State

fter the first COVID-19 death in Texas — a 97-year-old man in Matagorda County who died March 15 — it took 53 days before the state reached 1,000 deaths. On Monday, Texas reached 4,020 deaths only 10 days after crossing the 3,000 threshold.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar delivered bleak but unsurprising news Monday: Because of the economic fallout triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the amount of general revenue available for the state’s current two-year budget is projected to be roughly $11.5 billion less than originally estimated.

While local health officials have the authority to keep school districts closed for in-person instruction through the fall, Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a letter to schools Friday that private religious schools are free to decide for themselves whether to reopen.

The Trump administration said Friday that it is waiving several environmental regulations in order to proceed with border-security projects in South Texas.

The FBI asked for the public’s help Thursday evening in the search for a missing 14-year-old Texas girl.

As the number of new coronavirus cases in Texas continues to rise and hospitals grow more crowded, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday there is no statewide shutdown looming.

Distillery, winery and some restaurant owners say their businesses are different from traditional bars, which Abbott closed after COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations began to climb in June.

A Fort Hood soldier declared AWOL after disappearing in August 2019 whose remains were found last month during a search of a wooded field will be reinstated and is entitled to a military funeral and benefits, Fort Hood confirmed Wednesday.

Local public health officials will be able to keep Texas schools closed for in-person instruction this fall without risking state education funding, a Texas Education Agency spokesperson confirmed to The Texas Tribune Wednesday.

A Central Texas woman named in a three-count indictment Tuesday stemming from the death and dismemberment of Fort Hood Spc. Vanessa Guillen pleaded not guilty in an appearance before a federal magistrate.

Texas will give school districts more flexibility to keep their school buildings closed to in-person instruction this fall as coronavirus cases continue to rise, Gov. Greg Abbott told a Houston television station Tuesday.

Joe Biden is launching his first general-election TV ads in Texas as a growing number of polls show a close presidential race here.

A coronavirus patient in Anahuac was flown by helicopter to a hospital in El Campo — 120 miles away — because closer facilities could not take him.

The Texas Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the Republican Party of Texas seeking to host its in-person convention this week in Houston. Justices also denied a similar petition spearheaded by other party officials and Houston activist Steve Hotze.

The Lynn County sheriff has died after battling the coronavirus.

The Army will commission an independent review of Fort Hood’s handling of the case of Spc. Vanessa Guillen, who disappeared on April 22 and whose dismembered remains were later found near the Leon River.

The new coronavirus has claimed the life of a Texas infant, health officials reported Friday.

A growing number of Texas county Republican parties are censuring Gov. Greg Abbott over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, taking issue with how he has wielded his broad executive power.

In a report released to KBTX on Thursday, police at Texas A&M University said a student who reported finding racist notes on his car’s windshield last month may have placed the papers there himself. However, the 21-year-old at the center of the case strongly denies those claims.

Workers who lost their jobs and received overpayments from the Texas Workforce Commission won’t have to pay back those unemployment benefits if it was the state’s mistake, commission officials now say.

With the daily number of new coronavirus infections in Texas now exceeding that of most other states, experts say Texas has become a hot spot of the global pandemic and that more aggressive measures are needed to slow the virus’ spread.

Greg Abbott has had a rough month. The civil liberties wing of the governor’s Republican Party, with its focus on individual freedom and economics, is lobbing rotten tomatoes his way — increasingly agitated by his attempts to cage the coronavirus with a new series of behavioral restrictions.

The Republican Party of Texas' in-person convention next week has been canceled, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday.

Around 350 students and 30 faculty members returned to Texas Tech University’s sprawling grounds in Lubbock on Tuesday, resuming in-person classes for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic closed the campus in March.

The university says that at this point, they have not made any decisions about what will happen with tuition this fall.

An Amber Alert has been issued for a 2-year-old girl from East Texas.

Masks for students and teachers will be mandatory in counties with more than 20 reported COVID-19 cases when public schools resume in-person classes this fall, under new public health guidelines released by Texas state education officials Tuesday.

The annual State Fair of Texas has been canceled for 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns.

A Texas congresswoman and 87 members of Congress are supporting an independent review of Fort Hood’s handling of the case of a 20-year-old soldier who was found dead more than two months after she disappeared.

A woman accused of helping her boyfriend dismember and bury the body of a 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier who disappeared in April is held without bond after an initial hearing Monday.