Today is
Friday March 28, 2025
AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports that Trailblazing former Austin Mayor and Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton died around noon Wednesday at her home in Tarrytown, her son Brad McClellan confirmed to the American-Statesman. She was 85. “Mom was first in a lot of things — first woman mayor of Austin, first woman comptroller, but first of all she was a mom and a grandma,” said McClellan, an Austin lawyer. “Always the most important things were her sons — my brothers — and her grandkids. There’s no question about that.” Mayor Kirk Watson said Keeton’s imprint on Austin and on Texas is lasting and genuine. “Carole Keeton was a historic figure in Austin and the state,” said Watson, whose first stint as mayor came after Keeton was the first woman to hold that office. “Importantly, she gave so much of herself to the city and state she loved and to the people both as a community and individually.”
Before serving as Austin’s mayor from 1977 to1983, Keeton was the first woman to preside over the Austin school board. And after her city service, she was three times elected to statewide office. “She was a powerful personality that filled a room and pushed people to think about the future but also made you laugh at the drop of a hat,” Watson said. Keeton, who also was known as Carole Keeton, Carole Keeton McClellan, Carole Keeton Rylander and Carole Keeton Strayhorn during her long public service career, died in the home that her grandparents built, her son said. “She was born in Austin, Texas, and died in Austin, Texas,” McClellan said. “She loved this city and this state more than anything besides the family.” After serving as mayor, Keeton made an unsuccessful bid in 1986 to unseat longtime U.S. Rep. J.J. “Jake” Pickle, running as a Republican in the heavily Democratic district. Eight years later, she was elected to one of three seats on the Texas Railroad Commission. She won a razor-close race to be the state’s top financial officer in 1998.
WASHINGTON – The Austin American-Statesman reports that U.S. Sen. John Cornyn made official Wednesday what he has been saying for weeks: He will seek a fifth six-year term in Washington in 2026, leaning into his support of President Donald Trump and relitigating his complaints about the policies of former President Joe Biden. “President Trump needs a partner who’s battled-tested to restore law and order, cut taxes and spending, and take back our jobs and supply chain,” Cornyn says in the video announcing his campaign, in which he also criticizes the spike in illegal immigration under Biden after Trump’s first term ended. The announcement drew an almost immediate rebuke from Cornyn’s potential chief rival in the Republican primary — Attorney General Ken Paxton, who in a social post of his own suggested that the incumbent is cozying up to Trump more out of expedience than conviction.
“Are you delusional?” Paxton posted as a direct reply to Cornyn on his personal page on X. “You’ve constantly turned your back on Texans and President Trump, including trying to stop his campaign in 2024 and saying his ‘time has passed him by.’ Texans won’t believe your lies or forget how you’ve consistently worked to undermine the President.” A primary battle between Cornyn — who by the time his current term ends will be tied for the second-longest time ofr a Texan to serve in the Senate — and Paxton could set the stage for one of the most heated statewide GOP primaries since Republicans began their full dominance of Texas politics in 2002. Texas Republicans have largely avoided bloody primary battles in statewide elections, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. Paxton, a three-term attorney general, was forced into a runoff in 2022 against then-Land Commissioner George P. Bush, but the incumbent then trounced Bush 68% to 32%. A Cornyn-Paxton matchup would likely be more dramatic, Rottinghaus said. “It will be very bitter, and very expensive,” Rottinghaus said. “We’re talking around $40 million to $50 million, maybe more, for a primary.” And Trump will be a factor, regardless of whether he chooses to make an endorsement, Rottinghaus said.
DALLAS — Oil and gas activity edged up slightly in first quarter 2025, according to oil and gas executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Energy Survey.
The business activity index—the survey’s broadest measure of conditions facing Eleventh District energy firms—came in at 3.8, suggesting slight growth since the last survey.
“Business activity showed little growth this quarter while respondents noted a heightened level of uncertainty due to geopolitical risk, trade policy and other factors,” said Michael Plante, an assistant vice president at the Dallas Fed.
Key takeaways:
The company outlook index fell to -4.9 this quarter, a decline of 12, indicating slight pessimism about the outlook.
The uncertainty index jumped 21 points to reach 43.1 this quarter, pointing to increased uncertainty about the outlook.
Oil and natural gas production both grew slightly this quarter. The oil production index was 5.6 vs. 1.1 last quarter while the natural gas production index was 4.8, an increase of 8.
