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Texas 2022: Year in Photos

Texas Tribune photographers captured a historic year of challenges and resilience.

By Sewell Chan and Texas Tribune Photo Team

January

Tears flow down through the mask of ICU nurse Mary Patton at Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital on Friday, January 14, 2022.
Suporters of Gov. Abbott wait in line at the Hispanic Leadership Summit in McAllen on Jan. 8, 2022 to take a photo with the governor.
Catherine Allen poses for a photo in her home Friday, Jan. 28, 2022 in Midland, Texas.
Michelle Tennen holds a photograph of herself and her daughter Charley at her home in El Paso, Texas. Charley died by suicide in July 2020.
Bastrop Resident Marla Ferris was unable to return to her home after work on Tuesday, Jan. 18, due to the Rolling Pines Fire and and was forced to sleep in her car in a gas station parking lot outside of Bastrop State Park on Wednesday, January 19, 2022.

February

Adelyn Vigil, 13, left, a transgender girl, her cousin Aylette Reyes, 13, center, and her mother Adamalis Vigil, 34, pass their time at her grandma’s home in the Rio Grande Valley on Sunday, February 27, 2022.
Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune
Ruby Wilkinson and Maya Madabhushi are pulled on a sled int the wintery weather that hit Dallas, TX on February 3, 2022.
Diana Crouch chats with her son, Cain, about his upcoming birthday party in their Kingwood home on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022.
Iryanna Rodríguez, 18, a junior, poses for a photo with her nine-month-old daughter Ariyanna Juliett Fuentes at Lincoln Park School, in Brownsville, Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. The school for students that are pregnant or have had a baby currently has 69 students enrolled.
Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune

March

Ashley (middle) chants, "God made trans kids! God loves trans kids!" with her children during a protest at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday, Mar. 1, 2022.
Laurena Ellis lost her granddaughter, Sha’Niyah McGee, to COVID-19 when she was 16 years old in September of 2021.
Granbury ISD Superintendent Dr. Jeremy K. Glenn discusses agenda items with school board trustees at a GISD school board meeting in Granbury, TX on March 21, 2022.
Rae Fenton, 12, hugs brother Eli, 7, as he joins him on the stage during Diamond Dior Davenport's performance. "I love drag queens," Rae said. "They're the biggest idols of my life."
Attendees of at a DFPS Committee meeting in Austin cry while listening to public testimony on gender affirming care for trans youth on Friday Mar. 11, 2022.
Victor Trevino administers a vaccine against COVID19 to Yaidra Lucas inside a bus on Thursday, March 3rd, 2022 in Laredo, TX. Workers from Nuevo Laredo were transported to the international crossing point to receive vaccines against COVID19 as part of a program where left over vaccines from the U.S. were to be used instead of being wasted or expiring. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune
A firefighter with Forest Bend Fire Department extinguishes flames at the site of the Borrega wildfire on March 31, 2022. The wildfire burned through a large part of the King Ranch and surrounding areas in Brooks, Jim Wells and Kleberg counties.

April

Hundreds of semi trucks headed southbound into Mexico are seen at a standstill at the Ysleta Port of Entry, Tuesday, April 12, 2022, in Juarez, Mexico. Truck drivers are protesting Greg Abbott's decision to have state troopers inspect northbound commercial vehicles one at a time. At this port, trucks are not flowing into Mexico to pickup more products and also not flowing into the U.S. to deliver those products.  Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune
A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper inspects a commercial truck at an inspection station near the Veterans bridge in Brownsville on April 12, 2022.
Employees at the McAllen Produce Terminal Market. McAllen, TX. April 14, 2022.
John Lucio and his wife Michelle embrace Leno Rose-Avila at a press conference about the case of Melissa Lucio in Gatesville, TX on Monday, April 25, 2022. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Lucio amid a strong public push for reevaluation of her case. Sergio Flores for Texas Tribune
Union Station, Washington, DC - Activists line up to impede journalists from photographing as two buses of migrants arrive near Union Station as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s new plan in response to the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era emergency health order to that allowed immigration authorities at the border to deny entry to migrants in Washington, DC, on Thursday, April 21, 2022.
Marleny poses for a photo outside of the trailer home where she lives with her son near San Antonio.

