Texas’ first-ever statewide flood plan estimates 5 million live in flood-prone areas
The state’s flood plan shows which Texans are most at risk of flooding and suggests billions of dollars more are needed for flood mitigation projects. Full Story
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![A truck in flood waters in Livingston on May 2, 2024. Thousands fled their Southeast Texas homes as heavy rains saturated land in multiple counties.]()
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Travis County is shifting focus to prevent overdose deaths as fentanyl ravages the area
Since 2019, accidental drug deaths have been rising in Texas, with the number tripling in Travis County. Full Story
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![An Austin-Travis County EMS vehicle parked outside of St. Davidís North Austin Medical Center on July 7, 2020.]()
Credit: Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune -
New $305 million Austin State Hospital unveiled as Texas revamps psychiatric system
The facility has 240 single-person rooms, a basketball gym and outdoor courtyards. It’s part of a $2.5 billion overhaul of the state’s mental health hospital system. Full Story
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![Patient rooms include a bed, desk and private bathroom in the Austin State Hospital on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 in Austin. The hospital has 240 beds for adult inpatients.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
In rural Texas, ERs are facing a growing mental health crisis
The mental health workforce shortage is more acute in rural areas, adding to rising patient loads in hospital ERs. Full Story
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![Titus Regional Medical Center in Mt. Pleasant on April 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune -
Families and schools must work together to tackle youth mental health crisis
The Texas Tribune hosted a panel conversation on the causes and challenges of the youth mental health crisis in the state. Full Story
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Texas is struggling to diversify its mental health workforce as the state becomes less white
More than 40% of the state’s population is Hispanic, but its mental health provider population is more than 80% white. Full Story
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![In Texas, a key barrier to timely mental health care is the lack of Spanish-speaking providers in a state whose Hispanic population has become the majority.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas criminal appeals court removes Tomas Gallo from death row because of his intellectual disability
The court re-sentenced Gallo to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
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Texas psychologists’ board pushes back on costly new national licensing exam, considers crafting a cheaper state test
Faced with a nagging mental health provider shortage, the state psychologists’ licensing board is looking into whether the state should devise its own exam to get professionals licensed more quickly. Full Story
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![Chair John Bielamowicz speaks during a the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists meeting during the discussion with the Association of State & Provincial Psychology Boards regarding the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology on Thursday, April 11, 2024 in Austin.]()
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A new Texas law allows schools to hire chaplains as counselors. So far, only one school has opted into the program.
Many independent school districts, including the largest ones, do not allow chaplains to serve as counselors, which is now allowed under a new Texas law. Full Story
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![Nimitz Middle School students gather in the hallway outside of a classroom as they wait for a teacher between periods Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023 in Odessa.]()
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Taking a cue from the pews, Texas churches expanding mental health services
Many Texas faith groups have offered counseling services in the past. But more of them are expanding their programs, partnering with providers, to help meet the growing need here for mental health services. Full Story
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![AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 24: Praise and worship service at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Austin, Texas on March 24, 2024. Photo by Montinique Monroe Texas Tribune]()
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Texas libraries work to bridge state’s mental health services gap
Information-rich public libraries are using their websites and facilities to address the ever-increasing demand for counseling, housing and substance abuse services. Full Story
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![Librarian Judy Bergeron answers the phone in her office at the Smithville Public Library in Smithville, Texas on Mar. 11, 2024. Bergeron and her team participated in the It's Time Texas Community Challenge where her and her team worked for eight weeks on this challenge by logging hours of healthy activities and would push each other to do self care and community events such as getting together to exercise and eat healthy meals. Smithville won for the statewide extra small community a seventh year in a row.]()
Credit: Maria Crane for The Texas Tribune -
Grieving Houston-area students’ well-being at stake as federal COVID-19 funds fade
The federal stimulus money that helped fund many mental health positions in Texas schools will end in the fall of 2024. Full Story
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![Laura Ortega visits her husband Eliberto Ortega’s grave on Día de los Muertos along with their seven-year-old son to pay their respects, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, in Houston. Eliberto died of cardiac arrest while sick with the coronavirus in July 2021. (Marie D. De Jesús / Houston Landing)]()
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Texas’ vision for mental health care has fallen apart over the last 60 years
A lack of private providers, a swamped community mental health system, and low insurance reimbursement have cut off many in Texas from basic mental health services. Full Story
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![Elizabeth Ramirez at home in El Paso, Texas.]()
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As suicide rate increases, gun safety advocates call for more firearm regulations
A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed a new record for people using firearms in suicides. Texas gun safety and mental health advocates say the report highlights a need for gun laws the state does not have. Full Story
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Texas fire departments are fighting stigma and pushing to provide firefighters mental health help
Department leaders say they recognize that post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues are among the biggest dangers of the job. Full Story
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![Houston, Texas: Firefighters on November 22, 2023 at Fire Station 48 in Houston, Texas.]()
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In Texas’ Panhandle, a long-awaited oasis for mental health care is springing up
The region that includes Amarillo, a Panhandle city of more than 200,000 people, and surrounding towns has long been a mental health care desert. Officials hope a new $159 million hospital can help reduce a massive spike in suicide attempts. Full Story
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![Residential area near downtown Amarillo on May 29, 2020.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
She was told her twin sons wouldn’t survive. Texas law made her give birth anyway.
Miranda Michel, 26, couldn’t leave the state for an abortion. But she also couldn’t bear the idea of carrying a nonviable pregnancy to term. Full Story
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![Miranda Michel cradles her twin sons Helios and Perseus Langley in her arms a day after delivery at Medical City Dallas in Dallas, TX on August 10, 2023. Unable to legally terminate the pregnancy in Texas despite the twins having lethal fetal anomalies and a zero percent chance of viability, Michel carried her twins to term.]()
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As West Texas’ population grows, the need for more mental health care does too
Like many regions in Texas, the county jails and hospitals have been at capacity with people needing mental health help. Local leaders hope a new 200-bed facility will alleviate pressure. Full Story
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![A rendering of the proposed Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center.]()
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Convicted murderer Scott Panetti isn’t sane enough to be executed, federal judge rules
Panetti murdered his in-laws in 1992. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 set new court precedent with his case, raising the bar on the constitutional restriction against executing the insane. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
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Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo extends mental health leave
The county’s top elected official will be discharged from a mental health facility this weekend and plans to return to work on Oct. 2 after two weeks of outpatient therapy. Full Story
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![Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo greets attendees during a Get Out the Vote Rally hosted by the Asian American Democrats of Texas in Asiatown on Oct. 15, 2022.]()
Credit: Briana Vargas for The Texas Tribune
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