Texas state budget

Rising costs, slowing tax revenue and a sluggish economy have saddled some of Texas' biggest cities with multimillion-dollar deficits.

Inflation and federal funding cuts have squeezed Texas’ child care subsidy, causing the Texas Workforce Commission to scale back the program.

A $100,000 donation from Las Vegas Sands will help a nonprofit address treatment needs in Texas, where a state law set up a "compulsive gambling program" that is no longer funded.

Years of budget reductions have left the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality struggling to investigate complaints, with over 1,000 cases stuck in backlog.

The dementia fund's approval comes at a critical moment for Texas, which ranks second in the nation in Alzheimer's deaths and third in the disease's prevalence. The need for intervention is especially high in the Rio Grande Valley — a four-county region along the Texas-Mexico border that's become the epicenter of a nationwide Alzheimer's spike.

Building out the growing financial hub in Dallas – dubbed Y'all Street – is something state lawmakers are heavily invested in, which is why Texans will be voting Nov. 4 on a handful of constitutional amendments that could help boost the finance industry in the state.

On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott released his official proclamation announcing a special legislative session. Texas lawmakers will be back in Austin starting on July 21. The session, which originally looked like it would focus on regulating THC, now includes several emergency preparedness topics.

Residents say Kerr County's use of CodeRED alerts was sporadic and inconsistent. Local officials have not answered questions about when and how they utilized the system, which has been in place since 2009.

The very qualities that draw people to the beautiful Texas Hill Country — rolling terrain, limestone formations and lazy rivers — also make the area deadly during heavy rainstorms.

The GOP tax and spending bill raises the child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200, adjusts it annually for inflation, and enshrines it permanently into U.S. tax code. However, another provision requires that the child and both parents all have Social Security numbers.