Leaders hope to treat groundwater and capture more rain as the water from one of the nation’s most iconic rivers becomes less reliable.

In 2024, President Donald Trump won all four counties in the Rio Grande Valley, once considered a reliable Democratic stronghold.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is ending a half-century of partnerships with the federal government to serve refugees and children.

A letter sent this week claims the grant recipients, including many Texas cities and counties, may have illegally “induced” undocumented immigrants to enter the country.

The Trump administration has launched a review of organizations that provide temporary housing and other aid to migrants, suggesting they may have violated a law used to prosecute smugglers.

The Trump administration has resumed family detention of immigrants in a South Texas facility after a Biden-era pause.

The Trump administration says it is dropping a civil lawsuit against the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied migrant children over alleged sexual abuse of minors at its facilities.

Farmers and elected officials told a Senate committee Monday that the lack of water is becoming dire, with little relief in sight.

The governor also called on lawmakers to prohibit the practice at all schools.

South Texas College in McAllen launched one of the first registered nursing apprenticeships in the country as area hospitals expect the need for nurses to increase.

Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley have seen a sharp drop in apprehensions along the southern border since the new administration started.

The shelters began seeing fewer people dropped off by customs and border agents following former President Joe Biden’s executive order limiting some asylum claims.

South Texas residents living near billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX launch site will soon decide whether they'll be officially recognized as Starbase, Texas.

Two Venezuelan planes have returned home with about 190 Venezuelans deported from the United States.

A federal judge filed a last-minute order extending a court agreement ensuring protections for children in federal custody the day after it ended.

Republicans are stepping up their scrutiny of dozens of shelters run by aid groups on the U.S. border with Mexico.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade.

SpaceX is launching a new mission: making its Starbasesite a new Texas city.

The longtime leader of the Texas Democratic Party is stepping down.

Both major parties poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into winning the seat, a rematch between Mayra Flores and Vicente Gonzalez.

Tell us about any trouble you have trying to vote, so we can continue to report on potential challenges Texans may face at the ballot box.

Farmers say they want the water, but not if it goes against the allotment they need for the spring planting season.

Denton has renamed itself Halloween, Texas, and has planned 31 days of events to drive up tourism and family entertainment.

The South Texas city has hired a consulting firm for $200,000 to provide an interim director for the utility amid a restructuring of the department.

During a tense debate with U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, Flores attacked Gonzalez for being soft on border security, then suggested requiring residents to prove citizenship in some instances was appropriate.

In their only debate before Election Day, Gonzalez and Flores traded jabs over the economy, immigration and abortion, and regularly spoke over each other.

One group estimated more than 568,000 cats and dogs entered shelters in 2023. About 82,000 cats and dogs were euthanized.

The Texas Tribune and The Associated Press visited five locations along the 1,254-mile span to separate the facts from the political narrative during a heated election year.

The small business owner featured in the ad previously shared memes calling 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic inside jobs and mocking U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw.

This week’s ruling was the latest twist since cities and groups in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley sued to block the projects.

Local leaders began debating a household limit on the number of pets after two residents were arrested for having 93 dogs and a cat in their home.

Many of the solutions are costly, putting them out of reach for small towns. But the region's most populous cities are getting innovative.

After years of competing with each other for new businesses, Valley cities want to present a united front to highlight the region’s assets.

The region's two major reservoirs are at record-low levels and agriculture leaders are worried the citrus industry could be devastated this summer.

Texas is losing an estimated 1,000 acres of farm land a day, mostly to other industries. The Rio Grande Valley is losing land at a faster clip.

Ground Game Texas, a group that has pushed for progressive policies in cities across the state, is working to make it easier for McAllen residents to change local laws.

A deflating raft on the Rio Grande River left eight children in trouble. Luckily, the U.S. Coast Guard was able to save the day.

Texas has spent billions of dollars to drive down property taxes. Many homeowners saw a significant tax cut last year, per a Texas Tribune analysis.

National Republicans are investing heavily in Flores’ bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in South Texas.

With the hottest days still ahead, local leaders have declared emergencies. And farmers are lobbying for the U.S. government to pressure Mexico to release water.

A humanitarian organization in northeastern Mexico is saying it did not create flyers urging border-bound migrants to vote for President Joe Biden.

The South Texas Democrat said Latinos who support former President Donald Trump are voting against their self interest, but Republicans recoiled at the comparison.

An influx of hundreds of firefighters and more favorable weather conditions are helping authorities in the Texas Panhandle keep the largest wildfire in state history from threatening more homes and communities.

Planes have dropped fire retardant over the northern Texas Panhandle as firefighters are continuing efforts to stamp out the largest wildfire in state history.

No members who voted against Abbott’s top legislative priority received the governor’s backing.

