https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/terri-langford/The latest news by Terri Langford.enMon, 13 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/13/texas-schools-vaccines-measles-delinquencies/In school districts and charter networks with the most vaccine delinquencies, as many as 44% of kindergarteners were not complying with state requirements.By Terri Langford, Data reporting by Dan KeemahillMon, 13 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/13/texas-schools-vaccines-measles-delinquencies/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/10/texas-summer-camps-youth-meeting-cost/During a Friday state hearing, parents of July 4 flood victims said camps should prioritize the safety even if costs are high.By Stephen Simpson and Terri LangfordFri, 10 Oct 2025 14:23:04 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/10/texas-summer-camps-youth-meeting-cost/Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt on July 5, 2025, after deadly flood waters washed through the region.Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt on July 5, 2025.Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/06/texas-medical-association-attorney-general-doctors-covid-vaccine/Texas Medical Association has nudged physicians to consider COVID vaccine recommendations from other medical groups.By Terri LangfordMon, 06 Oct 2025 18:36:32 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/06/texas-medical-association-attorney-general-doctors-covid-vaccine/Johan Arzade, 12, looks at his COVID-19 vaccination record card after receiving a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School in Austin on July 28, 2021.Johan Arzade, 12, looks at his COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card after receiving a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School in Austin on July 28, 2021.Sophie Park/The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/texas-tech-university-system-transgender-identity-restrictions/Professors are afraid to publicly speak out, system leaders left key questions unanswered and advocates worry for LGBTQ+ students’ mental health.By Jessica Priest, Jayme Lozano Carver, Sneha Dey, Ayden Runnels, Lindsey Byman, Stephen Simpson and Terri LangfordFri, 26 Sep 2025 11:00:23 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/texas-tech-university-system-transgender-identity-restrictions/The Texas Tech University's administration building on July 8, 2020. The Texas Tech University System issued guidance Thursday instructing faculty to comply with recent executive orders and state laws recognizing only the male and female genders.View of the Administration building on the Texas Tech University campus on July 8, 2020.Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/04/texas-vaccine-exemption-form-download/Previously, parents had to wait for the state to mail them the exemption form. They still have to get the form notarized before submitting it to the school for enrollment purposes.By Terri LangfordThu, 04 Sep 2025 15:33:42 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/04/texas-vaccine-exemption-form-download/Mateo Cardona, 4, receives a vaccine at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on June 28, 2022.Mateo Cardona, 4, receives a vaccine in Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on June 28, 2022.Justin Rex for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/29/texas-legislature-flooding-youth-camps/Camp Waldemar, Vista Camps and Camp Stewart ask the lieutenant governor for an expert to determine where cabins are located, want financial aid if pending camp safety bills pass.By Terri Langford and Emily FoxhallFri, 29 Aug 2025 22:05:53 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/29/texas-legislature-flooding-youth-camps/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/27/texas-legislature-ivermectin-otc-prescription/Some people use the drug to treat COVID, even though it’s not approved by the FDA for such use.By Terri Langford and Stephen SimpsonWed, 27 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/27/texas-legislature-ivermectin-otc-prescription/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/25/texas-legislature-youth-summer-camp-committee/HB 256 would prevent camps from correcting violations on the spot to avoid state penalties and reduce the number of camps serving on a state panel to a maximum of two.By Terri LangfordMon, 25 Aug 2025 17:55:30 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/25/texas-legislature-youth-summer-camp-committee/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/22/texas-abortion-pill-restrictions-lawsuit-manufacturer/House Bill 7 allows people to sue manufacturers and distributors of the drug.By Jessica Shuran Yu, María Méndez, Colleen DeGuzman, Terri Langford and Alex NguyenFri, 22 Aug 2025 17:06:56 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/22/texas-abortion-pill-restrictions-lawsuit-manufacturer/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/20/texas-legislature-summer-camp-safety-mystic/Senate Bill 1, which would require more oversight of emergency plans and evacuation procedures at summer camps, was advanced after the emotional hearing Wednesday.By Terri LangfordWed, 20 Aug 2025 17:04:41 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/20/texas-legislature-summer-camp-safety-mystic/Cici Williams Steward, mother of Cile Steward, who died in the Camp Mystic flood, gets up after testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding on Aug. 20, 2025. Cile is the only child whose body has still not been recovered.Cici Williams Steward, mother of Cile Steward, who died in the Camp Mystic flood, gets up after testifying during a panel of Camp Mystic parents testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding on August 20, 2025. Cile is the only child whose body has still not been recovered.Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/18/texas-measles-west-outbreak-over-dshs/With no new cases reported in 42 days, the nation’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years, is declared over.By Terri LangfordMon, 18 Aug 2025 11:16:13 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/18/texas-measles-west-outbreak-over-dshs/Patient blood samples, pictured here on May 1, 2025, that are ready for testing at the Texas Department of State Health Services Laboratory.Patient blood samples seen on May 1, 2025 that are ready for testing at the Texas Department of State Health Services Laboratory.