Texas

State lawmakers cut $350 million in Medicaid funding to early childhood intervention therapists last year to help pay for tax cuts. Now rural toddlers are finding it hard to get vital treatment.

Texas school officials have until early November to explain why they placed a limit on the percentage of children enrolled in special education, as a Houston Chronicle investigation revealed.

The "come and take it" flag, born of revolution, is a hallmark of Texas pride. But locals are angry that the motto has been co-opted by Second Amendment rights groups and T-shirt sellers.

A group of inmates in Texas says poorly ventilated, steel and concrete cellblocks bake like ovens. The inmates are suing the state prison system, arguing the heat is killing older and infirm convicts.

The middle class has shrunk faster in Midland, Texas, than nearly anywhere else in the U.S. Overall, more people are getting rich than falling behind. But extreme booms and busts make life precarious.