ATASCOSA COUNTY, Texas — They called him the “radar” of Atascosa County. As the emergency management coordinator of the Texas county, David Prasifka was always on the lookout for how he could help his community. So when the coronavirus pandemic started to creep in, he hit the ground running, searching near and far to procure
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso is familiar with his work and now he wants the community’s help in finding a location for a new mural to express grief over the killing of a Texas soldier. Gabriel Vasquez is the artist behind the El Paso Strong mural, which he created after the Aug. 3 mass
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AUSTIN, Texas — More than 46,000 Texans who lost their jobs in recent months were initially overpaid by the Texas Workforce Commission, which now wants $32 million in unemployment benefits back. “State law requires TWC to recover all unemployment benefits overpayments,” Cisco Gamez, spokesperson for the state agency, said in an email. “Overpayments stay on
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SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Whataburger, the fast-food chain turned Texas treasure, is undergoing a makeover, according to ABC affiliate KTRK. But the famed burgers and fries aren’t going away, and the trademark orange-and-white color scheme isn’t vanishing. Rather, the restaurants themselves are getting an updated look. Whataburger recently debuted its first refreshed store in its
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas reported its deadliest day of the pandemic with nearly 100 new deaths on Wednesday as newly confirmed cases continued soaring and Austin began preparations to turn the downtown convention center into a field hospital. The 98 reported deaths in Texas set a record one-day high, surpassing the record 60 deaths reported
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HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas inmate received lethal injection Wednesday evening for fatally shooting an 82-year-old man nearly three decades ago, ending a five-month delay of executions in the nation’s busiest death penalty state because of the coronavirus pandemic. Billy Joe Wardlow was put to death at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the June
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HOUSTON, Texas — Houston’s mayor on Wednesday canceled the Texas Republican Party’s in-person convention, saying the spread of the coronavirus made it impossible to hold the event as scheduled. Mayor Sylvester Turner said that the city’s lawyers exercised provisions in the contract that the Texas GOP signed to rent the downtown convention center for a
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AUSTIN, 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 late Tuesday afternoon. School districts must offer daily on-campus instruction for all students who want it, but any
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CENTER, Texas — A statewide Amber Alert was issued Tuesday evening for a 2-year-old Texas girl who is believed to have been abducted by a 27-year-old man. Authorities said Zimia Ann Whitaker was last seen in the community of Center, near Nacogdoches, in east Texas. They believe she is in grave or immediate danger, ABC
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Texas surpassed 10,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time, crossing a sobering milestone rarely seen since the pandemic first hit the U.S. in March. The record high of 10,028 confirmed cases Tuesday follows Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to mandate masks in much of the state and to
Continue Reading WACO, Texas — Despite hopes for relief this summer, the US still is battling the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, so much so that across the South and Southwest contact tracing — a key component to combating the virus — is no longer possible, a health expert says. “The cases are rising so rapidly,
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DALLAS, Texas — The State Fair of Texas, slated for this fall, was canceled Tuesday because of ongoing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, fair organizers said in a public statement. “One of the greatest aspects of the Fair is welcoming each and every person who passes through our gates with smiles and open arms,”
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EL PASO, Texas — Former El Paso congressman and prominent Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke called on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to resign, saying his handling of the coronavirus pandemic to date has been “pathetic.” O’Rourke made his comments in a Monday night twitter post following an Abbott interview with a Beaumont TV station in which
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Hospitalizations across Texas have more than doubled in the last two weeks, rising to 8,698 people in hospitals on Monday. Texas also reported 5,318 new cases Monday, after a record high of 8,258 on Saturday. And the Lone Star state reported 18 additional deaths Monday, bringing the totals to 2,655 reported deaths and 200,557 confirmed
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WASHINGTON, DC — After withering pressure from lawmakers, the federal government on Monday released data on hundreds of thousands of borrowers from the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program — the main relief vehicle for small and mid-size companies suffering from the pandemic lockdowns. More than 4.8 million small businesses tapped more than $520 billion in