Employment and employee hours both remained close to last quarter’s level. The employment index was 0, down slightly from 2.2 in the fourth quarter of 2024. Employee hours was 0.7, suggesting little change from last quarter.
Costs rose at a faster pace. The lease operating expenses index increased to 38.7 from 25.6, the finding and development costs index rose 6 points to reach 17.1, and the input costs index for oilfield support service firms was 30.9 vs. 23.9.
Breakeven Prices Up Slightly; Smaller Firms See Higher Breakevens Compared to Larger Firms
“Average breakeven prices to profitably drill a new well increased just a little bit this year. Across all responses, the average was $65 per barrel, up $1 from last year’s average. Larger firms had an average breakeven of $61 per barrel compared to $66 for smaller companies,” Plante said.
Additional takeaways from the special questions:
The average price needed to cover operating expenses for existing wells was $41 per barrel, up $2 from last year’s survey.
Executives from E&P firms reported on the cost of regulatory compliance for their firm this survey. The most selected response was $0 to $1.99 on a per-barrel basis, chosen by 49 percent of respondents. 28 percent selected $2 to $3.99 per barrel, 15 percent selected $4 to $5.99 per barrel and the remainder chose greater than or equal to $6 per barrel.
60 percent of executives reported that administrative and legal costs were the main cost component of their firm’s regulatory costs. Monitoring costs were the next most selected response, chosen by 21 percent of executives. Eleven percent chose abatement costs while 8 percent selected other costs.
Opinions are mixed on how the cost of regulatory compliance will change in 2025 vs 2024. The most selected response was “remain close to 2024 levels,” chosen by 40 percent of executives. Another 21 percent chose “increase slightly” while 13 percent chose “increase significantly.” And 20 percent expect a slight decrease while 6 percent expect a significant decrease.
55 percent of oilfield support service executives expect steel import tariffs to slightly decrease customer demand. The next most selected response was “no change,” picked by 28 percent of respondents. Another 8 percent expect a significant decrease, 8 percent a slight increase and 3 percent a significant increase.
Many executives expect the number of employees to remain the same when comparing December 2025 to December 2024. 57 percent of respondents selected “remain the same.” 21 percent selected “increase slightly” while 14 percent selected “decrease slightly.” Only a small percentage selected “increase significantly” or “decrease significantly.”
37 percent of executives expect total merger and acquisition deal value for the U.S. upstream oil and gas sector to increase slightly this year. Another 22 percent of executives expect the deal value to decrease slightly in 2025, and an additional 18 percent each selected “remain close to 2024 levels” and “decrease significantly.”
The survey samples oil and gas companies headquartered in the Eleventh Federal Reserve District, which includes Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Louisiana. Many have national and global operations.
Data were collected March 12–20, 2025, and 130 energy firms responded. Of the respondents, 88 were exploration and production firms, and 42 were oilfield services firms.
For more information, visit dallasfed.org.
TYLER – Alexander Scott has been named the new director of bands and an
assistant professor of music at The University of Texas at Tyler. As director of bands, Scott will
oversee UT Tyler’s bands including the Wind Ensemble and the newly formed Concert Band.
He comes to UT Tyler from the University of Michigan, where he served as a graduate student
instructor. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – 
The CEO of the East Texas Food Bank has issued a statement on federal budget cuts and the impact it will have on local services…
“The East Texas Food Bank has been notified that several truckloads of previously expected food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will not be delivered. This food equates to 360,000 pounds valued at $750,000. In addition, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program or LFPA of the East Texas Food Bank will incur a loss of 756,000 pounds of produce valued at $121,000. This program helps to purchase food produced in the state to support local and regional producers. If funding continues to be cut, this could severely restrict our ability to meet current demand. In fiscal year 2024, the East Texas Food Bank provided 31 million meals. This year we are on track to serve over 33 million meals this fiscal year. Currently 1 in 6 East Texas adults including 1 in 4 children are food insecure. Please advocate for ETFB by calling your local Congressional leaders, signing up for a volunteer shift or consider a donation to fund our operations.”
David Emerson
CEO of the East Texas Food Bank
TEXAS (AP) – Community colleges in 2023 celebrated a long-awaited investment from the Texas Legislature, positioning Texas to lead the country in connecting young people to the workforce.
