Texas lawmakers move to close foster care hiring loopholes and expand rights of parents facing investigations
Bills that would give relative caregivers more money have missed key deadlines to make it in front of the full House. Full Story
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![A sign for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services building in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas A&M University System bans diversity statements from job applications
The Texas A&M, Texas State and University of Houston systems are the latest to make changes after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to stop considering diversity in their hiring practices. Full Story
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![John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, speaks during a press conference at the PalmWood Event and Conference center in downtown Fort Worth on May 19, 2022.]()
Credit: Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune -
Texas legislative leaders — Dan Patrick, Dade Phelan — jab each other’s priorities in dueling speeches
During dueling speeches to a conservative think tank in Austin, state House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who have a history of animus, split over property tax relief, criminal justice reform and school choice. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan, left, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.]()
Credit: The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales defiant as he faces censure for breaking with Republican Party
The censure resolution cites Gonzales’ rejection of a border security proposal by fellow Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, and his support of a bill for same-sex marriage protections and a bipartisan gun safety law. Full Story
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![US Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 24, 2022.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas senators, facing criticism, soften proposed ban on Chinese purchases of land
The measure, endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, originally would have banned citizens of China, Iran, Russia or North Korea from buying land in Texas. Under a new version considered Thursday, the ban wouldn’t apply to dual citizens or lawful permanent residents. Full Story
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![A ranch for sale about an hour west of Del Rio on Nov. 21, 2013.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Ted Cruz continues to take aim at AG Merrick Garland at CPAC
At the conservative political convention, the Texas senator also criticized President Joe Biden for his response to the Ohio train derailment and Dr. Anthony Fauci for his role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland on March 2, 2023.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger -
Texas House’s property tax bill calls for $17 billion in cuts, tighter appraisal cap
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan’s proposal reveals the different roads the Texas House and Senate want to take on property taxes — and the fight that might emerge between the two chambers this session. Full Story
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![Construction workers build houses in the new Teravista neighborhood in Georgetown on May 18, 2016.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Plurality of Texas voters say they support school voucher-like program
The poll from the University of Texas at Austin, released Thursday, found a plurality of voters support redirecting tax revenue to help parents pay to school their kids outside the traditional public education system. Full Story
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![Esperanza Alejo, Cardenas' TA, has her students present their drawings to Cardenas' class using a projector on Apr. 21, 2022. After Cardenas' class split into two different rooms, one managed by Cardenas and her substitute, Nancy Lopez, and the other by her TA, Esperanza Alejo, Cardenas still planned all the curriculum. The students do the same activities and have the same lessons in both classrooms. Some of the lessons, like the drawing vocabulary activity (NEED CLARIFICATION ON THIS ACTIVITY), are done at the same time with a Google Meets video call bridging the classrooms. "I didn't want them to feel like they were pushed out of my classroom - that they were still just an extension of my classroom," Cardenas said.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
This rural Texas hospital has closed twice. Now reopened, it hopes a new partnership can save it for good.
Under a new federal law, the rural hospital will get higher Medicare payments for shedding inpatient services to instead staff a round-the-clock emergency department. Full Story
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![The nursery at the shuttered labor and delivery unit of Medical Arts Hospital in Lamesa on Dec. 9, 2017. The rocking chair pictured came from the original facility when the staff moved into the current facility in 2009.]()
Credit: Gary Rhodes for The Texas Tribune