The number of uninsured young children in Texas has risen in recent years, according to a new report from Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families.  Georgetown CCF, a prominent nonpartisan health policy research organization, used data from the 2024 American Community Survey — the most recent data that is currently available from the U.S. Census Bureau.  "The reason we look at young children is because their coverage is really important during a critical time of their development," said Georgetown CCF research fellow Elisabeth Burak. "When they don't have access to the care that they need in those early years, they're at higher risk of falling behind developmentally."  Researchers found that 10.8% of Texas children under 6 were uninsured in 2024, up from 7.9% in 2022. That comes out to more than 73,000 additional uninsured kids. Texas has the highest uninsured rate of any U.S. state for that age bracket, far exceeding the national rate of 5.3%. view article

Millions of Americans are starting to see their monthly health-insurance bills rise, a new pressure point for a nation still frustrated with the high cost of living.   Many of those facing the most substantial dollar increases are middle-income Americans who buy health insurance through the marketplaces set up by the government’s Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. view article

Three students are hospitalized after a band tower collapsed in Frisco on Thursday evening, officials said. According to Frisco ISD, the band tower at Centennial High School, which was approximately 30 feet tall, collapsed, injuring several students who were climbing on it. The injured students were transported to local hospitals for treatment, Frisco ISD officials said. view article

Alvin Independent School District announced Wednesday that Wilder and Marek Elementary Schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year due to significant water damage as rounds of heavy rain and storms continue moving through the Houston area. Initially, district officials said they expected both schools to reopen on Thursday, but that changed in a Wednesday afternoon update. view article

Classes have been canceled at two different Alvin ISD schools in Pearland for the rest of the school year due to storm damage, the district announced Wednesday. We first told you on KHOU 11 Morning News that Wilder Elementary School was damaged by the storm system that moved through overnight. The district later confirmed that Marek Elementary would also be closed. view article

Bexar County officials demonstrated on Tuesday a new railroad-style flood gate system designed to automatically block drivers from entering flooded roadways — part of a broader $21 million “NextGen” flood warning network that officials hope will prevent future flood deaths across the region.  The new flood gates use upstream water sensors, flashing warning lights and lowered gate arms to close roads when rising creek levels make roadway conditions dangerous.  The county’s older High-Water Alert Lifesaving Technology, or HALT, flood warning system primarily relies on flashing warning beacons activated by rising water near crossings. This new system features towers that add another layer of prevention when drivers approach a flooded road. view article

Waco Tornado – An Oral History by Bill Little  [The logo for StormWatch 2013 includes the red Dr Pepper Museum logo with a gray rooster weathervane.] As we move into our final weeks of StomWatch 2013, we’d like to share another story of that day. During the exhibit’s opening weeks, Bill Little happened to be in a tour group coming through the Museum. During his tour, he realized he had a unique story to tell about his personal experiences of that day. You see, he was working in our building – the Dr Pepper Bottling Plant – that day and lived to tell his story. Since then he has gone to finish his degree from Baylor, get several others, and then teach at Southwestern Baptist University, and somewhere along the way married another fine Baylor graduate – Mary Barnett.  Here is Bill Little’s story in his own words: view article

A fifth grade Lumberton Independent School District student reported "vulgar" language in the STAAR reading test last month, according to information from LISD.  view article

Vidor ISD superintendent Jay Killgo estimates the district has $12-13 million in damages from Harvey. Both Oak Forest Elementary and Vidor Middle School are unusable right now. Those students are going elsewhere, which is overcrowding some schools. view article

Burnet school district officials were probably expecting to get more than two years from the synthetic turf installed at Bulldog Field in 2015, but that didn’t happen and it’s now set the district back $150,000. Burnet Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Keith McBurnett, however, said the district is looking to get $105,000 back from one manufacturer. Last year, officials noticed some turf fibers sticking up higher than others, so they took a closer look, McBurnett said. “To most people, it probably wasn’t noticeable,” he said. “We had all the experts look at the field, and they looked at the backside. It needed to be replaced.” view article

North American Solutions (NAS), a leading provider of insurance and risk management services for public entities, is excited to announce that Michelle Faust, currently Director, Safety & Risk Management at Round Rock ISD, will be joining the NAS team in January. view article

A teen who was severely bruised in a "brutal and excessive" nightstick attack by a Pasadena ISD school resource officer has settled his federal lawsuit for $60,000. Cesar Suquet Jr. was 16 in May 2014 when he went to the principal's office at South Houston High School to retrieve his cell phone, which had been confiscated earlier that day. His request was declined and he was told to leave. view article

Garland ISD was one of just 10 districts statewide recently honored by The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). The district’s Risk Management Department earned a 2015 TASB Risk Management Fund Innovation Award for its creative safety video campaign. view article

Abilene ISD board approved the bid on Monday evening at its agenda review meeting. Construction coordinator for the district, Joe Humphrey, says Martinez Elementary took the brunt of the storm. view article

Three students from Stehlik Intermediate School in the Aldine Independent School District were taken to an area hospital Tuesday morning after a minor collision with a cement mixer. The wreck happened about 8 a.m. on West Road at Deer Trail Drive as the bus was transporting students to the school at 400 West Road, a school district spokeswoman said. The school is just west of Interstate 45. view article