May

Victor Olvera puts two pharmaceutical drugs meant to be taken for ulcers back on the shelf. Uncle Sam Pharmacy. Nuevo Progreso, MX. May 4, 2022.
Students flee and authorities help others evacuate after a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022.
UVALDE, TX-MAY 25: Candidate for Texas Governor Beto O'Rourke disrupts a press conference at Uvalde High School on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 in Uvalde, TX. Twenty one people were killed after a gunman after a high school student opened fire inside Robb Elementary School on Tuesday where two teachers and 19 students were killed.
Several law enforcement agencies arrive ahead of President Joe Biden’s arrival in Uvalde on Sunday morning.
The Walmart Supercenter baby formula aisle  in Baytown, Texas on May 12, 2022.
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson talks to District 30 Democratic candidate Jasmine Crockett at Crockett’s election night watch party in Dallas, TX on May 24, 2022.
Michelle Cardenas works on scrapbooks for her students at home while spending time with her daughters on May 24, 2022. Cardenas was inspired to create scrapbooks for her students because she has a scrapbook from when she was in daycare, but her husband does not have many pictures of himself as a kid. She wants her students to be able to look back at their year in pre-k, which they may not remember. 

Possible quotes:
“They’ve made comments to me before like, ‘I wish you didn't have to work today,’ "

“You can go into another job and you get to walk out that door of that job and not bring any - any work home with you. And you're getting paid more," Cardenas said.

“Your students at school end up becoming like your own kids," Cardenas said.
Thousands of roses and handwritten notes, hundreds of candles and dozens of stuffed animals surround a fountain in the center of the City of Uvalde Town Square in Ulvade on May 29, 2022.

June

Nurse Kristina Hernandez becomes emotional while remembering stories of previous patients she helped at the Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services abortion clinic before Roe v. Wade was overturned in San Antonio on June 24, 2022.
A tractor-trailer found near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio contained the bodies of 46 dead people, along with 16 others who have been taken to hospitals on June 27, 2022, local officials in San Antonio said.
Lightning from a passing storm strikes in the vicinity as City of Odessa Water Distribution employees work through the night to repair a broken water main Tuesday, June 14, 2022 in Odessa. According to Mayor of Odessa Javier Joven, repairs were completed around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Attendees hold up their fists after a march against the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which virtually bans abortion in the state of Texas, on June 24, 2022.
Clockwise from top left: Protests in Austin, Austin, San Antonio and Houston on June 24 protests from various cities in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Amnisty sits in front of a table containing pictures of her son, at her home in Paris, Texas, on June 17, 2022. According to Amnisty, her son has suffered abuse while in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department system.
Graduates throw their caps into the air in celebration at the Uvalde High School graduation ceremony on June 24, 2022.
Alessandra Flores, who was passing by while celebrating her quinceaños, turning 15, stops to pose for a photo holding a green bandana in support of reproductive rights across the the U.S. Embassy in response to the court case Roe v. Wade being overturned in Mexico City, Mexico on June 29, 2022. Behind Alessandra a banner that reads in Spanish, “Alive and free in Mexico,” is seen.
Shannon Brewer; the clinic director at Jackson Women's Health Organization, stands in her new clinic that will soon be the home to the new Las Cruces Women’s Health in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Monday afternoon. Brewer began the move in April in anticipation of the overturn of Roe v. Wade so she could continue to provide women with access to safe abortion options.

