McAllen leaders hope the new Valeo manufacturing plant is a sign that the region, one of the most impoverished in the state, can attract better-paying jobs for its college graduates.

Democratic enthusiasm in the Valley’s four counties could foreshadow a November reversal of Trump’s historic 2024 sweep there — and signal that Latino voters have become swing voters.

Sister Norma Pimentel with Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley founded the shelter in McAllen, which serves undocumented immigrants released from federal custody.

A faction of Hidalgo County Democrats has raised concerns over how the party is spending money and blocking the group from doing business for several months.

The GOP push to redraw the state’s congressional maps isn’t just a partisan move but one that deeply affects how Texans are represented in Congress.

Leaders hope to treat groundwater and capture more rain as the water from one of the nation’s most iconic rivers becomes less reliable.

The battlefield for both parties is again converging on South Texas, where De La Cruz scored one of the GOP’s high-profile wins last year when she secured a second term.

Drenching rain along the Texas-Mexico border has let up but rescues are still ongoing after severe storms trapped residents in their homes, forced drivers to abandon their vehicles on flooded roads and shut down an airport.

As the Edinburg facility and others seek to assist people experiencing food insecurity, state lawmakers have more than a dozen bills that could tackle Texas’ food deserts.

South Texas College in McAllen launched one of the first registered nursing apprenticeships in the country as area hospitals expect the need for nurses to increase.

In Brownsville, the city and local hospital have helped residents lose more than 23,000 pounds since 2008.

A Bexar County election worker was assaulted Thursday, officials said. In Tarrant County, officials encouraged voters to review their ballots before voting.

Denton has renamed itself Halloween, Texas, and has planned 31 days of events to drive up tourism and family entertainment.

The AG’s office sought to depose the leader of Team Brownsville, which provides water, shelter and basic necessities to asylum-seeking migrants.

Local leaders began debating a household limit on the number of pets after two residents were arrested for having 93 dogs and a cat in their home.

Many of the solutions are costly, putting them out of reach for small towns. But the region's most populous cities are getting innovative.

After years of competing with each other for new businesses, Valley cities want to present a united front to highlight the region’s assets.

Texas is losing an estimated 1,000 acres of farm land a day, mostly to other industries. The Rio Grande Valley is losing land at a faster clip.

A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers are demanding appropriators withhold funds for the country until Mexico lives up to its end of a 1944 water treaty that requires it to send 1.75 million acre-feet to the U.S. every five years.

Conservation groups found a sign of hope, but scientists say it's too soon to celebrate.

A state-appointed board of managers overseeing the La Joya Independent School District is set to consider the policy this week.

Some environmental experts are skeptical that Texas can meet the new rules on particulate matter, which can cause serious respiratory problems.

A Texas jury has recommended that a south Texas man be sentenced to death for fatally shooting a state trooper in 2019.

A Canadian woman has pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to mailing a threatening letter containing the poison ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House.

For some local relief programs, a lack of staffing, political support and effective community outreach got in the way of spending federal funds to prevent evictions, a new report found. More than $30 million went unspent and had to be returned.

A former South Texas mayor has been acquitted of organized election fraud and illegal voting.

In Texas, married couples generally can claim only one such exemption, meant to provide some tax relief on properties considered “principal residences.” Homestead exemptions cannot typically be claimed on commercial properties, second homes or income properties.

Cheap regulated and unregulated medication is available over the counter at Mexican pharmacies, including abortion-inducing drugs that are strictly regulated in the U.S.

KPRC 2 Anchor Daniella Guzman and Investigative reporter Robert Arnold were both in border towns Wednesday speaking directly with families who are making the voyage to America.

In some voting locations where a party’s appointed polling judge didn’t show up, election officials allowed the other party’s judge to operate both parties’ voting machines in an effort to keep the polling place running.

Public health officials have played a crucial role in vaccination efforts and tracking the spread of the virus. But different needs from their communities and insufficient aid have complicated the work.

wo brothers are in jail after being accused of beating their stepfather to death for sexually assaulting their 9-year-old sister, according to local reports.

Amid the heated rhetoric around an increase in migrants, people on opposite ends of the Texas-Mexico border see the problems — and solutions — differently.

Democratic Congressman from Laredo, Henry Cuellar helped lead a meeting between several south Texas community leaders and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The executive order allows DPS troopers to reroute vehicles back to their origin point or a port of entry. Critics say citing the coronavirus as justification is hypocritical since the governor won't let local officials require masks in public.

Many local officials and business leaders along the border say that the rhetoric is misplaced and that the broader needs of their communities can often get lost.

Three medical professionals discuss what they have learned about where Texas is — and where it is going — in the COVID-19 pandemic.

MCALLEN, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that he’s hoping to increase the number of Texans getting COVID-19 vaccines after seeing a drop in people showing up for the shot. “We’re beginning to see a decrease in demand for vaccinations,” Abbott said at a news conference Thursday in border city of McAllen. “Seniors who contract COVID are the people who are most likely to either be hospitalized or lose their life because of COVID,” Abbott said. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3.3 million Texans have completed their vaccinations.

Currently, COVID-19 patients take up almost half of that region’s hospital capacity, according to DSHS data — the highest percentage in the state. Many cities have had to divert patients to other hospitals as their local ICUs overflow, in addition to expanding and converting available beds to treat ICU patients. Melendez said counting available ICU beds doesn’t give the full picture at Texas hospitals because they are constantly adjusting to accommodate more patients. If an ICU is technically full, he said, many hospitals can still convert some available beds or units outside of that ward to give patients ICU care. Simmons and other Texas health care workers have expressed hope for the future after Texas’ vaccination process began on Dec. 14.

