This piece was originally published by KFF Health News and written and reported by Claudia Boyd-Barrett, Renuka Rayasam, and Amanda Seitz. Carlos arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Mexico in December, believing he was one step closer to reuniting with his children. By that point, his 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter had been in […]
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Getting on PrEP Shouldn’t Have Been a Quest. Now, It Doesn’t Have to Be.
I first went on PrEP in 2015 after I’d just moved to Austin for a job. PrEP, the once-daily medication that reduces the risk of contracting HIV, had only been released a few years earlier and was targeted towards high-risk populations. As a 27-year-old gay Latino from South Texas, I fit the bill. Affirming sexual […]
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Whistleblower Says Radioactive Fracking Waste Site Melted His Jaw. Now There’s an Elementary School There.
EXCLUSIVE Sure, Lee Oldham told me, he had spread radioactive fracking waste on Texas farmland. But in his defense, he never in a million years thought anyone would put a school there. We were standing in the frigid wind on a field in Johnson County. It was January, and 52-year-old Oldham wore a heavy flannel […]
Posted inNews
After a Prison Cat Fundraiser Went Viral, Texas Officials Put His Caretaker in Solitary Confinement
Just days after a fundraiser to save a sick stray cat at a Central Texas women’s prison raised nearly $11,000, Texas prison officials placed the incarcerated woman who cared for the cat into solitary confinement — despite the fact that she did not organize the fundraiser or receive any of the money. Sonya Reed, a […]
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Texas Is Leaving Autistic Kids Without Necessary Services, Parents Say. Ken Paxton’s Tylenol Lawsuit Isn’t Helping.
When Nayeli Calderon’s son Sebastian was 2 years old, a daycare teacher suggested she get him tested for autism. That’s when she said the work, and the waiting, began. Sebastian joined a month-long waitlist for a neurologist, who saw him for a few months and then diagnosed him with autism. After the diagnosis came the […]
Posted inHealth
Texas’ New Abortion Ban Aims to Stop Doctors From Sending Abortion Pills to the State
This story was originally reported by Shefali Luthra of The 19th. Meet Shefali and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Texas’ massive new abortion law taking effect this week could escalate the national fight over mailing abortion pills. House Bill 7 represents abortion opponents’ most ambitious effort to halt telehealth abortions, […]
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This Viral Video of a Texas Mom in Labor Is a ‘Textbook Example’ of the Horrors Black Pregnant People Face in Hospitals
UPDATE, Nov. 19, 2025: State legislators are planning their own investigation of a viral video showing a Texas Black mother in labor at a Mesquite hospital, they said this week after several news outlets covered the disturbing footage. Rep. Linda Garcia and Rep. Rhetta Bowers, who both represent parts of Dallas County, called a meeting […]
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A Woman Asked 43 Churches If They’d Feed a Starving Baby. The Texas Ones Failed Her Test.
UPDATE, Nov. 20, 2025: On Nov. 18, a spokesperson from First Baptist Church told D Magazine that prior to the call that Monroe recorded in her TikTok, she had previously contacted the church and hung up after they provided information about available resources. The spokesperson also said that the church had been alerted about similar […]
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Thanks to Texas Law, Her Baby’s Death Was Agonizing. Día de los Muertos Is Helping Her Cope.
In Samantha Casiano’s house, Sundays are for family. And for the last two years, that’s included a trip to the cemetery. Every week, they visit her daughter Halo’s gravesite. It sits in the middle of their small East Texas hometown. A gray placard lies on the ground with Halo Hope Villasana written in pink script, […]
Posted inOpinion
I Almost Died After Giving Birth. Texas Just Made That More Likely for Everyone.
I remember the moment my world went sideways: My daughter had just been born, warm against my chest, when the room shifted from joy to panic. I was hemorrhaging. My placenta was not delivering as it should. I kept asking, “Are we going to the OR?” Minutes stretched into an hour. Cabinets slammed. People rushed. […]