Regional

The White House has approved a federal disaster declaration for 19 Texas counties following storms and flooding in July. Texas Public Radio's Brian Kirkpatrick reports the declaration allows FEMA to step in to begin assistance with public recovery efforts. The Texas State Board of Education is expected to ok controversial updates to high school social studies lessons today. KERA’s Bill Zeeble reports the new curriculum associates Islam with terrorism and slavery. Tomorrow is Texas Tech's first football game of the season.

The New World screwworm parasite has been in Mexico for more than a year and a half. Now that it's crossed the border, the United States could turn south for direction.

The majority of tornadoes this year have blasted through states in the Midwest and Southeast, including Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Iowa. Tornado activity has been increasing east of the Great Plains in recent decades.

For the first time in about 45 years, state officials are raising the cost farmers pay cotton gins to process their cotton. In the past decade, drought has hit Oklahoma's cotton industry hard.

Ticks are emerging earlier and staying active for longer. Experts in the central U.S. advise people to take precautions when spending time outside in wooded or grassy areas.

Wildfires swept through Northwestern Oklahoma last month, including the Ranger Road Fire that burned hundreds of thousands of acres in Beaver, Harper and Woods Counties. The immediate danger is gone, but people are only beginning to recover from the toll on their homes, livestock and emotional well-being.

The federally threatened plant commonly known as Tiny Tim was discovered in Oklahoma within the past few years. Now it's on the road to being removed from a federal list of endangered species.

The lesser prairie chicken, known for its flamboyant courtship dances and bulging neck pouches, has lost a majority of its population in the grasslands and brush of southwestern Kansas. But Republican lawmakers have long fought against its habitat protections.

Firefighters have been battling blazes across the Panhandle and the northwest part of Oklahoma for days now. The majority of them aren't getting paid.

State and track officials announced this week that Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico will not host the 2026 racing season. Our reporter Bishop Van Buren breaks down how severe weather events over the last few years led to the decision. A winter storm is expected to hit the state later this week, with some areas possibly staying below freezing through Monday. The Texas Newsroom’s Lucio Vasquez reports ERCOT officials say the energy grid is ready for it.