A Starr County property was purchased to build border wall, while Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said the state has many options for a sprawling ranch in West Texas.

The Starr County district attorney dropped the improper charges, but the fallout “forever changed the Plaintiff’s life,” a new federal lawsuit says.

Texas has become an early hot spot for geothermal energy exploration as scores of former oil industry workers and executives are taking their knowledge to a new energy source.

The State Bar of Texas has fined and suspended Starr County’s district attorney for pursuing a murder indictment against 26-year-old woman after she self-managed an abortion.

The Biden administration’s plan to build new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas calls for a “movable” design that frustrates both environmentalists and advocates of stronger border enforcement.

Even as the president says the barriers don’t work, his administration says it will waive environmental laws to build them quickly.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that the Biden administration leveraged sweeping executive power to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas.

Securing the land rights to build Texas’ portion of a border wall is proving to be a tedious and daunting process according to officials with the Texas Facilities Commission. The comments came during a Jan. 4 TFC meeting when another border wall construction contract was awarded.

The Texas Facilities Commission continues negotiating with private landowners for the rights to build segments of a state-funded border wall. Without these agreements, the state can’t move forward with building more segments of the wall.

“If it’s gonna rise by that much, I don’t think we’re prepared,” one South Texas mayor said of temperature increases.

Starr County, one of the four counties that make up the Rio Grande Valley, has not been able to produce campaign finance reports that it is required to maintain, according to a GOP group targeting the area.

The full and often unchecked power of the prosecutor was on display when a South Texas woman was charged with murder for a self-induced abortion.

The Rio Grande Valley, often seen as a reliable vote against abortion, has a long history of advocacy to increase access to the procedure.

Texas law exempts a pregnant person from being charged with murder or any lesser homicide charge for an abortion.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule earlier this week to list the prostrate milkweed, which lives along the Texas-Mexico border, as an endangered species. The rare plant is threatened in part by border security activities, scientists say.

Abbott unveiled the first 900 feet of border barrier Saturday. But the state has been mum on where it plans to build additional barriers and how many miles it can afford.

Abbott launched the construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border using state money and crowdfunded private donations. The state has at least $1.05 billion for the border barriers.

Construction is expected to begin soon on a 1.7-mile portion of the Texas border wall.

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.

Soldiers with the Texas National Guard work at a drive-through COVID-19 testing center in Smithville on May 5, 2020. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that National Guard troops will vaccinate residents in five rural counties as part of a new pilot program. Credit: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via USA TODAY NETWORKStarting Thursday, state mobile vaccination teams staffed by Texas National Guard members will be deployed to five rural Texas counties to administer coronavirus vaccines to qualified residents. National Guard teams will visit DeWitt, Marion, Real, Sherman and Starr counties as part of a newly-created State Mobile Vaccine Pilot Program announced by Gov. On Wednesday, President Biden ordered full reimbursement to states that use the National Guard to increase the pace of vaccinations nationally.

In order to build the border wall, the ranch’s front gate and the fence will have to be moved back. The situation could become even more complicated if President-elect Joe Biden makes good on his promise to stop border wall construction. The agreements are to build 146 miles of border wall and install nearly three dozen gates. Under the Trump administration, Starr has become one of the agency’s top priorities for the border wall. But Starr County, which lacks a levee system, had no wall before the Trump administration first proposed building there in 2017.

Dr. Jos Vzquez has resigned from his position as Starr Co. county health authority. Credit: Spencer Selvidge for The Texas TribuneNeed to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? The top doctor advising Starr County on local health policy resigned abruptly Monday, leaving temporarily vacant a key position in a rural border community already battered by the coronavirus. Starr County, population 65,000, is one of the poorest counties in the country. Starr County has had 68 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 2,213 cases as of Monday, according to state data.

AUSTIN, Texas Texas surpassed 4,000 deaths in the coronavirus pandemic Monday but officials in Houston, one of the hardest-hit cities in the U.S., say they are cautiously optimistic about recent trends following weeks of alarming surges at hospitals. Texas reported more than 7,400 confirmed new cases and at least 62 new deaths. The virus continues taking a particularly hard toll along the Texas-Mexico border: Hidalgo County has reported more than 140 deaths over the past week, and the county judge on Monday signed a shelter-at-home order. This action will help us do the right thing to save and protect each other from this deadly disease by sheltering at home, said Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez. But in Houston, officials say they are seeing signs of optimism.