Officials took the extraordinary step of taking on new debt to replace the old courthouse, which has been plagued by rats and other pests, elevator breakdowns and flooding.

The proposal comes after the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency said it needs more money to plug wells that are in some instances erupting.

Odessa City Council critics have worried Joven and his allies have focused too much on social issues and not enough on infrastructure.

Texas desperately needs more and denser housing to keep up with the demand. But zoning restrictions get in the way, a Texas Tribune analysis found.

LGBTQ+ advocates called the ban one of the most extreme measures enacted by a local government.

While residents smelled rotten eggs, the state’s environmental agency said it has not detected any air pollution.

The South Texas city is the latest to grapple with aging water infrastructure, which officials suggested could have been the cause for the E. coli outbreak.

Residents were worried about the impact on their drinking water while business leaders were excited for the new jobs.

The Department of Public Safety said one of its troopers injured while investigating another traffic crash died on Saturday.

Led by co-pastors Joe and Dawn Weaks, Connection Christian Church, a 118-year-old congregation in Odessa, has transformed while keeping true to its legacy of helping the community.

Under Javier Joven’s leadership, his critics say, the Odessa City Council has lost focus on municipal issues like roads and water infrastructure.

“It’s like time passes, but it also freezes,” said Rosie Granados, whose twin sister was killed during the shooting.

Residents at the sprawling Terlingua Ranch near Big Bend National Park will limit residents to 1,000 gallons of nondrinking water per month.

Texas is producing so much natural gas right now companies are losing money.

The Ector County school district boosted student learning but now faces financial uncertainty. It closed schools and cut costs to stay afloat, but it won’t slash teacher jobs.

About $45 million will go to Texas towns with fewer than 1,000 residents — a boon for municipalities without a viable tax base.

The Odessa City Council approved the budget to replace nearly 200 water valves and 17,000 feet of pipe.

Tens of thousands of Odessa residents were once again without water on Saturday afternoon as crews worked to fix a leak in the waterline — an ongoing problem in the city’s aging infrastructure.

A local volunteer died by suicide ahead of the center’s grand opening, reminding the West Texas community why such spaces are important.

It’s the second time in two years Odessa has lost water. Officials expect restoration within hours but boil-water notice to remain in effect until Monday.

Many independent school districts, including the largest ones, do not allow chaplains to serve as counselors, which is now allowed under a new Texas law.

A San Antonio-area resident has claimed a $17.5 million Lotto Texas jackpot prize.

Like local leaders in many other towns in West Texas, the Kermit City Council spent years saving its tax revenue fearing the energy economy would crash. Now it is struggling to keep up with essential services like trash and road repair.

In unincorporated West Odessa, residents relish their freedom. And they also go without basic services. Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett, a young Republican with Ronald Reagan good looks and politics, wants to change that.

The expansion, which will start with a smaller pilot in four high schools between Texas and New Mexico, is being paid for by the Permian Strategic Partnership, a group funded by major energy producers.

The voter approval rate for school maintenance and construction costs dipped in 2021 after lawmakers required school boards to call them “tax increases.”

The 5.2 magnitude earthquake is tied for the fourth strongest in Texas history. It occurred in an area where oilfield companies have long been injecting wastewater from fracking underground.

Fabian Maldonado has supported his Odessa family for years on his welding salary. Wanting more, he’s gambling that a mobile coffee trailer can withstand the booms and busts of the industry.

The West Texas ethos of low taxes and small government has been hard for school leaders to overcome. Voters have rejected bond issues in Midland and Odessa during the last decade.

Like many regions in Texas, the county jails and hospitals have been at capacity with people needing mental health help. Local leaders hope a new 200-bed facility will alleviate pressure.

An industry leader in the Permian Basin said the new report proves safety regulations are helping. Other observers say more data is needed to understand risks of extraction.

As dry soils contract, underground pipes rupture and cities must fix thousands of water leaks, frustrating conservation efforts and highlighting the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to a warming climate.

With little in local tax revenue to help pay staff, rural Texas sheriffs are often forced to do more with less. Lawmakers hope a new grant program will help rebuild the ranks of rural law enforcement.

West Texas residents are organizing over their love — or concern — for books. Meanwhile, from Lubbock to Midland and Odessa, librarians are trying to reaffirm libraries’ role as community hubs.

This is the third year businesses in the Permian Basin — known for high school football and oil fields — have participated in the University of Texas at Austin program. Students this year say they are seeing their hometowns in a new way.

The EPA last year announced aerial surveillance of “super-emitters.” At least one other company in New Mexico faced a similar fine.

Local leaders told members of the Federal Reserve last week that families are facing financial stresses that make working hard. Educators say they need families more involved at school.

The Texas Department of Public Safety was investigating a fatal crash in Odessa on Wednesday morning when a speeding train collided with the truck after a fatal accident near West Murphy and Business 20.

