Texas Senate advances bill to allow smaller homes on smaller lots
Lawmakers, who are preempting locals on lot sizes in new subdivisions, have been eyeing ways to allow more homes to be built as the state faces a shortage.
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Jackpot withheld, $83 million winner “caught in crossfire” amid lottery courier investigations
The winning ticket, purchased online through the courier Jackpocket, is being scrutinized by lawmakers concerned about the legality of third-party services.
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Texas measles outbreak
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Federal judge strikes down Texas' mail ballot ID requirement
The judge found that the provisions of SB1, the state's 2021 voter security law, discriminate against voters with disabilities. Full Story
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![A ballot is dropped in Austin in October, 2020.]()
Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune -
Texas doesn’t have to place LGBTQ foster youth in homes that affirm their identities, court rules
A federal judge has blocked a Biden-era rule that said providing foster children with “safe and proper care” required placing them in gender-affirming homes. Full Story
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![Scenes from Austin Pride 2024 on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, on Congress Ave in Austin. The day-long celebration featured drag performances, booths and floats of Austin’s businesses and many Texans clad in rainbow.]()
Credit: Olivia Anderson/The Texas Tribune
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How Texas Republicans plan to keep cracking down on abortion
A flurry of bills aims to restrict the flow of abortion pills into the state and abortion seekers traveling out of the state. Full Story
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![Misoprostol on the shelf at Parker Road Drug Store in Greenville, S.C., on June 13, 2024.]()
Credit: McKenzie Lange/The Greenville News via REUTERS -
Texas measles cases rise to 309. Here is what you need to know.
The West Texas outbreak has spread to three new counties –– Hockley, Hale and Garza –– for a total of 14 affected counties, as of Friday. Full Story
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![Devonay Pena comforts her 13-month-old daughter, Jaqi Herrera, after Herrera received her first dose of the MMR vaccine at the City of Lubbock Health Department in Lubbock on Feb. 27, 2025.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Annie Rice
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Texas prison staff falsified temperatures records, investigation finds
Two-thirds of the state’s roughly 100 jails and prisons in Texas are not fully air conditioned in inmate housing areas. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Paxton impeachment cost state $5.1 million, auditor report finds
The new finding is about 20% higher than previous estimates of the known cost of the effort to remove Paxton from office. Full Story
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![Ken Paxton sits with attorneys Tony Buzbee and Mitch Little on the ninth day of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial at the state capitol in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 15, 2023.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
Republican lawmakers revive effort to give attorney general more power to prosecute election crimes
Critics fear increased election prosecutions could intimidate voters and local election officials. Attorney General Ken Paxton has long sought more autonomy over election cases. Full Story
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![Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, speaks to the media Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, during a press conference following arguments in the case “Free Speech Coalition, Inc., et al. v. Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas,” at the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C.]()
Credit: Luke Johnson for The Texas Tribune
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Texas is poised to make measles a nationwide epidemic, public health experts say
Public health experts say Texas needs better messaging on vaccinations and quarantining and more people conducting contact tracing to contain the spread. Full Story
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![A sign donning measles information is posted outside of the office of Dr. Rumbidzai Mutikani, a pediatrician at the Hobbs Medical Clinic, as she works at her desk Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, in Hobbs, N.M.]()
Credit: AP Photo/Julio Cortez -
Texas faculty testify against bills to screen universities’ curriculum for “ideological” bias
Lawmakers say several bills under consideration Thursday would “address the unchecked authority of faculty.” They would expand university governing boards’ oversight powers. Full Story
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![The UT system Board of Regents during a regular meeting in Austin on May 3, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Abbott praises Trump’s efforts to eliminate Education Department at White House
Gov. Greg Abbott dismissed concerns that federal funding and civil rights could be jeopardized by the reduction of the department. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott applauds as he attends the signing of an executive order to shut down the Department of Education by President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2025.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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Texas AG Ken Paxton accuses Coppell ISD of violating Texas’ “critical race theory” ban
The attorney general office’s lawsuit is based on an undercover video published in February by a conservative activist group. Full Story
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![The Texas flags hangs at a classroom, on Aug. 7, 2024.]()
Credit: Trace Thomas for The Texas Tribune -
95,000 Texas children are waiting for state help to pay for day care
Adding more funding to scholarships is just one way experts say state lawmakers could address Texas’ child care crisis. Full Story
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![Clarissa Alday spends her morning reading to children at Katherine Sage Temple Early Learning Center, on Tuesday February 25, 2025, in Diboll.]()
Credit: Michael Cavazos for The Texas Tribune -
Ted Cruz funds ads supporting pro-voucher lawmakers
The ads praise 14 Texas Republicans, including House Speaker Dustin Burrows, for their support of education savings accounts. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to residents at his bus tour rally in Huntsville on Oct. 8, 2024, finishing his six-city tour campaign for reelection against U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas.]()
Credit: Hope Capwell for The Texas Tribune
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Texas’ first abortion arrests stem from monthlong attorney general investigation
These represent the first criminal charges under Texas’ near-total abortion ban. Full Story
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![A nurse speaks with a patient at a clinic in Houston on Aug. 2, 2013.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Different pace and priorities separate Texas Senate and House on school vouchers
The gaps over eligibility and on spending levels are narrower than the fundamental differences of the previous session. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, left, and House Speaker Dustin Burrows applaud as Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock gives the biennial State of the Judiciary speech in the Texas House chamber on Feb. 26, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate approves bill changing how schools select library books
Senate Bill 13 would create school library advisory councils largely made up of parents. It would give school boards, rather than librarians, the final say over new books. Full Story
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![Shelves filled with books at a school library in San Marcos.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune
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Texas Senate passes bill to put Ten Commandments in public school classrooms
The vote comes amid a broader push by conservative Christians to infuse more religion into public schools and life. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol and the Ten Commandments Monument at sunrise on Tuesday, June 6, in Austin, Texas.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate approves bill banning DEI in K-12 public schools
The bill would ban diversity, equity and inclusion policies related to hiring and programming, while creating ways for parents to complain about violations to the DEI ban. Full Story
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![Passing period at United South High School in Laredo on Oct. 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate passes hemp ban, a Dan Patrick priority
Patrick says the measure will shut down the dangerous THC products business. The House’s proposal would tighten oversight of the industry without a full ban. Full Story
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![A flowering cannabis plant at Texas Original cannabis farm on Sept. 26, 2024.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune - More News