The Latest Breaking News from Texas Tribune

Hemp advocates promised the Texas Legislature the crop was drought resistant. The 2022 drought has proven otherwise. And farmers are abandoning the nascent market.

The Texas coast is a hot spot for “nurdle” pollution, tiny plastic pellets created in the process of producing everyday products. But a plan to require proactive prevention of their release has been scrapped.

Hegar, who is running for his third term as Texas comptroller of public accounts, has made increasingly provocative moves in recent weeks, challenging financial companies he says are anti-oil and gas and threatening budget sanctions against Harris County over police funding.

The Texas Education Agency has dismissed the notion that the accountability ratings are a poverty rating. As evidence, they point to districts like those in the Rio Grande Valley, which have achieved high marks while serving a high number of economically disadvantaged students.

Abbott said that victims of rape could take Plan B to prevent a pregnancy. Due to the state’s health care landscape, accessing emergency contraception may not be feasible for low-income Texans.

On Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that nine migrants had died while trying to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.

During the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency exempted a proposed oil export terminal off the Texas coast from air pollution requirements. This week it rejected the permit because of pollution concerns.

Oil and gas companies produce 3.8 billion barrels of wastewater per year in the arid Permian Basin. A state consortium is trying to figure out whether it can be reused.

Despite its dwindling population, rural Texas has consistently helped protect GOP dominance in statewide races, even as Democratic support grows in the state’s populous metro centers and suburbs.