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

The Department of Justice said kids in state custody at all five Texas Juvenile Justice Department facilities have been frequently subjected to excessive force, sexual abuse and other civil rights violations.

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.

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.

The City of Edinburg held a vigil on Monday to honor the two National Guard soldiers and Border Patrol agent who were killed in a helicopter crash along the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Texas jury has recommended that a south Texas man be sentenced to death for fatally shooting a state trooper in 2019.

Abbott visited the San Marcos area to go skydiving with Al Blaschke, a 106-year-old World War II veteran who has already broken records for his own aerial feats.

Seven people were shot on Sunday morning at a nightclub in the Rio Grande Valley, according to the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office.

Operation Lone Star originally targeted single men suspected of crossing the border illegally in mass trespassing arrests, but some claimed that not arresting women violated equal protection laws.

Six men have pleaded guilty after a search in Rio Grande Valley yielded 15 kilograms of cocaine and more than $325,000 in cash.

Abbott’s team rejected the assertion, saying that O’Rourke agreed to the audience-free debate months ago.

In a news conference ahead of the only gubernatorial debate, 35 family members of Uvalde school shooting victims said they would support O’Rourke because of Gov. Greg Abbott’s inaction on gun control measures.

The one-hour debate took place in Edinburg. It was the only scheduled debate between the two candidates before the November election.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke are set to debate Friday in Edinburg. Voters are hoping both gubernatorial candidates address the complexities of abortion to give voters a clear sense of where they stand before election day.

Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Richard Molina of participating in “an organized illegal voting scheme,” when he announced the arrest in 2019.

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.

Update: The Silver Alert issued in the disappearance of Juan Tellez-Rodriguez, 77, has been discontinued.

A search is underway for an 86-year-old man who was last seen in Edinburg, according to the Edinburg Police Department.

The Edinburg Police Department is looking for a missing 76-year-old man who they say poses a credible threat to his own health and safety.

The COVID-19 unit at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Health System in Edinburg in June. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneThe Texas Department of State Health Services reported Monday a pandemic high 11,351 hospitalizations from COVID-19. This hospital data does not account for people who are hospitalized but have not gotten a positive test, and DSHS says some hospitals may be missing from the daily counts. As of Monday, the state is also reporting 49 deaths from COVID-19, a lagging indicator of the extent of transmission rates, and more than 12,800 new confirmed COVID-19 cases. Across the state, COVID-19 patients occupy 17.8% of the state's hospital beds, and only 745 staffed ICU beds are still available.

EDINBURG, Texas – A little known chapter of Civil War history makes for a dramatic story told in “Just a Ferry Ride to Freedom,” a documentary produced by the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. The film is based on the choice made by runaway slaves prior to the Civil War, to head south instead of north, to Mexico using another Underground Railroad. The route to freedom would be longer over treacherous terrain between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Instead, she relied on oral histories with the descendants of those who helped or decided to stay in South Texas, many of whom are now buried in the Rio Grande Valley. They helped other people.”Both he and Bacha-Garza said the people of the Rio Grande Valley should be proud of its history.

Syringes for the COVID-19 vaccine at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg on Dec. 19, 2020. Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas TribuneNeed to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Texans who are 65 years old and older, and those who are at least 16 with certain chronic medical conditions will be next in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced on Monday. There are nearly 1.9 million Texans in that group, so it will likely take a few weeks before the state transitions to the next phase, state health officials said. More than 42,000 doses of the vaccine had been administered in Texas as of Monday, state data shows. Qualifying conditions for the next phase of the vaccine include, but are not limited to:

EDINBURG, Texas – A South Texas high school football player charged onto the field and bowled over a referee Thursday night, angered after being ejected from the game. Senior defensive lineman Emmanuel Duron of Edinburg High School came running from the sideline area after the referee announced the ejection, slamming into the official during the first half of the zone play-in game against Pharr-San Juan-Alamo. The Monitor of McAllen reported the referee was evaluated for a concussion by medical personnel at the stadium. The game resumed after a delay, with Edinburg winning 35-21 to advance to the playoffs. The District 31-6A Defensive Player of the Year last season, Duron also is the Bobcats’ kicker and punter and a star wrestler.

