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DALLAS (AP) — The number of people with measles in Texas increased to 146 in an outbreak that led this week to the death of an unvaccinated school-aged child, health officials said Friday.

The number of cases — Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years — increased by 22 since Tuesday. The Texas Department of State Health Services said cases span over nine counties in Texas, including almost 100 in Gaines County, and 20 patients have been hospitalized.

The child who died Tuesday night in the outbreak is the first U.S. death from the highly contagious but preventable respiratory disease since 2015, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The child was treated at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, though the facility said the patient didn’t live in Lubbock County.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official and a vaccine critic, said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services was watching cases but dismissed the outbreak as “not unusual.”

But on Friday afternoon, Kennedy said in a post on X that his heart went out to families impacted by the outbreak, and he recognized “the serious impact of this outbreak on families, children, and healthcare workers.”

Kennedy went on to say in the post that his agency will continue to fund Texas’ immunization program and that ending the outbreak is a “top priority” for him and his team.

The virus has largely spread through rural, oil rig-dotted West Texas, with cases concentrated in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton has said.

Gaines County has a strong homeschooling and private school community. It is also home to one of the highest rates of school-aged children in Texas who have opted out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% skipping a required dose last school year.

Texas law allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. Anton has said the number of unvaccinated kids in Gaines County is likely significantly higher because homeschooled children’s data would not be reported.

The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years. Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.

Vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic, and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks.

The U.S. had considered measles, a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours, eliminated in 2000, which meant there had been a halt in continuous spread of the disease for at least a year. Measles cases rose in 2024, including a Chicago outbreak that sickened more than 60.

Eastern New Mexico has nine cases of measles currently, but the state health department said there is no connection to the outbreak in West Texas.

At a news conference Friday in Austin, officials confirmed the first reported case in Travis County since 2019. Dr. Desmar Walkes of the Austin-Travis County Health Authority said the case involved an unvaccinated infant who was exposed to the virus during a vacation overseas.

Texas Department of State Health Services spokesman Chris Van Deusen said the case was one of four linked to international travel so far this year, none of which were part of the West Texas outbreak. The others were two in Houston last month and one reported this week in Rockwall County, east of Dallas.

In the Travis County case, the child’s family members were vaccinated and were isolating at home and no exposures were expected, Walkes said. She could not give the exact age of the infant.

Officials at the news conference urged people to get vaccinated if they are not already.

“We’re here to say quite simply: Measles can kill, ignorance can kill and vaccine denial definitely kills,” said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat.

School officials in two Texas cities each reported reported one rubella case this week, but Van Deusen said no infections had been confirmed.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An appointee of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wiped away tears and gave an emotional defense of her credentials after a tense exchange over diversity hiring policies, which was later followed by the state’s top Republicans rushing to support her publicly.

Texas Water Board Development Chair L’Oreal Stepney, who is Black, was consoled at one point by lawmakers after the exchange Thursday with GOP state Rep. Brian Harrison, who questioned her and other agency officials over their hiring practices.

Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who are all Republicans, later issued statements of support for Stepney and her service, while other GOP lawmakers criticized Harrison over the exchange.

“While passionate and open discussion will always be welcomed, comments that demean and belittle will never be tolerated,” Republican state Rep. Greg Bonnen, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, posted on X.

Harrison is an outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in state government. He questioned Stepney and Edna Jackson, who is also Black, over a line in the agency’s strategic plan that its workforce should reflect the state’s growing diversity.

Harrison did not directly question the credentials of Stepney or any other agency workers during the hearing.

On Friday, he defended his questioning during the hearing.

“My line of questioning was perfect and professional,” said Harrison, adding that he had posed similar questions to dozens of other agency heads. “It was Democrats on the committee who raised the issue of her qualifications. I never said a word about it.”

Harrison’s line of questioning prompted Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier, who is Black, to express her outrage at having “to watch two Black women have to defend 246 years of systemic racism.”

Stepney then delivered an emotional defense of her credentials to the panel. She said March would mark 33 years working for the state and listed off her two engineering degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, one in aerospace engineering and the other in civil engineering.

“It was a deep honor for me to be appointed to the board, to be confirmed by the board, and to be appointed chair,” she said. “I have always been grateful to the governor. What have I done? I have protected the drinking water supply of 31 million Texans.”

DALLAS – D Magazine reports that in a statement shared with press just before 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Saks Global reiterated that it still plans to close the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus store at the end of March, calling any claims to the contrary “misleading.” That comes despite an announcement from Dallas leaders yesterday that the slice of land at the center of a ground lease snafu would be donated to the city. Saks initially said it would leave downtown after “a landlord” terminated Neiman Marcus’ occupancy. In today’s statement, Saks Global confirmed the landlord’s identity as Slaughter Partners.

“From as early as 2011 and as recently as December 2024, there have been several attempts to come to a commercially reasonable agreement with one of the Downtown store landlords, Slaughter Partners (Slaughter),” the statement reads. “In November 2024, previous NMG leadership contacted the City of Dallas requesting assistance in the lease negotiations, during which city officials expressed concern about the store and its continued operation. Before this meeting, previous NMG leadership also discussed purchasing a portion of the land with Slaughter’s broker; however, Slaughter would not offer a price. Despite these efforts and engaging the city, all attempts to come to a commercially reasonable agreement were rejected by Slaughter, who terminated Neiman Marcus’ occupancy upon expiration of the lease.” Saks also says it hasn’t received any documentation regarding the agreement between Slaughter and the city and feels it is unclear how the new agreement would affect the property and its other owners. The company alleges that the whole thing only became an option “after Slaughter’s attempts to increase rent were unsuccessful.” Slaughter, Saks says, continued to demand above-market rate rents. “Saks Global inherited this lease issue from Neiman Marcus’ previous owners and worked in good faith to come to an agreement with the landlord,” Saks Global Properties CEO Ian Putnam said. The company acknowledges the city leaders’ desire to keep the store open and is willing to hear them out, but it ultimately needs to make decisions based on “what’s best for the future and our long-term success.”

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.