Around 200 Texas National Guard troops were deployed to the Chicago area in early October, despite opposition from local and state governments in Illinois.
Alex Nguyen
Alex Nguyen is a general assignment reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Before joining the newsroom in 2025, she was a breaking news reporter at The Dallas Morning News. She previously was a reporting fellow for the Tribune and a reporting intern at Bloomberg News. A graduate of Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Alex was raised mostly in Vancouver, Canada, and she has reported for various regional and national outlets there. She speaks Vietnamese and conversational Spanish and will be based in Austin.
Posted in
State Government
Federal judge temporarily blocks Texas law restricting kids from app stores
Senate Bill 2420, which would have gone into effect on Jan. 1, likely violates the First Amendment, according to the ruling.
Posted in
Health care
Texas, Florida sue FDA over abortion pill approval
Seeking to pull mifepristone from the drug market, the states argued that the FDA did not properly evaluate the pill’s safety and effectiveness.
Posted in
Public Education
Texas Education Agency taking over Lake Worth, Connally and Beaumont school districts
The three interventions come after the state’s education agency announced plans to take over Fort Worth ISD in October.
Posted in
Courts
Llano County library book removals allowed after U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear challenge
Seven residents launched a challenge in 2022 to the removal of 17 books, which included topics on race and gender. They won a reinstatement of the titles, but lost on appeal.
Posted in
Politics
Former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff dies at 89
During his time in the Texas Senate, the moderate Republican tackled major issues such as school finance and ethics reform.
Posted in
Immigration
Federal lawsuits challenging immigration detention flood Texas
The wave of legal challenges is in response to the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement and its new policy expanding mandatory detention for undocumented immigrants.
Posted in
State Government
A slate of new Texas laws goes into effect December and January. Here’s what to watch.
Laws include restricting transgender people’s access to public bathrooms, allowing lawsuits against abortion pill providers, and replacement of the STAAR test.
Posted in
State Government
Texas adds new ID restrictions on vehicle registrations and renewals
The restrictions, which went into effect on Nov. 18, could upend the ability of many undocumented residents to legally own vehicles.
Posted in
State Government
Trump administration considers moving FEMA to Texas and tapping state’s top emergency official, report says
According to Politico, federal officials could relocate the agency here and tap Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd to lead it.