Texas Tribune Brief

Gohmert, 66, said in a televised interview that he wonders if he may have caught the virus from wearing his mask. Medical experts, however, overwhelmingly recommend masks as a means of preventing the virus.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that Texas students must take the state standardized test next spring, but fifth and eighth graders can graduate without passing it.

A new study from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University warns that droughts in the latter part of this century could be the worst on record.

A section of the Texas coast already reeling from thousands of coronavirus cases will continue to feel the effects of the storm, which was the first hurricane of the season.

Elisa Soliz says she’ll retire before subjecting herself again to driving a busload of kids, many of whom lack access to health care. Listen in the weekend edition of The Brief podcast.

www.texastribune.org

With the safe reopening of schools this fall in doubt, parents with the resources are setting up "learning pods" or seeking other options. But the do-it-yourself approach to education threatens to leave behind students of color and poorer families.

Without money to pay rent, facing pressures from landlords and afraid of courts, people without legal immigration status have limited options.

City leaders are asking for more spending flexibility to address the financial shortfalls caused by the pandemic.

Early pandemic hot spots have been eclipsed by new regions in crisis. Now that so much of Texas is battling major coronavirus outbreaks, some severely ill patients have to travel long distances to receive the care they need.

Doctors and nurses at local hospitals across South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley have been working a number of extra shifts as their hospitals near capacity.