The U.S. infant mortality rate rose 3% last year, which is the largest increase in two decades.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he has directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to deploy additional buses to Eagle Pass and El Paso to assist in what he called a “border crisis.”

Texas officials say state police officers separated migrant families along the border with Mexico by detaining fathers on trespassing charges and turning over mothers and children to federal agencies.

June was only the 16th-warmest on record in Texas, but a mid-month heatwave brought an unusually high number of 100-degree days.

Flores won a special election in 2022 but lost to U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat, five months later in the general election. Redistricting may complicate her comeback.

Abbott says if a school voucher bill isn’t expanded to include more students, a special legislative session will be the result.

Dutton and Wrenlee are on the rise but they’re no match for champs Liam and Olivia as the top baby names in the U.S. last year.

Tensions are rising among the growing numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of upcoming changes to U.S. asylum policies.

Professional Santa, Gary Dellacroce, from McAllen, Texas arrived at Memorial Hermann in early 2022 for a second opinion on congestive heart failure.

After finally flipping the Democratic district, Monica De La Cruz vowed to “represent all of South Texas” and likely will be influential on border issues.

De La Cruz defeated Democrat Michelle Vallejo, a political newcomer who ran on a platform of progressive social policy and close family ties to the region.

Whole Woman’s Health, which owned the building for nearly two decades, said they were “duped” after the doctors who bought the building sold it to the McAllen Pregnancy Center.

The two-time Democratic presidential candidate visited Central Texas and South Texas amid concerns that young and working-class voters are not mobilized enough for the midterm election.

A 5-year-old died in a vehicle outside his Texas elementary school Thursday as triple-digit heat was recorded in the region, officials said.

Texans on both sides of the abortion debate marched, rallied and chanted after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Olivia and Liam are once again America’s most common baby names.

Cheap regulated and unregulated medication is available over the counter at Mexican pharmacies, including abortion-inducing drugs that are strictly regulated in the U.S.

Texas has led the legal fight against the Biden administration’s immigration policies, filing numerous lawsuits that have led to judges overturning or altering those policies.

The delays caused by the state’s inspections are the latest blow to farmers and produce businesses in the Rio Grande Valley recovering from the pandemic and losses from last year’s winter storm.

Commercial traffic at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge stopped Monday and a similar protest affected traffic into and out of El Paso. The blockades could impact the flow of produce to restaurants and grocery stores.

The governor is pushing for more border security measures, some of which he acknowledges will slow traffic across the Texas-Mexico border.

Two Houston-area residents have pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 777 kilograms of meth, announced U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery on Tuesday.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, $8.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds has been awarded to support the health care workforce in Texas.

The Republican governor officially announced his reelection campaign Saturday in McAllen, while likely Democratic opponent Beto O'Rourke campaigned in El Paso.

O’Rourke has ground to make up after his own underwhelming performance with voters there in 2018 when he ran for U.S. Senate — and turning out more Latino voters has long been key to Democratic hopes statewide.

A 27-year-old McAllen man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after admitting he intended to engage in sexual activity with a minor female, Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery announced Thursday.

The U.S. Justice Department is in talks to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to each child and parent who was separated under a Trump-era practice of splitting families at the border.

Texas lawmakers made Gonzalez’s current 15th Congressional District more competitive for Republicans. The representative now plans to run in the 34th District, which is safer for Democrats.

Designed more than a century ago, the Rio Grande Valley’s canal system in South Texas was built to irrigate the booming agricultural industry that once dominated the local economy.

Amid the heated rhetoric around an increase in migrants, people on opposite ends of the Texas-Mexico border see the problems — and solutions — differently.

Democratic Congressman from Laredo, Henry Cuellar helped lead a meeting between several south Texas community leaders and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

A lot of the news from the last few days — about the Legislature, about COVID-19 and about immigration — has a real déjà vu quality to it. And there’s a good reason for that.

Affirming what we’ve all guessed at by now, a new report ranked the hottest urban heat islands across the U.S., and unsurprisingly, Houston ranked high -- like the setting most of us crank our A.C.’s at all summer long. This confirmation comes courtesy of Climate Central, a nonprofit news organization that analyzes and reports on climate science.

A 53-year-old U.S. citizen living in Tamaulipas, Mexico, was ordered to federal prison for importing meth into the United States, Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery announced Friday in a release.

While asylum-seeking families and children dominate public attention, single adults represent a growing number of encounters with U.S. border agents.

Data just released by Customs and Border shows the number of encounters along our southern border continues to rise and reached a level not seen since the year 2000.