July

Gloria Quezada, right, holds on to a cross bearing the name of her daughter, Adela Betulia Ramírez Quezada, at a San Antonio memorial on July 1, 2022 for dozens of migrants who died in an overheated trailer last month.
Linda Coffee, one of the two lawyers who represented “Jane Roe” in the landmark Roe v. Wade case, in her home in Mineola, TX on July 7, 2022.
Eddie Belcher, 61, shown on his land outside his home he built by hand, log by log, on July 26, 2022 near Bogata, Texas. The Belcher family has lived in Red River County for generations and that could come to an end with the construction of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir. The reservoir has been in the works for decades, but never gained momentum to start. Residents now fear a starting date is near as Texas droughts worsen, and water supply needs in the DFW metro area rapidly increase. Thousands of acres would be flooded and an estimated 60 homes would be lost.
TCOLE demonstrates a school shooting scenario at a media availability at Walsh Middle School in Round Rock on July 11, 2022.
Family members and friends of Uziyah Garcia view a freshly completed mural in his memory in Uvalde on July 17, 2022. Each of the 21 victims of the Robb Elementary shooting will receive a mural painted by artists from across Texas.
Dr. Karen Kossie-Chernyshev poses in front of mural celebrating Black leaders in Fifth Ward, a historic neighborhood in Houston, TX, on Sunday, July 31, 2022. Dr. Kossie-Chernyshev is from Fifth Ward where he father was a pastor at Latter Day Deliverance Revival Church and is now a history professor at Texas Southern University in Houston.
Volunteers for South Texans for Reproductive Justice unpackage emergency contraceptives used to assemble safe sex kits at the McAllen Creative Incubator on July 9, 2022. The volunteer based pro-abortion organization hosts monthly safe sex kit packing parties in McAllen and occasionally organizes protests to advocate for abortion rights.
A man rests in the pavilion at The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, July 21, 2022. (Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune)

August

Sisters Edith, Carolina, and Maribel Velarde watch as workers from Magnolia Movers struggle to fit their fridge through the front door of their home at Congress Mobile Home Park in Austin on Aug. 29, 2022.
Heather Crawford embraces Cass as they struggle through a panic attack while packing their room to move to Minnesota from their home Austin, TX on August 19, 2022.
A late summer thunderstorm forms over the remnants of the 2021 cotton crop Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, in Terry County, Texas. (Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune)
Dana Jones, who has been a victim of many floods, tears up as she recounts her experiences at her home in Houston on August 1, 2022.
Paola Valdez looks through messages from potential buyers of their home, while her family bonds in their living room of their home, at the Congress Mobile Home Park in Austin on Aug. 4, 2022.
A photo of Cassandra Salvidar hangs in the living room as Patricia Castro talks to her grandson Ace at their home in Arlington, TX  on August 31, 2022. Cassandra Salvidar died at the age of 22 from taking a Xanax laced with deadly fentanyl.
Gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke speaks to Dan Solomon of Texas Monthly after a campaign event in Fredericksburg on Aug. 17, 2022.

September 

Lauren Hall stands for a portrait in the room that would have been her child’s in her home in on Sept. 10, 2022. Hall had a non-viable pregnancy and had to leave the state in order to terminate, revealing gaps in the state's miscarriage exception after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Felix Coronado listens to his son, Ariel, 4, while his other children pose for a photo by their mother, Aiko, before the first day of classes in Uvalde on Sept. 6, 2022. This is Ariel's first day of school ever, and he is a little anxious to leave his parents. From left: Adrianna Medina, 10, Alejandro Coronado, 6, Allyson Coronado, 5, Ariel Coronado, 4, Felix Coronado.
The McAdoo Wind farm provides power to the Cottonwood Substation. A smaller substation provides power to the Crypto farm, feeding energy from the Cottonwood Substation.
A bipartisian testing crew uses voting machines and tabulators during a state-mandated logic and accuracy test at the Hays County Government building in San Marcos on Sept. 21, 2022. The goal of the test was to identify errors in the counting process of ballots.