Dec. 7, 2020. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneNeed to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? The first known case of a new and possibly more contagious coronavirus strain has been reported in Texas, in an adult male resident of Harris County who had no history of travel, according to the state health services department and Judge Lina Hidalgo. It does not cause a more severe disease and vaccines “are expected to be effective against it,” the health services department said of the variant. But “the fact that this person had no travel history suggests this variant is already circulating in Texas,” said Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the state’s health services department. The case is being investigated by the state health services department and Harris County Public Health.

This photo provided by the Hidalgo County (Texas) Sheriff's Office, showing the booking photo of Pascale Ferrier. Ferrier, accused of mailing a package containing ricin to the White House, included a threatening letter in which she told President Donald Trump to “give up and remove your application for this election." A grand jury in Brownsville, Texas, on Monday handed up sixteen counts against Pascale Ferrier, court records show. In September, Ferrier pleaded not guilty to making threats against President Donald Trump by mailing a package containing ricin to the White House after she was arrested at the U.S.-Canada border. Ferrier is also alleged to have sent ricin to six detention centers and law enforcement agencies in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Among these cases, nearly 3 in 10 people were charged only for the emergency order violation, the district attorney said. In the initial month of the virus’ spread in Texas, orders were coming out every few weeks or even days. Fines pile up, and cases are dismissedOutcomes for violating COVID-19 orders varied from community to community in the Valley. Daisy Alvarado was one of more than 340 people cited by Cameron County sheriff’s deputies for violating COVID-19 orders. The virus’ toll hasn’t changed Alvarez’s opinion that rules like the emergency orders need to be applied cautiously.

Some 15,600 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine arrived at hospitals on Tuesday in El Paso and Edinburg, and more will land in Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville and El Paso later this week. El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said he’s concerned about community spread continuing as the vaccine begins to be administered. The pandemic has disproportionately affected El Paso and Hidalgo counties compared to areas of similar or larger sizes in Texas. As of Wednesday, there had been more than 91,000 cases recorded in El Paso County, the fourth-highest total in the state. This is an exciting time,” said Mielke, the University Medical Center of El Paso spokesperson.

The Garcia's home was flooded by Hurricane Hanna as it passed through the area dropping heavy rains which caused flooding. Its remnants still threatened to bring rainfall and flash flooding to waterlogged parts of South Texas and Northern Mexico. Border communities hit by Hanna were already strained by COVID-19 cases — with some patients being airlifted to larger cities. By Monday evening, 50,600 customers remained without power throughout South Texas, including Corpus Christi, Harlingen and McAllen, utility officials said. Officials throughout South Texas were still assessing damage from Hanna on Monday.

Elisa Soliz, front right, sat with her sisters in Hidalgo County in May. Her oldest sister, Beatriz Gonzalez, front left, died from the new coronavirus later that month. Courtesy of Elisa Soliz(Audio unavailable. Elisa Soliz lost her sister to the new coronavirus in late May and says at least nine other family members have tested positive. The 63-year-old school bus driver lives in Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley an area thats been devastated by the pandemic.

HIDALGO COUNTY, Texas Texas set a one-day record for deaths and hospitalizations Wednesday afternoon, and one Texas county is enforcing a stay-home order after bodies are being stored in refrigerated trucks, Reuters reported. The state saw 197 deaths and 10,893 hospitalizations Wednesday, becoming one of the hardest states hit by COVID-19. Hidalgo County, located in south Texas, has seen a sharp rise in cases in the last week, according to Reuters. He told Reuters that crematoriums have a wait list of two weeks, and with five refrigerated trucks in the county, they have a capacity of 50 bodies each. Texas, along with California and Florida remain the top three states where coronavirus cases are rising, Reuters reported.

AUSTIN, Texas – While some big cities in Texas are reporting signs that an alarming surge in cases of the coronavirus may be leveling off, officials in counties along the border with Mexico said Tuesday that the outlook there remains bleak. Greg Abbott’s past mandates that do not allow local officials to set their own stay-at-home restrictions. Texas on Tuesday reported more than 9,300 confirmed new cases and 131 deaths, the state’s second deadliest day of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Texas is pressing ahead with plans for high school football this fall. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

McAllen sits in Hidalgo County, whose top official issued an emergency order Monday in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneAs the Rio Grande Valley grapples with an onslaught of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez is pushing hard for residents to stay at home. In the new Hidalgo County order, only a second violation to the statewide mask order can be punished by a $250, in accordance with the existing state rules. In Hidalgo County on Monday, 524 people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of infections there to 12,787, according to data released by the county. U.S. Navy teams were deployed Sunday to the Rio Grande Valley, a region that includes Hidalgo County.

More than a third of Texans speak a language other than English at home, according to census data. In Austin, city officials regularly post updates and infographics on Facebook and Twitter in Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese. A third of people in the capital city speak languages other than English at home, according to census data. Unlike Texas' Spanish speakers, who can depend on a handful of local Spanish-language TV news and radio stations, Burmese speakers have fewer options. Thats information officials should be communicating to their constituents, said Josephine Lopez Paul, lead organizer for Dallas Area Interfaith.