The number of immigrants apprehended along the southern border rose to levels not seen in nearly 20 years. The sharpest increase in apprehensions came from February to March, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

MCALLEN, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that he’s hoping to increase the number of Texans getting COVID-19 vaccines after seeing a drop in people showing up for the shot. “We’re beginning to see a decrease in demand for vaccinations,” Abbott said at a news conference Thursday in border city of McAllen. “Seniors who contract COVID are the people who are most likely to either be hospitalized or lose their life because of COVID,” Abbott said. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3.3 million Texans have completed their vaccinations.

The Regionals finals are upon us and whoever wins these matchups is going to the state tournament. Region IV - 6AIn Region IV - 6A, the Westlake Chaps will match up against San Antonio Clark. This is no surprise that the Greyhounds are in the regional finals and look to join the girl's team at the state tournament. On the other side is Somerset who beat last year's Region IV champion Stafford 57-50. This Somerset team hasn't lost a game in two months and hopes to avenge that early-season defeat.

Kamala Harris’ trip to Texas on Friday will include three stops across the state, including in the Rio Grande Valley, according to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign. Fort Worth’s Tarrant County was the state’s most populous county that Republican President Donald Trump won in 2016. Harris will be the highest-profile Biden surrogate to come to Texas in the general election yet, following visits in recent weeks by Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff. Harris’ visit is not the only notable activity by the Biden campaign this week in Texas. Sign up for The Brief, the Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

A COVID-19 testing site at the Nomad Shrine Club in McAllen. July 2, 2020. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune(Audio unavailable. Click here to listen on texastribune.org.) In this week's TribCast, Matthew speaks with Ross, Emma and Shannon about another change in how Texas reports its coronavirus data and the legal fights related to voting that have reached the state Supreme Court.

According to state data released Sunday, 5,038 people in Texas have died from the virus. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneTexas reached another grim milestone Sunday when it surpassed 5,000 deaths from the new coronavirus. In doing so, the state reported 1,000 deaths in six days, four days faster than it took to hit that total the previous time. According to state health data released Sunday, 5,038 people in Texas had died from the virus. In the past week alone, state data appears to show new daily infections leveling off, albeit at nearly record highs.

McAllen sits in Hidalgo County, whose top official issued an emergency order Monday in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneAs the Rio Grande Valley grapples with an onslaught of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez is pushing hard for residents to stay at home. In the new Hidalgo County order, only a second violation to the statewide mask order can be punished by a $250, in accordance with the existing state rules. In Hidalgo County on Monday, 524 people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of infections there to 12,787, according to data released by the county. U.S. Navy teams were deployed Sunday to the Rio Grande Valley, a region that includes Hidalgo County.

(AP) Two police officers were shot and killed Saturday in a South Texas border town after reportedly responding to a disturbance call, authorities said. The McAllen police officers were shot on the south side of the city and transported to an area hospital, said Lt. Christopher Olivarez, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. A suspect in the shooting was also shot, though that persons condition was not immediately available. We have lost two brave public servants who sought only to keep peace in our City," McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez told The (McAllen) Monitor. Olivarez said DPS sent troopers to secure the scene after the McAllen Police Department requested their assistance.

HOUSTON This is something you would only see in Texas. A horse was spotted walking along State Highway 288 at McAllen Friday morning. Video from Instagram shows the horse meandering alongside cars just after 11 a.m. Friday. Houston police were dispatched to the scene but it was rectified. It is unknown how long it took to get the horse back to safety or how it got loose in the first place.

Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneNurses prepare to enter the COVID-19 unit at the DHS Health Center in McAllen. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneHealth care workers at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance prepare to enter the COVID-19 unit by donning personal protection equipment. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneWe're getting more and more and more, and that's the problem, said nurse Apryle Pelshaw. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneLocal officials eye the filling hospitals with trepidation. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneA nurse expressed fear of burning out from the long hours of treating COVID-19 patients.

And in the Rio Grande Valley, the lack of jobs is even more pronounced. In February, before the pandemic gripped Texas, the Rio Grande Valley's unemployment rate was 6.5%. Salvador Contreras, a professor of border economics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, said that in Texas, Black and Hispanic workers saw larger declines in employment than white employees. So this clearly had an impact on the number of Mexican visitors into the Rio Grande Valley, Contreras said. So we know that the retail sector is very important to the economy of the Rio Grande Valley.

McALLEN, Texas A man who was seen in a viral twitter video brandishing a chainsaw and yelling racial slurs at protesters is now in custody by police, NBC News and the McAllen Monitor reported. The video of a man with a long-sleeved shirt and jeans carrying a large chainsaw quickly gained over a million views on Twitter. He wielded the chainsaw and yelled racial slurs and profanity at protesters outside a store, McAllen Monitor reported. The tirade continued as he walked towards protesters with the chainsaw as they fled, NBC News reported. McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez told McAllen Monitor that they were able to confirm the identity of the man in the Twitter video.