That year, state legislators reimagined how community colleges are financed with House Bill 8. The old funding formula awarded schools based on enrollment. Schools now have to see their students through to graduation to get money: The new formula ties state dollars to degree and certificate completions, transfers to four-year universities and high schoolers’ participation in dual credit courses.
The effort was born out of state leaders’ desire to better prepare young Texans for the workforce. By 2030, at least 60% of jobs in Texas will require a postsecondary credential, and yet, less than 40% of students earn a degree or certificate within six years of graduating high school. For students, a postsecondary credential often leads to higher wages and increased economic and social mobility.
As part of a near-unanimous vote for HB 8, lawmakers poured a historic $683 million into two-year institutions. When the money trickled down to each college in fiscal year 2024, each college saw an influx of dollars that ranged from $70,000 to $2.9 million.
Over a year after the law went into effect, community colleges have been working with unprecedented resources to bring down barriers to completion. Some have introduced free tuition benefits; others have expanded their student advising services. Those efforts are reshaping how schools run and who is taking their classes.
“HB 8, at its heart, was an attempt for the Legislature … to say, ‘What’s the most impactful way that we can ensure alignment between educational outcomes and business and industry needs?’” Ray Martinez III, the president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, said. “That’s why this is so significant … We have seen tremendous outcomes.”
Lawmakers have been fine-tuning funding incentives this session. Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, is shepherding a bill that would give community colleges money for student transfers not only to public universities but also to private schools. Community colleges currently get bonus dollars when students complete credentials of value, or credentials that lead to high-demand, high-wage jobs: VanDeaver’s bill would adjust the definition of a credential of value to include more precise labor market data.
Here are five ways community colleges have transformed because of the new funding formula:
Dual credit boosts enrollment
During the COVID-19 pandemic, young Texans cut community college out of their plans. One in ten students in the state — or about 80,000 students — disappeared from campuses.
Economic uncertainty acutely affected community college students, who often come from lower-income households and have more work and care responsibilities than their peers at four-year institutions. Many left school for low-skill jobs. Others lost the steam to keep going.
Community college leaders have had to find ways to keep students — and one big way has been growing the pool of high school students who get a jump start on college.
HB 8 makes it easier for low-income students to take dual credit courses. Community colleges in the Financial Aid for Swift Transfer program, or FAST, now get extra funding when they allow high school students who qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch to take classes at no cost. Other students get a discount, with a cap on costs at about $55 per credit hour.
Research shows dual credit students are more likely to graduate from high school, enroll in college and finish their degrees faster.
The financial help has prompted an upshoot in enrollment. More than 250,000 students participated in dual credit classes through the FAST program in the 2023-24 school year, according to Sarah Keyton, who was the interim commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board last fall.
Kilgore College in East Texas, for example, saw a 36.5% increase in dual credit enrollment last school year. High schoolers now make up the majority of its student body.
Community colleges don’t have to participate in the FAST program but nearly all have opted in. Colleges got a total of about $80 million in extra funding last academic year, Keyton said.
College leaders are adapting to their schools’ changing identities as dual credit students make up a larger portion of their total student populations. Some faculty now spend more time teaching in high schools than on campus.
Free tuition gains momentum
As young people increasingly question the value of college, a pair of colleges have come up with a new price tag: free.
In bold pilot programs, Austin Community College and Del Mar College are waiving three years of tuition for local high school graduates.
“‘Discount’ doesn’t change people’s perceptions that they can’t afford to go to college,” ACC Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart told The Texas Tribune. “‘Free’ means something when you’re talking about college affordability.”
The first class of students to benefit from the free tuition program started this year. ACC paid for it with the $6.8 million it received from the state last year through HB 8.
Lowery-Hart wants to use the program to reach students who were not planning to go to college. In a recent survey of ACC prospective students, more than half said they didn’t enroll because of tuition costs.
When glitches in the revamped federal financial aid application delayed award packages, students in the Austin area told the Tribune that ACC’s free tuition program was a much-needed option that eased the uncertainty.
Del Mar College is following ACC’s footsteps, launching a free tuition benefit this fall for recent high school graduates and adult learners in the Corpus Christi area. Students have to enroll full time and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average to qualify.
In what is known as a “first dollar” program, both Texas colleges are paying for students’ tuition before federal and state aid kicks in. That allows students to use their grants and scholarship money to pay for other needs like housing, food and textbooks.
