Health plans that offer an important Medicaid program for qualifying residents in San Antonio and surrounding areas are about to change.

The USDA estimates the families of 3.8 million children could have received $120 per child to cover summer lunches if the state participated in the new $2.5 billion program launching this summer. Texas is one of 15 states opting out.

A San Antonio nonprofit mired in controversy after a Defenders investigation revealed its widespread misuse of state funding has sold off a plot of land registered to produce industrial hemp.

The University of Texas Child Development day care center in Austin on April 6, 2020. Eddie Gaspar/The Texas TribuneAlthough COVID-19 transmission rates nationwide among children have appeared to remain relatively low, more than 300 children at Texas child care centers have tested positive and the numbers are rising quickly. As of June 30, there were 950 reported positive cases of COVID-19 307 children and 643 staff members at 668 child care locations. About 1.1 million Texas children were in state-licensed and registered home day care centers before COVID-19 struck. Several child care centers have closed during the pandemic, with others reporting a drop in the number of children attending.