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Alexa Ura is an associate editor and reporter at The Texas Tribune. As the Tribune’s demographics reporter, she covers the intersection between politics and race with an emphasis on the state’s surging Hispanic population. She also covers voting rights issues for the Tribune, where she started as a reporting fellow in 2013. She’s a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
On this week's TribCast, Alexa talks to Ross, Emma and Matthew about the governor's move to pull back on the enforcement of his executive orders related to the coronavirus pandemic and a GOP congressional hopeful's misleading messaging on voting by mail. Full Story
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The civil rights group is raising questions of constitutionality and violations of the federal Voting Rights Act because the pool of voters eligible to vote by mail based on age is predominantly white. Full Story
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Early voting for the July 14 runoffs will begin June 29, instead of July 6, under a proclamation issued Monday by Gov. Greg Abbott. Full Story
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In their suit, a group of Texas voters and civic organizations claim that four Texas absentee voting rules are unconstitutional during a public health crisis. Full Story
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On this week's TribCast, Alexa talks to Matthew, Emma and Ross about the governor's move to reopen more businesses in Texas more quickly than expected and the implications of those reopenings. Full Story
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As Gov. Greg Abbott continues lifting restrictions on Texas businesses and activities, coronavirus infection rates are exploding in Panhandle communities near meatpacking plants. Full Story
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The network of companies — Ashford Hospitality Trust, Ashford Inc., and Braemar Hotels & Resorts — are run by prominent Texas GOP donor Monty Bennett. Full Story
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Potter County has roughly four times the infection rate of Harris and Dallas counties. Full Story
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On this week's TribCast, Alexa talks to Cassi, Matthew and Ross about the phased reopening of Texas businesses and what that could mean for Texans who must return to work in a pandemic. Full Story
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The voters — all between the ages of 18 and 28 — want the courts to rule that the state's age restriction for voting by mail, which limits eligibility to those 65 and older, violates constitutional protections. Full Story
A workforce of immigrants has long powered the massive JBS meatpacking plant in Cactus, where a cluster of coronavirus cases is under investigation. They're risking their lives each shift in the county with the state's highest known infection rate. Full Story
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On this week's TribCast, Alexa talks to Evan, Matthew and Emma about the slow efforts to reopen the Texas economy, a testing quandary in rural Texas and election administrators' woes over the upcoming elections. Full Story
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The Department of State Health Services is looking into outbreaks at JBS Beef in Moore County and Tyson Foods in Shelby County. Full Story
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Other states may be shifting to increased mail-in voting, but Texas' GOP leaders are fighting efforts to expand the practice. That leaves local elections officials to try to make polling places safe in a pandemic. Full Story
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On this week's TribCast, Alexa talks to Matthew, Cassi and Ross about what's coming up in the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the group does some forecasting for what the public health emergency could mean for the 2021 legislative session. Full Story
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A state district judge issued a temporary injunction expanding who can qualify for an absentee ballot for the upcoming elections. The decision faces certain appeal as Democrats and Republicans clash over voter access. Full Story
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Under a proposal by the Trump administration, the delivery of data Texas lawmakers need to redraw political districts would be pushed to July — past the end of the state's regular legislative session. Full Story
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The emerging national picture shows black Americans disproportionately getting sick and dying from COVID-19. The same trend may be playing out in Texas' black and Hispanic communities, but sparse data has been collected. Full Story
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On this week's TribCast, Alexa talks to Emma and Shannon about how health care workers are preparing for a rush of COVID-19 hospitalizations and why health care workers on the front lines don't get expanded paid sick leave protections. Full Story
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The Texas Democratic Party is asking both federal and state courts to rule on whether any voter in upcoming elections should be able to ask for an absentee ballot to mail in and avoid possible infection at polling places. Full Story