Texas South Plains

Severe weather has gripped Texas this year — from tornadoes tearing through the South Plains to wildfires in the Panhandle and, most recently, deadly floods in the Hill Country. In Lubbock, where the city's outdoor siren system was activated for the first time earlier this summer, emergency officials emphasize that layered alerts and personal preparedness remain essential to staying safe.

South Plains Community Action Association, Inc., or SPCAA, serves approximately 114 counties in Texas, with a focus on assisting in rural communities. It is one of many organizations whose programs are under threat in upcoming federal budget proposals.

Ninety- four people have been hospitalized with measles since it first broke out in Gaines County in January.

Health care professionals said the only way to prevent measles is to receive two doses of the MMR vaccine. Measles complications can include pneumonia, hearing loss, meningitis, and death.

The Texas outbreak is nearing 600 cases since January.

Fifty-eight patients have been hospitalized since the outbreak began in late January.

The measles outbreak in West Texas didn't happen just by chance. Health officials say the easily preventable disease has ripped through communities sprawling across more than 20 Texas counties in part because health departments were starved of the funding needed to run vaccine programs.

With cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas and other states will have to spend more on public health. The biggest expense of a measles outbreak is the public health response in shutting down the outbreak.

The Texas Department of State Health Services on Tuesday confirmed 24 more cases of measles since last Friday.

About 500 Texans, mostly young unvaccinated children, have contracted the disease. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the West Texas town that has been the epicenter of the outbreak.