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What's been called Texas’ most conservative legislative session in over 30 years has ended, during which GOP lawmakers took an unmistakably hard-right turn toward an agenda full of hot-button conservative issues.

The San Antonio-area COVID threat level increased to "severe" last week and an emergency alert was issued to warn residents as the Delta variant surges across Texas, causing a steep spike in hospitalizations of people who haven't been vaccinated.Local leaders recently asked Gov. Abbott to reconsider his mask-enforcement ban — especially for schools, to protect students returning for in-person instruction — and to provide help for hospitals amid a dramatic increase in new admissions. Those requests were denied. What else can local officials do to curb the Delta surge and address hospital capacity issues?

Health care professionals are sounding the alarm about the rapidly rising rates of new COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions and calling on Texans to do their part to help beat the virus as facilities near capacity and nurses are pushed to the point of exhaustion.The state's COVID hospitalizations quadrupled in July. The majority of those hospitalized have been unvaccinated, as were the more than 99.5% of people in Texas who died due to COVID-19 between Feb. 8 and July 14.

As teachers and students prepare to return to in-person learning, many are concerned about the pandemic risks and best practices for children in Texas schools, especially since state leadership have prohibited mask-wearing enforcement, even for students who are too young to get vaccinated amid a surge in new cases and hospitalizations attributable to the more contagious delta variant.

Blending historical events with contemporary civil rights issues, the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) will hold a two-day virtual symposium to spur conversations of how social issues are not constrained by past times and still persist today.

Businesses and government agencies are increasingly requiring or debating whether to mandate proof of vaccinations for employees and customers as the country experiences a surge in new COVID-19 cases — mainly among the unvaccinated — largely attributable to the more contagious Delta variant. An executive order issued by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans vaccine mandates and proof of vaccination requirements. What are the legal, ethical and privacy considerations for vaccine mandates? Will they become more common if personal responsibility isn't enough to stem the surge?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot is facing backlash and lawsuits over an executive order he issued July 28 to stop anyone who isn’t in law enforcement from transporting migrants along the Texas border and allow state troopers to pull over and impound vehicles suspected of transporting migrants who could have COVID-19.

In her new book, Suzanne Nossel delves into the nation's culture wars over the right to free speech and argues that the way forward as a society is to ensure an open market of ideas and protect all speech — even that which we disagree with or find offensive.

People who have grown up or live on the U.S. southern border know there’s more to the region than the issue of immigration policy. The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and the Ford Foundation awarded more than two dozen grants to community organizations and artists to help reframe the border narrative through an arts and cultural approach.