Big Bend

Officials in the small West Texas border city of Presidio are asking a federal judge to temporarily block border wall construction, arguing the plan would leave locals vulnerable to "deadly" flash flooding.

The Trump administration is accelerating plans for new border barriers along hundreds of miles of the Texas-Mexico border, prompting protests, property disputes, and lawsuits from landowners and environmental groups.

This week on Texas Matters: Sections of SB4 are blocked — which would have allowed local police to arrest suspected illegal border crossers. And Despite outcry in West Texas the efforts to build the border wall in Big Bend Country continues.

Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have started meeting with Big Bend area landowners about the prospect of border walls on their land. Landowners say they're concerned about flood risks and the destruction of archeological sites.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection updated its map of planned border wall projects to add vehicle barriers and patrol roads to portions of Big Bend National Park on Tuesday. It's not clear if the barriers would be temporary or permanent.

Historically, Black bears were the biggest predator to travel the Big Bend area of Texas. But overhunting and habitat loss led to their decline.

McDonald Observatory astronomers worked with energy companies to dim their lights.

U.S. Customs and Protection said Friday that military personnel will be sent to Border Patrol stations in Alpine, Van Horn and Presidio to “assist agents with surveillance, intelligence gathering and logistical support.”

The plant, formally known as Ovicula biradiata, is especially notable for being the simultaneous discovery of a new species and genus. It was found with help from the community science app iNaturalist.

In 1918, more than a dozen boys and men in the small West Texas border community of Porvenir were executed by a group of Texas Rangers, U.S. soldiers and ranchers. More than a century later, their descendants are pushing for all of the victims’ death certificates.