October

Nacogdoches, Texas: Todd Stallings looks through curbside voting information October 3, 2022 at the election’s office in Nacogdoches, Texas. Mark Felix/The Texas Tribune
Luz Maria Martinez and Napoleon Sepulveda cry over their son, Jesus Ivan Sepulveda, who was shot and killed by a prison warden (at the time) last week near Sierra Blanca, Texas, Wednesday, October 5, 2022, in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Sepulveda was shot while the group of migrants he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with stopped for water near Sierra Blanca, Texas. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune
A mural in memory of Makenna Lee Elrod, one of the 21 Robb Elementary school shooting victims in Uvalde on Oct. 22, 2022.
A family from Venezuela crosses the Rio Grande near a temporary border patrol processing center on October 6, 2022 in El Paso, TX. Record numbers of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, began arriving at the US/Mexico border this month.
Sandra Reed cries during a vigil at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on October 11, 2022. The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments of Rodney Reed vs. Bryan Goertz, examining the statute of limitations for a claim seeking DNA testing of crime-scene evidence after Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas.
From left, Aztecan dancers Azucena Flores, Amelia Morales and Destiny Flores talk with each other as they wait to enter the arena tent for an exhibition on the second day of the Sacred Springs Powwow Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 in San Marcos, Texas.
Lyndon Hallmark, the mobile health center manager, poses for a portrait as patients receive healthcare at a mobile health clinic in Kirbyville, Texas, U.S., on Monday, October 17, 2022.
Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw sits at a table at a Public Safety Commission Meeting on Thursday, Oct 27, 2022 in Austin, TX. The public meeting saw comments from families of the victims of the Robb Elementary Shooting calling for DPS Director Steve McCraw to resign in response to what McCraw himself called a "Abject Failure", referring to the response by his department as well as other law enforcement there that day. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune
Lily Trieu, interim executive director of Asian Texans for Justice (ATJ), who produced a report researching Asian voters, photographed on Tuesday, Oct 11, 2022 in Austin. Asian communities are growing rapidly in Texas, but they are still feeling left out of the political process . (May-Ying Lam for The Texas Tribune)

November

Residents watch Uvalde Leader-News reporters update results from local races on a white board in Uvalde on Election Day Nov. 8, 2022.
Relatives of Arnuflo Reyes, a teacher who was injured at Robb, release paper lanterns to celebrate Dia de los Muertos in the Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery in Uvalde on Nov. 2, 2022.
Brigette Bandit reads to children during a local literacy event at the Contemporary Austin - Laguna Gloria in Austin on November 13, 2022.
Counter protesters form a barricade outside of a transgender storytelling event as Sara Gonzales of Defend our Kids Texas chants “there are only two genders” at Patchouli Joe’s Books and Indulgence in Denton, TX on November 19, 2022.
The Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, DC - Organizers and activists rally as Supreme Court hears a case that challenges the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which prioritizes the placement of Native American children in foster care or adoption with relatives, other tribal members, or in other Native homes on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
Billy Peck, 34, and his daughter look through donated clothing at the Haven for Hope shelter in San Antonio on Nov. 10, 2022. Peck and the other residents of Haven for Hope are welcome to take anything they need or want from the warehouse with donations, as one of the services that the shelter offers.
Alex Bowen hugs his girlfriend and his friends as he says goodbye moments before crossing the border and into El Paso from Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, November 22, 2022. When asked why the others weren’t crossing over with him, they said because Bowen is from Ecuador and they are from Venezuela so they couldn’t cross. NOTE: I don’t know if they are paroling people from Ecuador into the U.S. and not others from other countries but this is the reason they gave me. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune
Monica De La Cruz on an instagram live video at the Lark Community Center. McAllen, TX. Nov. 8, 2022.
A poll watcher examines bags of ballots as they are received at the Tarrant County Election Administration building in Fort Worth on November 8, 2022.

December

Migrants standing on the other side of barbwire speak to the Texas National Guard and Texas DPS officers along the banks of the Rio Grande, Tuesday, December 20, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. Over 400 personnel have been sent to this border sector by Governor Abbott after El Paso city officials declared a state of emergency. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune
A large crowd of migrants near an encampment in Matamoros, Tamaulipas listen to Victor Cavazos, Director of The Sidewalk School, give instructions for how to sign up to be included in an informal census of the encampment on Dec. 21, 2022. Migrants hope that by having their name recorded, legal aid would be available to them.
An employee of Misho's Oyster Company uses a backhoe loader to move oyster shells after the Texas Department of State Health Services ordered a recall for oysters harvested in the area of southeastern Galveston Bay in San Leon, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, December 15, 2022.
EMT Ronnie Robison calls the Woodland Heights Medical Center to tell them to prepare for an opioid overdose patient  at the Lufkin facility Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Robison has to call on a certain street of highway before a “dead zone” of no cell service or they will not be able to warn the trauma team to prepare for their patients.
Jo Ann Johnson sits for a portrait on the bed that once belonged to her grandson, Bishop Evans, in her home in Arlington, TX on December 7, 2022. 22 year-old Bishop Evans, who was serving on the Texas Army National Guard and assigned to work on Operation Lone Star, died after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two migrants. “When they told me why, I understood, because he saw someone who needed help. That was who he was — he helped people.”

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