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UPDATE: State troopers on Monday identified the lone fatality from Sunday’s pickup truck crash on I-10 in Culberson County as Luis Alejandro Guerrero, 17, of Midland. ORIGINAL REPORT: VAN HORN, Texas — A pickup truck crash Sunday afternoon killed at least one person and led to the shutdown of Interstate 10 about three hours east
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Matthew McConaughey got straight to the point in a new video posted on social media over the weekend. (Scroll down to end of article to see the video) The actor and Texas native told fans that he understood that the country is going through “some growing pains” but that “growing pains are a good thing,
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — As parents nationwide wonder if it’s safe to send kids back to day care, Texas is grappling with a surge of Covid-19 cases from child care centers. At least 1,335 people have tested positive from child care facilities in Texas, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services reported Monday, citing figures
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas reported 3,449 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 Sunday, after a record high of 8,258 Saturday. State health officials also reported 29 additional deaths, bringing the totals to 2,637 fatalities and 195,239 confirmed cases. A record 8,181 Texans with Covid-19 were hospitalized Sunday, which included a record 211 hospital patients in El Paso. The
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FORT HOOD, Texas — Human remains found in a shallow in Texas grave were positively identified as Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen on Sunday, according to Guillen family attorney Natalie Khawam. Guillen, 20, had been missing since April and was last seen in the parking lot of her barracks at Fort Hood on April 22, according
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — While many El Pasons were out grilling hot dogs and burgers in observance of the July 4th holiday, others took to Grandview Park demanding justice for Vanessa Guillen. The group made up of roughly 50 held the protest for the slain Army specialist who went missing on April 23rd in the
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NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — Mexican soldiers patrolling in the Texas border city of Nuevo Laredo came under fire from drug cartel gunmen, then killed 12 of their attackers in a gunbattle, the military said. The Defense Department said three army patrol trucks were hit by Friday’s gunfire, but no troops were hurt. The gunmen were
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FORT HANCOCK, Texas — Deputies shot a dog dead Saturday morning after a chase along Interstate 10 near Fort Hancock, officials with the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies responded to reports of a stolen vehicle Saturday around 6 a.m., said Chief Deputy Casi Salgado. The driver, a woman, didn’t pull over for about six
Continue Reading Hospitals in at least two Texas counties are at full capacity heading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend, with county judges urging residents to shelter in place. Judges in Starr and Hidalgo counties sent out emergency alerts Friday, warning residents that local hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley were at capacity. Judge Eloy Vera
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AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott issued a nearly statewide mask mandate Thursday as Texas scrambles to get its coronavirus surge under control. Abbott, who had pushed Texas’ aggressive reopening of the state economy in May, had previously said the government could not order individuals to wear masks. His prior virus-related orders had also undercut efforts by
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AUSTIN, Texas — President Donald Trump would beat former Vice President Joe Biden in Texas by 4 percentage points if the election were held today, according to a new poll from the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project. The Republican incumbent’s narrow lead four months before the election suggests Texas, a state where
Continue Reading FORT HOOD, Texas — Army investigators believe a Texas soldier missing since April was killed by another soldier on the base where they served, the attorney for the missing soldier’s family said Thursday. Lawyer Natalie Khawam said the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division told her that the other soldier bludgeoned 20-year-old soldier Vanessa Guillen with
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — A planned Vanilla Ice holiday weekend concert has been canceled. A rep for the rapper confirmed Thursday afternoon that at a Fourth of July celebration in Austin set for Friday is now off. “This date has been canceled and will be rescheduled for another time,” the rep said in an email to
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — After setting three straight single-day records last week, Texas has hit another grim milestone in Covid-19 cases. On Wednesday, the state reported 8,076 new cases, the highest one-day total in Texas since the start of the pandemic – and more than doubling new case counts from two weeks ago. The state also
Continue Reading About 300 teens were exposed to Covid-19 at a “pong fest” party in Lakeway, Texas, on June 20, local officials say. At the time of the party, several teens were waiting for their Covid-19 test results, and have since tested positive, according to Shelly Parks, a spokesperson with Austin Homeland Security & Emergency Management. City
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