Students hired as peer mentors
Laredo College has turned nearly 80 students into peer advisers, multiplying its advising crew by seven.
The peer advisers are recent graduates, former students who transferred to a four-year university or current students who are finishing their degree. They help their classmates register for classes and stay on track to graduation.
Many Laredo College students are the first in their families to go to college. Young people in the region often opt not to get a college degree because they don’t know how to go through the process — and there’s nobody at home to help them, said Minita Ramirez, the president of Laredo College.
“Whether it’s a first-time college student out of high school or … a 70-year-old gentleman who all his life wanted to go to college, …. our hope is that we provide the support … to get that person through the process, to make them feel comfortable in an environment that is completely foreign,” Ramirez said. “And if we can do that, our numbers grow.”
Already, Laredo College has seen 1,500 students switch from part-time to full-time, Ramirez said.
HB 8 has pushed college leaders like Ramirez to fix disjointed advising systems to prevent students from falling through the cracks. Research shows student advising is tied to higher grades and graduation rates.
When students at North Central Texas College register online for a course that won’t count toward their degree, a warning sign now pops up encouraging them to visit an adviser. Chancellor G. Brent Wallace said he wants to make sure students don’t sign up for the wrong course — and save them the time and money that goes along with those decisions.
North Central Texas College also hired about a dozen more staffers so advisers aren’t stretched too thin and students get the academic attention they need, Wallace said.
Growing workforce training
Community colleges have long been a player in helping close workforce gaps, but HB 8 was the push for leaders to strengthen relationships with local employers.
Sherman, for example, has been grappling with its new identity as a semiconductor manufacturing hub. In recent years, giant companies like Texas Instruments and GlobiTech have been constructing multibillion-dollar chipmaking facilities.
Before those facilities could finish construction, Grayson College was already training students so they would be ready to join the industry.
Jeremy McMillen, the president of the college, said the school added programs like electronic and automation certifications with input from those companies. It mimicked the kind of collaboration the state’s technical colleges have with employers on curricula.
“We needed to move the needle in terms of building out of the infrastructure,” McMillen said at a Texas Tribune event last month. “Without HB 8 in the background, it’s very difficult to imagine that we’ve been able to do that.”
Schools team up so credits transfer
Students in North Texas are getting more support when they select Dallas College courses they want to count toward a bachelor’s degree.
To ease transfers to local universities, Dallas College teamed up with Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman’s University and the University of North Texas at Dallas to identify which courses students will get credit for when they transfer. The HB 8 funding model means the community college gets money when students successfully transfer.
Around 80% of students who enroll in community colleges intend to transfer but just 16% do, according to data from The Aspen Institute.
In the fall of 2022, more than 13,000 Texas students who transferred did not receive credit for at least one of the courses they completed, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Students lose time and money when they take classes that don’t end up counting toward their degrees. The setback can discourage them from completing their bachelor’s degree.
The Dallas-area schools launched an online portal in the fall where prospective students can see how their credits would be counted at each school and track their progress toward their bachelor’s degree.
For three areas of study — business, education and health sciences — the universities have already agreed on which Dallas College courses will be counted for credit toward related majors on their campuses.
WASHINGTON – ProPublica reports that the findings were stark. In one investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded that a Texas state agency had steered $1 billion in disaster mitigation money away from Houston and nearby communities of color after Hurricane Harvey inundated the region in 2017. In another investigation, HUD found that a homeowners association outside of Dallas had created rules to kick poor Black people out of their neighborhood. The episodes amounted to egregious violations of civil rights laws, officials at the housing agency believed — enough to warrant litigation against the alleged culprits. That, at least, was the view during the presidency of Joe Biden. After the Trump administration took over, HUD quietly took steps that will likely kill both cases, according to three officials familiar with the matter. Those steps were extremely unusual. Current and former HUD officials said they could not recall the housing agency ever pulling back cases of this magnitude in which the agency had found evidence of discrimination.
