Houston

Texas health officials and public health leaders from North Texas and Lubbock warn that declining measles vaccination rates could raise the risk of future outbreaks and endanger the United States’ measles elimination status. One year after a major measles outbreak began in West Texas, authorities report reduced MMR coverage in some communities and school districts. Health departments respond with surveillance, outreach, and vaccination efforts to prevent sustained transmission and maintain herd immunity across the state.

Houston-area power outages declined at the end of 2025, with new Whisker Labs data showing improved reliability in CenterPoint Energy’s service area after months of high interruption levels. KPRC 2 Investigates reviewed national outage maps, CenterPoint’s response, and internal figures showing fewer outages and shorter outage times. The report details how August and October 2025 marked peak outage months, how November and December showed gains, and how weather and grid upgrades affected performance. The station will continue to track monthly outage data to monitor reliability as Houston heads into a winter storm period.

Governor Greg Abbott has activated Texas emergency response resources as an arctic cold front brings freezing rain, sleet, snow, and dangerous wind chills to much of the state starting Thursday. The Texas Division of Emergency Management is coordinating with local officials, transportation crews, and shelters to prepare for hazardous travel and possible infrastructure impacts. Texans are urged to stay weather-aware, check road conditions through DriveTexas.org, follow local guidance, protect people and animals from the cold, and use designated warming centers if needed.

Houston City Council will vote on whether to pay $403,000 to Nerie Construction, whose owner admitted paying bribes in a Houston waterline contract scandal. The payment involves work tied to federal HUD funds, and nonpayment could prompt a federal demand for up to $9 million from the city. The case stems from a broader “DRAINED” investigation into Houston Public Works, which exposed billing errors, contract mismanagement, and led to multiple indictments, including a 10-year prison sentence for former manager Patrece Lee.

A University of Houston report finds Houston ISD lost more than 13,000 students in the two years after the 2023 state takeover, with the steepest enrollment declines in kindergarten, first grade and ninth grade. The study also reports higher teacher turnover, a sharp increase in first-year teachers and a rise in uncertified educators to nearly one in five. Researchers say the district now serves fewer students and employs a less experienced workforce, offering data that may inform other Texas districts facing potential state intervention.

A new Compare the Market study ranks Houston as the fourth most anxious city in the U.S., based on Google searches for “anxiety symptoms.” Researchers analyzed one year of search data across major cities and found Houston recorded about 23,000 anxiety-related searches, placing it ahead of Atlanta, Dallas, San Antonio, and Las Vegas. The study identifies multiple Texas cities among the top locations for anxiety-related queries and uses search activity as an indicator of public concern, not formal clinical diagnoses.