EDINBURG, Texas – Hidalgo County health officials reported four new West Nile Virus cases and three new cases of Dengue Fever on Monday. In September, 18 Texas counties reported having a case of West Nile virus, including Bexar County, according to state data. According to Olivarez, the West Nile cases were found in the Mercedes, Weslaco and Edinburg areas. County officials said that additionally, three other cases were reported to Hidalgo County a week ago. To protect yourself against either West Nile or Dengue, you must protect yourselves against mosquitoes.

After months of undercounting coronavirus deaths, Texas formal tally of COVID-19 fatalities grew by more than 600 on Monday after state health officials changed their method of reporting. The revised count indicates that more than 12% of the states death tally was previously unreported by state health officials before Monday. The Texas Department of State Health Services is now counting deaths marked on death certificates as caused by COVID-19. State health officials said Monday that the policy change would improve the accuracy and timeliness of their data. As of July 26, state officials said about 5,030 people who tested positive for the virus had died.

The U.S. Navy has deployed teams to help deal with coronavirus surges in the Rio Grande Valley and other Texas hot spots. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneMedical professionals from the U.S. Navy were deployed Sunday to aid hospitals in four cities across southern Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, according to Gov. Early on in the pandemic, hot spots were mainly tied to outbreaks in enclosed spaces, like meatpacking plants and nursing homes. Five U.S. Navy teams were sent to four locations across Texass southern region: Harlingen, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Rio Grande City. Ambulance operators in the Rio Grande Valley area described wait times of up to 10 hours to deliver patients to packed emergency rooms.

The virus is showing no signs of slowing in the worst-affected countries: the United States, Brazil and India. The U.S. reported nearly 59,000 new daily cases, just short of the record 60,000 cases set a day earlier, as President Donald Trump insisted that schools reopen in the fall. Brazil reported nearly 45,000 new cases. The virus has also been spreading rapidly in South Africa, which reported nearly 9,000 new cases in its latest daily update. He complained that his own public health officials safety guidelines are impractical and too expensive.

Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneNeed to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? With cases of the new coronavirus and related hospitalizations rising at alarming rates, Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday expanded his ban on elective medical procedures to cover more than 100 counties across much of the state. "We are freeing up more resources to address upticks in COVID-19 related cases, Abbott said in a statement. Hospital capacity is currently most taxed around the states biggest cities, as well as most of South Texas.

On Tuesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported more than 10,000 new cases representing nearly 20% of the nations new cases for the day. There has never been a higher risk of getting COVID-19 in Texas, the states public health agency wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. #COVID19TX update: https://t.co/ofycOLqWQZCurrent #COVID19 hospitalizations continue to increase. There has never been a higher risk of getting COVID-19 in #Texas. We are going to be in a situation where we have to seriously consider sheltering in place again, said Dennis Perrotta, a former Texas state epidemiologist.

Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneHospitals in the Rio Grande Valley sounded the alarm Saturday as their beds filled to capacity with COVID-19 patients and some began transferring patients elsewhere. The local and Valley hospitals are at full capacity and have no more beds available, Starr County Judge Eloy Vera said in a statement. Hospitals in Starr County were also transferring patients, with at least two severely ill patients flown to Dallas and San Antonio, Vera added. As COVID-19 cases have exploded across Texas, health officials in other areas are also expressing concern about hospital capacity. Greg Abbott, who began allowing Texas businesses to reopen on May 1, expanded his June 25 ban on elective surgeries to counties in South Texas on Tuesday to preserve hospital capacity.

SAN ANTONIO – A family business in the Rio Grande Valley has become a popular place for tamales for almost 30 years. Delia’s Tamales has locations in McAllen, Mission, Edinburg, Pharr, San Juan and now very soon in San Antonio. It’s official: Delia’s to open San Antonio locationWhile an exact opening date has not been released, the company posted on their Facebook page that they are close to opening their new location and are looking to hire. The San Antonio location will be located at 13527 Hausman Pass. Papa’s Burgers set to open new location in spide of COVID-19 pandemicIf interested in applying you can fill out an application online at deliastamales.com/jobs.

EDINBURG, Texas – Rio Grande City station agents said more than $700,000 worth of marijuana was seized in two separate incidents over the last two days. Officials received a report of multiple drug smugglers running north of the Rio Grande near Garceno on Wednesday night. After conducting a search of the vehicle, authorities said they found nearly 350 pounds of marijuana, valued at more than $275,000. On Thursday morning, RGC agents in La Rosita reported several smugglers loading “bundles of marijuana” into a Chevrolet Suburban. After searching the vehicle, authorities said they found more than 580 pounds of marijuana, valued at $465,000.