That leaves the yearslong, high-profile investigations in a state of limbo, with no likely path for the government to advance them, current and former officials said. As a result, the alleged perpetrators of the discrimination could face no government penalties, and the alleged victims could receive no compensation. “I just think that’s a doggone shame,” said Doris Brown, a Houston resident and a co-founder of a community group that, together with a housing nonprofit, filed the Harvey complaint. Brown saw 3 feet of water flood her home in a predominantly Black neighborhood that still shows damage from the storm. “We might’ve been able to get some more money to help the people that are still suffering,” she said. On Jan. 15, HUD referred the Houston case to the Department of Justice, a necessary step to a federal lawsuit after the housing agency finds evidence of discrimination. Less than a month later, on Feb. 13, the agency rescinded its referral without public explanation. HUD did the same with the Dallas case not long after.
AUSTIN – KERA reports that Attorney General Ken Paxton is opening an investigation into a proposed development in North Texas aimed at supporting the area’s Muslim community, claiming potential violations of Texas consumer protection laws. The East Plano Islamic Center, one of the largest mosques in the area, is planning the development in Josephine, Texas, roughly 40 miles northeast of Dallas. Paxton issued a Civil Investigative Demand into the corporate entity involved with the project, Community Capital Partners. “Under my watch, there will be zero tolerance for any person or entity that breaks Texas law,” said Paxton. “My office has an open and ongoing investigation into EPIC City, which has raised a number of concerns, and this CID will help ensure that any potential violation of state law is uncovered.”
It comes after Gov. Greg Abbott announced on X “a dozen state agencies are looking into” the East Plano Islamic Center’s proposed 402-acre development, which he alleged had “serious legal issues.” The governor did not provide evidence of his claim. Abbott also referred to “foreign adversaries” in his tweet, but did not elaborate. KERA News reached out to his office for clarity on both claims. The project, referred to as “EPIC City,” includes a new mosque, more than 1,000 single and multi-family homes, a K-12 faith-based school, senior housing, an outreach center, commercial developments, sports facilities, and a community college. KERA News reached to the East Plano Islamic Center and will update this story with any comment.
DALLAS — Energy production has increased considerably according to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas energy report shows that New Mexico has become a U.S. leader in energy production over the past five years. The biggest reason, Permian Basin reserves in the southeastern corner of the state. Oil and gas proceeds are now funding an increasing share of state government, most notably involving education.
Dallas Fed research says that oil production in Texas has increased from 5.1 mb/d in 2019 to 5.7 mb/d in 2024, while in New Mexico, it rose from 0.9 mb/d in 2019 to 2.0 mb/d in 2024.
The researchers who put the report together say, “New Mexico has capitalized on its booming oil and gas industry to undertake investment policies in education, child care, health care, infrastructure and public improvements. Given that New Mexico has some of the top-performing wells in the Permian Basin, the overall outlook is promising.”
Other key points in the report include:
Overall, 2023 was a record year for wells placed online in the Permian, fueling New Mexico’s production gains.
Roughly two-thirds of crude oil production in the Permian portion of New Mexico is on federal lands.
Eddy and Lea counties—a combined population of 130,000 out of a statewide population of about 2 million—accounted for oil production of almost 2 mb/d at year-end 2024.
TEXAS BORDER – Texas Public Radio reports that facing worsening drought conditions and a dwindling water supply, South Texas farmers have been caught in the middle of a growing water dispute between the U.S. and Mexico. The United States denied Mexico’s request for a special delivery of Colorado River water on Thursday, citing Mexico’s ongoing failure to meet its obligations under an 80-year-old water-sharing treaty between the two countries. This marks the first time the U.S. has formally refused a non-treaty water request from Mexico, according to the Western Hemisphere Affairs division of the U.S Department of State. “Mexico’s continued shortfalls in its water deliveries under the 1944 water-sharing treaty are decimating American agriculture – particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley,” the federal agency said via a social media post on Thursday.
The lack of water in the Rio Grande Valley has already had serious consequences for Texas agriculture, with irrigation cutbacks threatening crops, livestock and livelihoods. The region suffered an economic impact of nearly $1 billion in 2023 due to the ongoing water shortage, according to Texas A&M AgriLife. This eventually led to the 2024 closure of Texas’ last sugar mill, which operated in the RGV for more than 50 years. Under the 1944 Water Treaty, Mexico delivers the U.S. water from the Rio Grande, while the U.S. gives water to Mexico from the Colorado River. But Mexico, like Texas, is also grappling with severe drought conditions. By the end of 2024, more than half the Rio Grande and Bravo River Basin was in moderate to exceptional drought, according to data from the North American Drought Monitor (NADM). Mexican officials argue that they simply don’t have the water to spare. “There’s been less water. That’s part of the problem,” Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters on Thursday. For years now, Mexico has failed to hold up its end of the agreement. Mexico is required to deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet (AF) of water over a five-year cycle, at an average of 350,000 AF annually.
