Texas Legislature Backs Combined University, New Med School in South Texas

Both houses of the Texas Legislature approved a measure Wednesday that would merge two existing institutions to create one university in South Texas, and give the region its first medical school, The Monitor reported. The legislation would formalize a plan hatched late last year by the University of Texas System to merge its Pan American and Brownsville campuses, which are about 60 miles apart, to strengthen the delivery of education in the Rio Grande Valley. The legislation would also create a new medical school to try to address a physician shortage in the region.