Texas

All the recent rain in Texas is great for insects — including the terrifying tarantula hawk. It's a big, nasty wasp that doesn't just sting tarantulas ... it turns them into food for its offspring.

Texas now explicitly allows the placenta to be taken home after giving birth in a hospital. It came about at the urging of people who feel consuming dried and encapsulated placenta helps new mothers.

How does a promising young cop go from town hero to drug trafficker? A former rogue officer details what led him to the dark side in a region known for corruption.

It's a time-honored tradition in South Texas: Local candidates who need votes go to campaign workers known as politiqueras. But some of those workers are now charged with manipulating mail-in ballots.

The FBI is cracking down on rampant corruption in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. With voter fraud, drug smuggling and bribery a big part of border culture, it's proving to be a difficult task.

Abortion providers and foes react to the Supreme Court's action that will allow 10 abortion clinics in Texas to remain open until a state law that would close them can be fully reviewed by the court.

A controversial 2013 law, which will likely leave just nine clinics open in the state, is set to go into effect July 1. Abortion-rights supporters have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Justices on Thursday upheld the right of Texas to ban the Confederate battle flag from official license plates, but struck down the regulations an Arizona town imposed on churches' road signs.