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Report says that Texas lawmakers are proposing a host of ideas to make it tougher for local governments to borrow money — the natural next step in a yearslong effort to take greater control of spending at the municipal level. If successful, bond elections like the ones San Antonio has used to finance hundreds of major projects in recent years will require two-thirds support from voters instead of a simple majority. They would also have to appear on a November ballot, instead of May, as the city has done in recent years. Gov. Greg Abbott set the wheels in motion for such changes in this year’s State of the State address, which are now laid out in House Bill 2736. Unlike some other revenue-limiting measures the state has approved in recent years, it would apply to all political subdivisions, including cities and counties of all sizes, as well as school districts.
“This is a very important taxpayer protection that ensures that a small minority of voters are not responsible for massive tax increases,” said James Quintero, policy director for the right-leaning Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Taxpayer Protection Project, which is supporting the bill. A bond program allows a municipal government to issue debt to finance large projects, using just a portion of their property tax revenues to repay the loan over time. Often, cities are leveraging their future growth, since tax revenues rise as more people move into the community and home values increase. In a city like San Antonio, where the average resident’s income is relatively low compared to other cities, city leaders say bond programs have been a helpful tool to finance community priorities while keeping the individual tax burden relatively low. The city’s 2022 bond program, for example, is expected to finance 183 projects totaling $1.2 billion, while keeping the debt service portion of residents’ tax bills the same as they were before.
TEXAS – When it comes to gas prices, it’s that time of year. The nation’s average price of gasoline has risen for the first time in over a month, increasing 6.3 cents compared to a week ago and stands at $3.08 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 down 1.6 cents from a month ago and is 42.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has decreased 0.9 cents in the last week and stands at $3.549 per gallon.
“For the first time in over a month, the national average price of gasoline has risen, driven by the final step in the transition to summer gasoline across wide portions of the country,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “This increase has nothing to do with politics or tariffs — which remain paused for now — but is instead the result of seasonality, and is something that happens almost every year. Concerns over refinery maintenance have been muted so far this year, largely due to broader concerns about the U.S. economy, and demand remains soft. However, for those in the Northeastern U.S. who have enjoyed relatively low gas prices compared to the national average, the final step in the transition to summer gasoline is still a few weeks away. Once it occurs, they too will likely see prices rise. For areas that have already completed the switch, ongoing economic uncertainty will likely prevent further major increases — for now.”
TEXAS (AP) – As measles cases in West Texas are still on the rise two months after the outbreak began, local public health officials say they expect the virus to keep spreading for at least several more months and that the official case number is likely an undercount.
But there’s a silver lining, officials say: More people have received a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination this year in Texas and New Mexico, which also has an outbreak, compared to last year — even if it’s not as high as they would like. And pharmacies across the U.S., especially in Texas, are seeing more demand for MMR shots.
As of Friday, the outbreak in Texas was up to 309 cases and one measles-related death, while New Mexico’s case count was up to 42 and also one measles-related death. Forty-two people have been hospitalized across the two states.
Texas’ outbreak, which has largely spread in undervaccinated Mennonite communities, could last a year based on studies of how measles previously spread in Amish communities in the U.S. Those studies showed outbreaks lasted six to seven months, said Katherine Wells, director of the public health department in Lubbock, Texas. Lubbock’s hospitals have treated most of the outbreak’s patients and the public health department is closely assisting with the response.
“It being so rural, now multistate, it’s just going to take a lot more boots on the ground, a lot more work, to get things under control,” Wells said during a media briefing this week. “It’s not an isolated population.”
The outbreak includes 14 Texas counties, two New Mexico counties and four probable cases in Oklahoma, where health officials said the first two were “associated” with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks.
Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases. Its slow way of spreading makes it especially hard to contain and outbreaks can have multiple peaks, said Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Many people spread the measles virus unknowingly for days before the telltale rash appears. The virus also can hang in the air for up to two hours after a sick person has left a room.
“Within this community, it’d be perfectly reasonable to think probably another couple months before things die out,” Lessler said. “But if it gets into another community, you just potentially start that clock over again.”
