On February 4, 1983, Wanda Lopez was stabbed to death in a Texas gas station. A jury convicted Carlos Deluna for the murder five months later and Deluna was executed in December 1989. But this week, nearly 30 years after Wanda Lopez’s death, a new investigation into Deluna’s conviction and execution poses serious questions about Deluna’s guilt, and challenges the fairness of our justice system.

On Monday, the Justice Department blocked a new Texas voter identification law on the basis that the law would disproportionately affect Hispanics and that it violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The law would have required all Texas voters to show some form of photo ID before voting. This past December, the Justice Department blocked a similar law in South Carolina, saying it adversely affected African-American voters.

The controversy over these laws is far from over. Both South Carolina and Texas have filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington arguing in favor of their new voting laws, and they will take their cases to the Supreme Court if necessary.

A fight over abortion in Texas could lead to a shutdown of a major women's health care program. Texas’s federally-funded Women's Health Program serves 130,000 women who don’t meet strict Medicaid eligibility requirements. The program also supports many clinics, including branches of Planned Parenthood. But Republican lawmakers who don’t want Planned Parenthood to get any funding say they will give up 35 million dollars in federal money — effectively shutting down the program. For many low-income Texas women, that would mean the loss of access to the only health care services they have.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Austin, Texas Tuesday night where he promised the Justice Department's civil rights division will aggressively review new voter ID laws that civil rights advocates say will have a discriminatory impact. This puts the Justice Department smack in the middle of a growing partisan debate over civil rights and minorities' access to the ballot. Several states, including Texas, have passed new requirements requiring voters to present photo ID before casting their vote. 

Texas is in the middle of the worst drought on record in the state's history. Farm crops have been hit hard, and valuable grazing land has dried out, leading to heavy losses in the state’s valuable cattle industry. In total, Texas has suffered more than $5 billion in agricultural losses since the drought began.

The Texas DMV will decide on Thursday whether to accept a license place with the Confederate flag on it. Texas would become the 10th state to approve a Confederate flag vanity plate — applications are pending in three others. Hernán Rozemberg, senior correspondent and San Antonio bureau chief for Fronteras, discusses the details of the story. Fronteras is a multimedia collaboration focusing on the southwestern border between Mexico and the United States, lead by KJZZ in Phoenix and KPBS in San Diego.

Over the weekend, a front-page article in The Washington Post criticized Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry, whose family's hunting lodge was formerly known by a racially charged epithet. Other GOP candidates have already been vocal in criticizing Perry. Herman Cain told Fox News on Sunday, "I think it shows a lack of sensitivity."

In a case that has spanned two decades with multiple twists, Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis faces a clemency hearing Monday and an execution on Wednesday. In 1991, Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail at a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia. Since the trial, seven of nine witnesses have recanted or changed their testimonies, calling into question Davis’ guilt. Davis has received three stays of execution. This is the fourth time Davis has had a scheduled execution.

The Supreme Court granted a stay of execution on Thursday for Duane Buck, a Texas man who has sat on death row for the past 16 years. Buck's guilt is not in question. He was convicted for killing his former girlfriend and another man in 1995. But Buck, a black man, was sentenced by a jury who heard expert testimony from a psychologist who said black people pose a of violently reoffending when released from prison. Gov. Rick Perry, who was cheered on at a GOP debate for the 234 inmates executed in Texas under his watch, has been asked to review the case.

Tropical Storm Lee caused floods along the Gulf Coast earlier this week, but in Texas the storm's high winds ignited over 180 fires last week, leaving more than 1,000 homes in ruins. It is now the single worst wildfire in the state's history, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry has returned from the campaign trail to manage the response.

It’s now six years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and caused one of the worst natural disasters in the nation’s history. And over the weekend the people of New Orleans and Louisiana braced yet again for another onslaught. Tropical Storm Lee caused torrential downpours across the region and flooding in some low lying communities, such as the town of Jean Lafitte, where mandatory evacuations were in place and the waters rose high.

Mexico's War on Drugs, which President Felipe Calderón declared in January of 2007, has already resulted in the deaths of some 40,000 Mexicans, according to the Congressional Research Service. The epicenter of the violence is Ciudad Juárez, a city in northern Mexico less than five miles from El Paso, Texas. Last year, over 4,500 federal police began patrolling there, replacing army units that had been stationed there previously. Today, those police will leave the city.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is preparing to jump into the race for the Republican nomination for president and his state's record on job creation will likely be a central focus of his campaign. A significant number of the jobs created in the U.S. over the past two years were created in Texas. This despite the widespread economic uncertainty and stubbornly high unemployment that's gripped the nation since the official end of the recession. However, in spite of its success at jobs creation, the state's unemployment number has remained stable.

Ten days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim from Bangladesh, was working behind the counter at a gas station convenience store in Texas when a man with a gun entered. The gunman, Mark Stroman, shot Bhuiyan in the face, seeking what he later called revenge for the 9/11 attacks. Bhuiyan survived, but two others that Stroman also targeted because they appeared to be Muslim, did not.

An execution scheduled in Texas today is making international headlines. Should Humberto Leal Garcia, Jr. die at the hands of the state, the U.S.'s diplomatic relations with Mexico could be adversely impacted, and possibly may violate the U.S.'s compliance with the U.N.’s Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Garcia was convicted in 1994 of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in Texas. He is a Mexican national and was not informed that he could access Mexican consular officials after his arrest. Garcia has been denied clemency from the state of Texas, but President Obama has asked that the Supreme Court weigh in on his case by today.

For the second straight night, severe storms ravaged the South, killing at least one person in Arkansas and damaging more than 100 homes in rural East Texas. Harold Brooks, research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, talks to use about the storms.

More than 1.5 million acres have burned in what officials are calling the worst wildfires that Texas has ever seen. The Texas Fire Service reported yesterday that there had been some progress in fighting The Wildcat Fire, north of San Angelo, The Cooper Mountain Ranch Fire, east of Lubbock and the The Rockhouse fire, south east of El Paso. Some strides were also made at Possum Kingdom Lake, west of Ft. Worth. But two fire fighters have died in the fight to control the blazes, and federal teams have been called into help.

Two years ago, Galveston, Texas was hit hard by Hurricane Ike, leaving thousands of homes destroyed or badly damaged. Then about a year ago, over $160 million was released to the city to help residents repair and reconstruct their homes. However, many of those residents, like Antonio Hale, still have not seen a dime. Harvey Rice, a Galveston based reporter for the Houston Chronicle, has been covering this ongoing battle between Galveston's home owners and the red tape they are fighting through. 

What if you found yourself accused of a crime you didn’t commit? What if the only thing standing between you and freedom was your word against the word of the victim? What if the court ruled against you? Craig Watkins feels that scenario happens far too often in our country, and since he was elected district attorney of Dallas, Texas, he’s done everything he can to correct those mistakes.

Life-long resident Jesus Ochoa has fond memories of growing up in El Paso, Texas. But he isn't optimistic about 2011; he says living on the border with Mexico is an increasingly scary existence, and is upset at the failure of President Obama and Congress to pass the so called "Dream Act." Ochoa joins us to talk about his hometown and its continuing challenges in the new year.