Grissel Velasco paid her doctor to perform a tubal ligation about a decade ago, but still became pregnant.
December 2023
Posted in
State Government
Immigrant rights groups sue Texas to halt new law allowing arrests of migrants
The lawsuit asks a judge to prevent the state from enforcing Senate Bill 4, which will authorize Texas police to arrest immigrants suspected of crossing the border illegally.
Posted in
T-Squared
T-Squared: Emily Iazzetti is our new membership manager; Kassie Kelly is our next grants officer
Over 12,000 Texas Tribune members accounted for more than $1 million of the organization’s revenue this year — a milestone. Small and recurring donations make our work possible.
Posted in
Public Education
A Texas high school is piloting the state’s first-ever Asian American studies course. Could politics stand in its way?
The course highlights Asian Americans’ contributions in U.S. history. It also seeks to offer an honest look at the mistreatment, like the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Posted in
Politics
After years of losing battles with GOP leaders, some big city Texas mayors strike friendlier tone
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and incoming Houston Mayor John Whitmire, two veteran Democratic legislators, are trying to repair their cities’ fraught relationships with the state’s GOP leadership.
Posted in
State Government
Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill making illegal immigration a state crime
The new law would authorize police to arrest people they suspect crossed the Rio Grande between ports of entry. Abbott also signed a bill earmarking more than $1 billion for more border barriers.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2023
We ranked Texas senators across the ideological spectrum based on their 2023 votes
Here’s a look at Senate members, ranked from most conservative to most liberal, based on their votes cast during the 2023 regular session and four special sessions.
Posted in
Economy
Shuttered for decades, a downtown theater in a rural Texas town is getting new life and new mission
Rural Texas towns like Levelland on the South Plains are increasingly turning to the arts to help revitalize their downtowns and provide more attractions for families.
Posted in
Politics
Texas’ debate over school chaplains escalates school board culture wars
A new law lets schools use safety funds to pay for unlicensed chaplains working in mental health roles. Supporters say it helps address student mental health while critics blast it as a Christian nationalist attempt to convert children to a specific form of faith.
Posted in
Energy
Texas Supreme Court declines to revive billionaire’s defamation lawsuit against Beto O’Rourke
Kelcy Warren, a Dallas pipeline billionaire, sued O’Rourke in early 2022, saying the Democrat defamed him with critical comments about his company’s windfall profits after the Texas energy-grid collapse in February 2021.