If the outbreak goes on until next January, it would end the United States’ status of having eliminated measles, which is defined as 12 months without local virus transmission, said Dr. William Moss, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University and executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center.
“We’re only three months in. I think if we had a strong response where the messaging was clear that measles vaccination is the way to stop this outbreak, I would be surprised if it went for 12 months or more,” said Moss, who has worked on measles for 25 years, mostly in Africa. “But we’re not seeing that type of response, at least from the federal government.”
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instead has sown doubt about the measles vaccine, which has been safely used for more than 60 years and is 97% effective after two doses. In an interview with Fox News last week, Kennedy said MMR shots cause “deaths every year,” although he later added that vaccinations should be encouraged.
Vaccinations are up in Texas and New Mexico
Still, there are signs the outbreak has had an effect on vaccinations, especially locally.
Between Feb. 1 and March 18 last year, New Mexico Department of Health registered 6,500 measles vaccines. During that timeframe this year, more than 11,600 measles vaccines were administered in New Mexico — about half given to adults and half to children.
Southeast New Mexico, where the outbreak is located, represents a large portion of the count, with 2,369 doses administered.
In Texas, at least 173,000 measles doses were given from Jan. 1 to March 16, compared to at least 158,000 over the same timeframe last year, according to the state health department. That includes more than 340 doses in given by public health in the West Texas outbreak area as of March 11.
Texans must opt-in to the state’s immunization registry, so most people’s vaccinations are not captured in the Texas Department of State Health Services numbers, department spokeswoman Lara Anton said.
“We don’t know if more people are opting in or if this is a true reflection of an increase in vaccinations,” Anton wrote in an email. “It may be both.”
Pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS told The Associated Press that they’re seeing higher demand for MMR vaccines across the U.S., especially in the outbreak areas.
Texas health officials say they’d like to see more uptake in the communities at the epicenter of the outbreak, especially in Gaines County — where the childhood vaccination rate against measles is 82%. That’s far below the 95% level needed to prevent community spread, and likely lower in the small religious schools and homeschooling groups where the early cases were identified.
Prasad Ganji is a pharmacist in Seminole, the biggest town in Gaines County. He said he ordered a 10-dose box of the MMR vaccine as cases started to spread.
He can give vaccines to people older than 14. But he still has doses left.
“The uptake for vaccines been definitely been a struggle,” Wells said of Gaines County, “I want to be honest with that.”
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government has given final approval for a Texas-based marine robotics company to renew the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean more than a decade ago.
Cabinet ministers agreed to terms and conditions for a “no-find, no-fee” contract with Texas-based Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a new 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) site in the ocean, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement Wednesday. Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.
The Boeing 777 plane vanished from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.
An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing.
The final approval for a new search came three months after Malaysia gave the nod in principle to plans for a fresh search.
Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and had narrowed the search area to the most likely site.
Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didn’t provide details on the terms. The firm has reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated that January-April is the best period for the search.
“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,” he said in a statement.
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News reports South San Antonio Independent School District is switching to a controversial, Bible-infused curriculum next year — but not before setting up a committee to vet the learning materials for “inappropriate” content. The South San ISD board of managers unanimously approved the purchase of the state-written lessons and textbooks known collectively as Bluebonnet Learning on Monday, at the district’s second meeting since being taken over by the Texas Education Agency. South San’s new superintendent, Saul Hinojosa, recommended adopting the curriculum to address the district’s historically poor performance on standardized testing compared to the rest of the state, region and city. He said Bluebonnet Learning will help close those gaps in academic outcomes.
“I know there’s some concern as you read out there of this particular curriculum, but we are going to have some safeguards by formulating a committee that’s going to consist of teachers, parents and board members that will audit the curriculum,” he said. “If there’s anything we feel is inappropriate, we will have the ability to pull that out and change that little piece.” South San is one of the few San Antonio school systems to approve the widely debated curriculum since it was narrowly approved by eight of the 15 members of the State Board of Education in November. Harlandale ISD voted to adopt it at a December board meeting. Other local school districts, including East Central, Edgewood, Judson and Southwest ISDs, have approved portions of the curriculum. Bluebonnet Learning was created through House Bill 1605, which directed the Texas Education Agency to develop textbooks that align with state standards. The curriculum is free to access online, and school district are paid $60 per student to adopt it — $40 for using its instructional materials and $20 to cover printing the Bluebonnet textbooks.