Death row inmate Anthony Shore.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
<p>Death row inmate Anthony Shore.</p>

Houston serial killer faces execution this week

Anthony Shore, a convicted serial killer, is set to be executed Wednesday evening. His murders of four girls and young women in the 1980s and 1990s went unsolved until 2003. Recently his lawyers have claimed a previously undisclosed traumatic brain injury should keep him out of the death chamber.

 
Some of Texas' U.S. Congressional delegation at the opening of Austin's VA clinic on August 22, 2013 include, l to r, Sen. Ted Cruz, Congressmen Lloyd Doggett, John Carter, Michael McCaul, Joe Barton and Roger Williams.
Bob Daemmrich
Some of Texas' U.S. Congressional delegation at the opening of Austin's VA clinic on August 22, 2013 include, l to r, Sen. Ted Cruz, Congressmen Lloyd Doggett, John Carter, Michael McCaul, Joe Barton and Roger Williams.

The Brief: Crunching the new campaign finance numbers

Incumbents and federal candidates jockeying for office in 2018 have submitted what their campaigns raked in and spent during the third quarter of the year. 

The Brief: Crunching the new campaign finance numbers

Some of Texas' U.S. Congressional delegation at the opening of Austin's VA clinic on August 22, 2013 include, l to r, Sen. Ted Cruz, Congressmen Lloyd Doggett, John Carter, Michael McCaul, Joe Barton and Roger Williams.
Bob Daemmrich
Some of Texas' U.S. Congressional delegation at the opening of Austin's VA clinic on August 22, 2013 include, l to r, Sen. Ted Cruz, Congressmen Lloyd Doggett, John Carter, Michael McCaul, Joe Barton and Roger Williams.

Incumbents and federal candidates jockeying for office in 2018 have submitted what their campaigns raked in and spent during the third quarter of the year. 

 

Featured Data

Hell and High Water: How Houston is ill-prepared for a hurricane

Oil tankers in the Houston Ship Channel on November 10, 2015.
Oil tankers in the Houston Ship Channel on November 10, 2015.

State says Harvey's death toll has reached 88

A man walks through floodwaters after surveying his property in Rockport, which was hit by Hurricane Harvey, on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017.&nbsp;
<p><span>A man walks through floodwaters after surveying his property in Rockport, which was hit by Hurricane Harvey, on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017.&nbsp;</span></p>

Hurricane Harvey took the lives of at least 88 Texans, according to preliminary numbers released Friday morning by the Department of State Health Services.

The Brief: Robert Pruett spent 15 years claiming his innocence. He was executed Thursday.

Robert Pruett, 33, was sentenced to death in 2002 for the murder of correctional officer Daniel Nagle. Pruett says he was framed by corrupt guards and inmates while the prison employee union says chronic understaffing led to Nagle's murder.
Robert Pruett, 33, was sentenced to death in 2002 for the murder of correctional officer Daniel Nagle. Pruett says he was framed by corrupt guards and inmates while the prison employee union says chronic understaffing led to Nagle's murder.

Robert Pruett spent the last 15 years of his life insisting he was innocent of the murder of prison guard Daniel Nagle. On Thursday night, he was executed. 

For former state Rep. Dunnam, Baylor is family — and now a legal foe

Attorney Jim Dunnam in his office in Waco, Texas on Thursday, October 5, 2017. Dunham is a former state representative who is suing Baylor University on behalf of 11 sexual assault victims. Dunnam was named Young Lawyer of the Year by Baylor University in 2001. He also received his undergraduate business degree and a law degree from Baylor.
<p><span>Attorney Jim Dunnam in his office in Waco, Texas on Thursday, October 5, 2017. Dunham is a former state representative who is suing Baylor University on behalf of 11 sexual assault victims. Dunnam was named Young Lawyer of the Year by Baylor University in 2001. He also received his undergraduate business degree and a law degree from Baylor.</span></p>

Jim Dunnam counts 26 Baylor University degrees in his family — and he worked for years on its behalf in the Texas Legislature. Now, he's suing the school on behalf of 14 women who were sexually assaulted while students. 

Analysis: It was a "taking," but who got taken?

The Barker Dam and Reservoir&nbsp;in Houston on Tuesday, September 19, 2017.&nbsp;
<p><span>The Barker Dam and Reservoir&nbsp;in Houston on Tuesday, September 19, 2017.&nbsp;</span></p>

Landowners didn't want to make a big deal out of building homes in Harris County's big reservoirs and government officials were afraid of property rights lawsuits. Then Hurricane Harvey flooded the reservoirs.

NATO Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison vouches for fellow Texan Rex Tillerson in interview

Kay Bailey Hutchinson, President Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to NATO, testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination in Washington on July 20, 2017.&nbsp;
<p><span>Kay Bailey Hutchinson, President Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to NATO, testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination in Washington on July 20, 2017.&nbsp;</span></p>

Amid ongoing turmoil at the State Department, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison supported her boss, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in an interview Thursday night.

At post-Harvey Senate hearing, a list of pricey solutions

Development encroaching on the north side of Addicks Reservoir in Houston on Sept. 7, 2016.
<p><span>Development encroaching on the north side of Addicks Reservoir in Houston on Sept. 7, 2016.</span></p>

In the Texas Senate’s first public hearing since Hurricane Harvey, members of the Committee on Agriculture, Water and Rural Affairs talked for hours about a host of ways to mitigate flooding related to stressed reservoirs in the Houston region. 

Analysis: Bathrooms, business and ballots

House Speaker Joe Straus keeps watch on the chamber during debate on Senate Bill 6 on municipal annexation on Aug. 11, 2017.&nbsp;
<p>House Speaker Joe Straus keeps watch on the chamber during debate on Senate Bill 6 on municipal annexation on Aug. 11, 2017.&nbsp;</p>

House Speaker Joe Straus prevailed in the legislative skirmishes over bathroom regulations; now he's got a fast-track House committee looking at "economic competitiveness." That could reframe the bathroom issue for 2018's elections.

 

Featured Video

A conversation with John Sharp, Harvey recovery czar

  • by Texas Tribune Staff

U.S. House backs disaster relief after tense day for Texas delegation, Abbott

Members of the Texas congressional delegation from both parties discuss funding for recovery from Harvey at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 7, 2017.
<p>Members of the Texas congressional delegation from both parties discuss funding for recovery from Harvey at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 7, 2017.</p>

Ahead of Thursday's vote in the U.S. House was more than a day of frustration and second-guessing as some in the Texas delegation questioned whether their state's continued needs were being neglected. 

School superintendents hit by Harvey ask lawmakers for help with recovery costs

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath discusses the scope of financial losses to Texas public schools affected by Hurricane Harvey at a House Public Education Committee hearing at the state Capitol on Oct. 12, 2017.
<p>Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath discusses the scope of financial losses to Texas public schools affected by Hurricane Harvey at a House Public Education Committee hearing at the state Capitol on Oct. 12, 2017.</p>

At a House Public Education Committee hearing Thursday, superintendents rattled off long lists of unexpected costs they incurred after Hurricane Harvey swept through the Texas coast.