medical calls first.”

Flores said Alamo’s fire and police departments had responded to more than 50 water rescues on Thursday.

Television news footage from flooded communities in South Texas showed multiple water-logged cars abandoned on streets on Thursday and drivers waiting on sidewalks for the flood waters to recede.

Between 6 inches (15 centimeters) and 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of South Texas in the past 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. Palmview, located west of McAllen, received more than 18 inches (45 centimeters) of rain over the past two days.

A flood warning was still in effect for portions of South Texas, including Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties, through early Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

“There’s a break from the rain this morning, which will allow flood waters to gradually recede, but we’ll still need to keep an eye on the development of isolated showers and thunderstorms once again this afternoon,” the National Weather said on social media. “Any additional rainfall will be quick to cause flooding issues given the heavy rainfall that has already fallen.”

The Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district opened two shelter locations on Thursday night for residents.

More than 20 South Texas school districts and college campuses canceled classes on Friday due to the severe weather and flooding.

AUSTIN (AP) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday that he has launched an investigation into one of the state’s Medicaid insurance providers after allegations that the company illegally spied on Texans.

The state is investigating Superior HealthPlan, an insurance company that provides Medicaid coverage to adults, children, and coverage for the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Texas, for allegedly using private investigators to perform surveillance and gather potentially confidential information on lawmakers, journalists and other Texans.

“The allegations concerning Superior’s actions, such as actions that were characterized as potentially blackmailing lawmakers to secure state contracts and surveilling private citizens to avoid paying legitimate claims, are deeply troubling,” Paxton said in a statement.

Superior HealthPlan CEO Mark Sanders was questioned Wednesday by members of the Texas House Committee on the Delivery of Government Efficiency about his company’s use of private investigators. The topic surfaced as lawmakers questioned company representatives about potential fraud and waste of taxpayer funds connected to its Medicaid contracts, and Sanders told the committee members that the company used private investigators in the past, but hasn’t done so for the past few years.

On Thursday, Superior fired Sanders, the Dallas Morning News reported.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Sanders defended his company’s actions at the hearing by saying that the information gathered was nothing beyond what was publicly available.

“It was just understanding (what interests people), so we could have been knowledgeable of when we’re meeting with different individuals. That’s really it,” Sanders replied.

Lawmakers expressed concern that the actions aimed to secure leverage to help the company win future state contracts, discredit legitimate insurance claims by individuals, and track journalists reporting on allegations against Superior HealthPlan.

“I disagree. You wanted leverage, and you felt that you were going to use it. Just disgusting,” said state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington.

State Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, asked Sanders that if there was no intent to gain leverage over people, why did private investigators working for Superior HealthPlan look into legislators’ divorce records?

“I don’t recall at the time,” Sanders told lawmakers.

House Bill 5061, filed by state Rep. Jeff Leach earlier this month, addresses some of the lawmaker’s concerns by prohibiting any contractor that works with the state from engaging in surveillance.

“We’re up here talking to a company who has received millions, billions of dollars in taxpayer funds through Medicaid contracts, who has used that money to hire private investigators to follow around patients and legislators that are [now] asking questions about what the heck is going on,” said state Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway. “It’s ridiculous.”

Tiffany Young, spokesperson for Texas Health and Human Services, referred questions on how the investigation could affect Texans’ Medicaid coverage to Paxton’s office. The attorney general’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

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

A wide-ranging crackdown on abortion pills, out-of-state travel and other ways Texans are evading the state’s near-total abortion ban drew zealous support from abortion opponents who said during a Senate committee meeting on Thursday that illegal trafficking of abortion pills harms women.

Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, authored Senate Bill 2880, which legal experts say is the most comprehensive attempt yet to stop Texans from accessing abortion pills or out-of-state abortions.

The bill would target online pill providers and tech companies that host abortion-related websites, and make it a felony, punishable by up to life in prison, to pay or reimburse the costs of an abortion, a direct hit on abortion funds, which help cover the costs of out-of-state abortions. It would also expand the ability of private citizens to bring wrongful death lawsuits against pill providers after an abortion and empower the attorney general’s office to more easily prosecute abortion offenses.

By going after the internet service providers, social media sites and search engines that power these websites, Texas could potentially undermine the entire network of pills and providers serving abortion-ban states.

“Senate Bill 2880 is a big toolbox of policies for Texas to fight back against these websites,” said John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, during Thursday’s hearing of the Senate State Affairs Committee. “Texas will be leading other states on how we can fight this concerning trend.”

A large body of research has shown abortion drug mifepristone, first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000, to be safe and effective. But anti-abortion groups have been actively pushing to get the medications restricted or even moved off the market through lawsuits and legislation. Anti-abortion groups told lawmakers during the hearing that pregnant women in Texas are receiving pills such as mifepristone and misoprostol in the mail without any information about how to take them, or guidelines on follow-up care. Providers shared stories about women hemorrhaging at home or struggling to dispose of the remains of an aborted fetus.

“I see women suffering daily from the effects of incomplete chemical abortions,” said Whitney Freeman, director of medical services at Prestonwood Pregnancy Center in the Dallas area.

Freeman said sometimes women receive pills in the mail with no medical instructions, or with instructions in a foreign language such as Russian. Patients are told not to tell medical providers that they are in the process of a chemical abortion, which can then prevent them from receiving the care they need, Freeman said

SB 2880, called the Woman and Child Protection Act, would allow private citizens to sue for up to $100,000 per violation of the law. This is an escalation of the legal framework that allowed Texas to ban nearly all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy in 2021.

Critics of the bill told lawmakers on Thursday that the legislation demonstrates government overreach and would infringe upon constitutional free speech. Austin Kaplan, an Austin attorney who sued over the 2021 law, told The Texas Tribune that it was inevitable that lawmakers would keep pushing to expand the use of this private enforcement mechanism. He said this bill, as written, would likely be challenged in court, although he noted that hasn’t stopped Texas lawmakers before.

“Looking at this, it looks just completely impossible,” he said. “But what’s the penalty for the Legislature? The legislator gets reelected. They don’t pay out of pocket for this litigation.”

The committee also signaled its support of a priority bill for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, which would prohibit cities and counties from using taxpayer dollars to pay for out-of-state abortions and travel. Senate Bill 33 targets Austin and San Antonio, which have designated $400,000 and $500,000, respectively, to assist residents with costs associated with navigating abortion bans.

“State law already prevents taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, but some cities have “worked to exploit a loophole,” said bill author Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, “by using taxpayer funds to pay for travel accommodations, child care and other expenses women incur when they seek out-of-state abortions.”

“We have so many things we need to be spending our taxpayer dollars on,” said San Antonio City Council Member Marc Whyte, who testified in favor of the bill. “Not once have I heard the residents of San Antonio saying they want their tax dollars spent on sending women to other states to receive abortions.”

Under SB 33, the attorney general or any Texas resident could bring a civil legal action against cities that misuse funds by paying to facilitate abortions.

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