Known as the San Antonio Four at the time, the Latina lesbians whose 1998 sexual assault convictions were thrown out in 2016 and their records expunged, are trying to help do the same for a gay Apache convicted in the 1981 murder of a Catholic priest in Odessa.

The United Nations’ cultural agency has decided to add the historic center of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to the list of World Heritage sites in danger.

Officials said the water levels at the local reservoir were too low to meet safety standards.

A local attorney is threatening more lawsuits as a new City Council, backed by the local Republican Party, gets to business.

City councils are typically nonpartisan. Odessa residents are wondering if that’s still the case after the local Republican Party helped elect new council members.

A women’s soccer coach at the University of Texas Permian Basin has been suspended following allegations of inappropriate behavior.

Oil and gas companies produce 3.8 billion barrels of wastewater per year in the arid Permian Basin. A state consortium is trying to figure out whether it can be reused.

Gary Gaines, coach of the Texas high school football team made famous in the book and movie “Friday Night Lights,” has died.

The federal environment agency says it will continue flyovers of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico until Aug. 15 using infrared cameras to survey oil and gas operations.

Texas had 3,866 water boil notices in 2021, the most in the last decade. Aging water systems threaten water supply and quality — and for many small towns across the state, they won’t be cheap to repair.

Officials in the West Texas city of Odessa say residents may again safely drink tap water without having to boil it first.

Residents of the West Texas city of Odessa have been improvising emergency water supplies after a water system outage left them high and dry for days amid scorching heat, even as utility crews scrambled to restore normal service.

For families divided along red house-blue house lines, summer's slate of reunions, group trips and weddings poses another exhausting round of navigating divides.

The outage left about 165,000 people without water in Odessa and some surrounding areas. It has been attributed to a main line break in the city’s aging water system and comes amid a dayslong heat wave.

Officials haven’t specified what caused the break, but say the broken line is about 60 years old.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders signaled an openness to some gun restrictions after recent mass shootings. But in the last several years, lawmakers have eased gun laws, most notably by passing a permitless carry bill last year.

A Texas inmate who was scheduled to be the first to be executed by the state this year received a reprieve from an appeals court.

An organization that handles claims on behalf of Jews who suffered under the Nazis says Germany has agreed to extend another $720 million (647 million euros) to provide supportive services for vulnerable Holocaust survivors.

Police in Odessa say an officer fatally shot a man who had opened fire and shot at the officer at a local business.

Flags celebrated survival, endurance and above all, defiance on a day Ukraine's president had called for displays of unity.

Do you have an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend with outstanding warrants? Well, Odessa Crime Stoppers is offering a Valentine’s Day special that’s perfect for the occasion.

The proposal’s low bill number signaled it was a priority of new House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican who referred to the legislation as “the House’s blueprint for pandemic response.”

Greg Abbott on Thursday held a roundtable discussion in Odessa with energy workers, leaders, and advocates on how Texas can continue to support the energy industry and its workers and ensure a more prosperous future for the state of Texas. Following the roundtable, the Governor held a press conference where he issued an executive order to protect Texas’ energy industry from federal overreach. During the roundtable, Abbott and the participants also discussed enhancing workforce development in Texas, cutting costly red tape, and expanding broadband access in rural communities. Greg Abbott pushes deregulation San Antonio during ‘listening session’ on Texas economyTexas Gov. Greg Abbott pledges to make it ‘fiscally impossible’ to defund police

People enjoy the beach in the Black Sea in Odessa, Ukraine, Saturday, July 4, 2020. Tens of thousands of vacation-goers in Russia and Ukraine have descended on Black Sea beaches, paying little attention to safety measures despite levels of contagion still remaining high in both countries. (AP Photo/Sergei Poliakov)SOCHI Tens of thousands of vacation-goers in Russia and Ukraine have descended on Black Sea beaches, paying little heed to public health measures despite the numbers of reported coronavirus cases remaining high in both countries. While popular vacation destinations in Europe are still closed to visitors from Russia and Ukraine as European nations move carefully to lift restrictions on foreign visitors, Black Sea resorts in Russia and Ukraine are filled to capacity from domestic tourism. Now, Russian sun-lovers are left with the narrow pebble beaches of Sochi or Crimea as their only beach vacation options.

Owner of Big Daddy Zane's Gabrielle Ellison poses for a photo behind the bar top of her establishment in Odessa, Texas, Friday, June 26, 2020. Ellison was operating her bar in violation of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's new order that shut bars back down and limits restaurants' capacities to 50% following a surge in coronavirus cases. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP)

Ellison was operating her bar in violation of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's new order that shut bars back down and limits restaurants' capacities to 50% following a surge in coronavirus cases. In the last four days alone, Texas has reported more than 23,000 confirmed new cases, and Friday surpassed 5,000 hospitalizations for the first time — a threefold increase from a month ago. “At this time, it is clear that the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars,” Abbott said. The Texas Restaurant Association supported the rollback, but also pointed out that social distancing made it hard for most restaurants to exceed 50% capacity anyway.