Kala Hunter did not hesitate to get her 2-year-old son, Brady, fully vaccinated in March as the number of measles cases grew in her West Texas community.

“Being in the hotbed of the measles outbreak,” said Hunter, 47, of Lubbock, “it was a no-brainer. If it was safe to get him vaccinated early, we were going to protect him.”

Harmony Montes, 21, also of Lubbock, said she felt the same way. As the outbreak escalated in April, Montes jumped at the chance to get her daughter, Melody Rocha, vaccinated at her six-month checkup. 

“We didn’t hesitate at all,” Montes said. “I wasn’t going to risk her health.”

The moms represent a recent surge in Texas parents opting to get their babies and toddlers the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination as soon as possible.

Hunter said that her child’s doctor assured her that the second vaccine dose was safe.

“I trust my pediatrician,” she said. Neither kid has had side effects like fever or rash from the shot, Hunter and Montes said.

New data from Truveta, a health care and analytics company, shows that the percentage of 6-month-old babies in Texas getting their measles vaccination in April increased by more than 30 times the prior year’s average.

“That means parents aren’t just getting the vaccine early, they’re getting it as early as they can,” Nina Masters, a senior scientist at Truveta and part of the research team, said in an interview with NBC News.

Typically, the MMR is given in two doses, around a child’s first birthday, and again around the time a child enters kindergarten, at age 4 or 5. One dose is 93% effective at preventing measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A second dose increases protection to 97%.

During measles outbreaks, however, the first dose can be given as early as 6 months old. If a child has already received the first dose at 12 months, doctors can give the second dose about a month later, said Dr. Ronald Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock and health authority for the city.

“Public health measures, which include vaccinations, stop the spread of the virus, even in areas with outbreaks of measles,” Cook said.

Most of the time, fewer than 2% of infants get vaccinated early for measles, according to the Truveta data. The company used its access to electronic health record information for tens of thousands of infants in Texas to assess early vaccination uptake in the state. That low percentage isn’t surprising as the shots aren’t generally given early unless there’s an outbreak.

The data shows that early vaccinations of Texan infants 6 to 11 months old ticked up in February as word of the outbreak spread. The number increased even more in March, and by April, it was exponentially higher than vaccination percentages before the outbreak began.

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State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, has filed paperwork to run for lieutenant governor in next year’s midterm election, giving up a safe seat in the Texas House to seek one of the state’s most powerful offices.

Goodwin has long been expected to run for the seat, currently held by Republican Dan Patrick, who has said he will seek reelection next year. The four-term Austin Democrat told the Tribune in 2023 she was mulling a run, and since then she has openly signaled her plans to allies.

She appointed a campaign treasurer for her lieutenant governor bid on Monday, the first formal step for a candidate to start raising money.

Unseating Patrick will be a daunting task for any Democrat. The lieutenant governor is sitting on a war chest of more than $33 million, and he has many deep-pocketed conservative allies ready to ride to the rescue if he finds himself endangered.

Texas Democrats have struggled to mount competitive statewide campaigns in recent years, including in 2022, when Patrick won reelection by 10 percentage points. But the party is hoping for more favorable conditions next year, driven by backlash to President Donald Trump and the prospect of Attorney General Ken Paxton — a Republican who has faced various legal scandals — leading the ballot if he is nominated for the U.S. Senate over incumbent John Cornyn.

In 2018, the first midterm under Trump, Democrat Beto O’Rourke came within 3 percentage points of defeating Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Patrick won reelection by nearly 5 percentage points that year.

Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994.

Goodwin will have to make up significant ground financially, with just over $150,000 in her campaign account as of Dec. 31, the last date covered by public campaign finance reports.

Goodwin, a 58-year-old real estate agent, has served in the Texas House since 2019, representing a district that covers parts of west and north Austin and the western side of Travis County, including parts of Bee Cave and Lakeway. She is seen as one of the more liberal members of the state House and currently serves on the chamber’s Appropriations and Insurance committees.

With Goodwin running for lieutenant governor, Travis County Democratic Party Chair Pooja Sethi is seeking to fill the open seat. Sethi announced she is stepping down as party chair in June, and she recently filed paperwork to run in Goodwin’s district.

First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!

An intense regional battle over water supply is bubbling up across North Texas. Water planners are split over the creation of the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir in northeast Texas. Water managers in DFW are planning on the 66,000-acre project; local planners are not.

People shared their opinions during a public hearing in Arlington on Monday. Public comment on the water plan runs through July 18.

Dozens of people drove in from East Texas.

“These ideas that you put on paper cost somebody, something,” said one.

“What am I supposed to tell my friends who live in that area? Well, your house may be underwater, I don’t know,” said another.

Most who attended the meeting spoke against the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, wearing green stickers to show their opposition. The project would require landowners to sell their property along the Sulphur River in Red River and Titus counties, or see it taken through eminent domain. The reservoir would send most of its water to the booming DFW Metroplex.

Part of Stanley Jessee’s land would be underwater if the plan moves forward.

“That’s where I live. That’s where I’ve retired. I raise cattle there, that’s what I do. My grandkids live next to me, or close to us. If the reservoir comes, we lose all that,” said Jessee.

Advocates from the business community spoke in favor of keeping the Region C water plan — including Marvin Nichols — as is, arguing DFW’s population could double to 15 million in the coming decades and will need new water sources.

“You know, at the end of the day, it comes down to quality of life. It comes to economic competitiveness,” said Chris Wallace, president of the North Texas Commission. “As you well know, water is the foundation of every growing community and every healthy economy.”

Dan Buhman, chair of the Region C Planning Group, told NBC 5 that the plan’s critics are partially right: Water users in DFW need to conserve more, but that alone isn’t enough.

“It’s a yes, and, future. We have to conserve, there’s no question about it. We are really focused on conserving as much water as possible,” said Buhman.

He said the math of new people coming and the water available now doesn’t add up without new groundwater reservoirs.

“I know it’s a difficult topic, and I know it can be an emotional topic, and I appreciate them coming and hearing their perspective. It is true that there’s an impact to every new strategy,” said Buhman.

Because the DFW and northeast Texas water plans are split on the issue, the Texas Water Development Board will have the final say. A decision may come in early 2026, after the regions submit their official five-year plans in the fall.