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/18/texas-school-vaccination-budget-cuts/Federal funding cuts to immunization efforts and a new law that allows exemption forms to be downloaded, instead of mailed, could drive up exemptions in the future.By Terri Langford, Data reporting by Dan KeemahillMon, 18 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/18/texas-school-vaccination-budget-cuts/A nurse administers a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School on July 28, 2021.A nurse administers a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School on July 28, 2021.Sophie Park/The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/06/texas-kerrville-floods-summer-camp-safety/Two youth camp owners told lawmakers more layered disaster plans would create critical backstops and improve communication with first responders.By Terri LangfordWed, 06 Aug 2025 16:33:16 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/06/texas-kerrville-floods-summer-camp-safety/State Rep. Will Metcalf R-Conroe, chair of the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee, speaks with Stephen Baskin, owner of Camp Champions and Meg Clark, owner of Camp Waldemar, during a hearing at the Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025.Committee Chair Will Metcalf R-Conroe speak with Stephen Baskin, onwer of Camp Champions and Meg Clark, owner of Camp Waldemar during a committee hearing Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025 in Austin, Texas.Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/01/texas-legislature-youth-summer-camp-safety/Competing legislative priorities and an industry that has pushed against certain regulations could challenge a suite of camp safety bills this special legislative session.By Terri LangfordFri, 01 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/01/texas-legislature-youth-summer-camp-safety/Texas game wardens search the the river banks across from Camp Mystic on July 5, 2025.Texas game wardens search the area across the river from Camp Mystic on July 5, 2025.Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/kerr-county-emergency-plan/The five-year-old plan, required by the state, detailed when additional monitoring was to take place and who was responsible for alerting the public to evacuate.By Terri LangfordThu, 31 Jul 2025 21:36:33 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/kerr-county-emergency-plan/A woman looks at a pile of debris in Hunt on July 8. The area was one of the hardest hit during the holiday floods that killed more than 100 people.A woman looks at a pile of debris in Hunt on July 8, 2025.Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/21/texas-measles-outbreak-lessons-learned/Faced with a skeptical religious community that became the center of the outbreak, public health officials say they may have pushed too hard on vaccine messaging.By Terri LangfordMon, 21 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/21/texas-measles-outbreak-lessons-learned/Signs inform people of measles prevention, vaccine and testing at the Gaines County Courthouse in Seminole on April 6, 2025.Signs inform people of measles prevention and testing at the Gaines County Court House in Seminole on Sunday on April 6, 2025.Justin Rex for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/10/texas-kerr-county-commissioners-flooding-warning/In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.By Terri Langford, Dan Keemahill and Hayden BettsThu, 10 Jul 2025 17:52:41 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/10/texas-kerr-county-commissioners-flooding-warning/Trees are bent around the pier of a bridge in Louise Hays Park in Kerrville on July 5, 2025, the day after cataclysmic floodwaters swept through Kerr County.Trees are bent around the pier of a bridge on Louise Hays Park in Kerrville on July 5, 2025.Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/08/texas-weather-service-warning-kerr-county/Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action.By Emily Foxhall, Terri Langford, Ayden Runnels, Jaden Edison, Alejandra Martinez and Carlos Nogueras RamosTue, 08 Jul 2025 18:01:56 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/08/texas-weather-service-warning-kerr-county/The National Weather Service's West Gulf River Forecast Center in Forth Worth helps other offices like the Austin/San Antonio office predict floods.Weather monitors at the National Weather Service West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/07/texas-hill-country-flooding-camp-mystic/Gov. Greg Abbott vowed Tuesday to continue rescue and recovery efforts in the flood-ravaged Hill Country “until every missing person is accounted for.”By Sneha Dey, Alejandro Serrano, Jayme Lozano Carver, Eleanor Klibanoff, Terri Langford and Colleen DeGuzmanMon, 07 Jul 2025 08:18:12 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/07/texas-hill-country-flooding-camp-mystic/Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt on July 5, 2025.Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt on July 5, 2025.Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/06/texas-disaster-warning-emergency-communication-bill-kerrville-floods/A GOP state lawmaker who represents Kerr County says he likely would vote differently now on House Bill 13, which would have established a grant program for counties to build new emergency communication infrastructure.By Terri Langford and Carlos Nogueras RamosSun, 06 Jul 2025 17:46:42 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/06/texas-disaster-warning-emergency-communication-bill-kerrville-floods/An aerial view of damage along the Guadalupe River near Kerrville on July 5, 2025.An aerial view of damage along the Guadalupe River near Kerrville on July 5, 2025. Heavy rains in the Hill Country on July for caused catastrophic flooding and loss of life.Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune