TribBlog: Capitol Cleared After Bomb Threat
Capitol staffers report that they're being evacuated. Staffers say state troopers notified them that there was a possible bomb threat about 30 minutes ago. Full Story
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Emily Ramshaw
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Emily Ramshaw was the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune from 2016 to 2020. During her tenure, the Tribune — billed “one of the nonprofit news sector’s runaway success stories” — won a Peabody Award, several national Murrow Awards and top honors from the Online News Association. Before joining the Tribune in 2010 as one of its founding reporters, Ramshaw spent six years at The Dallas Morning News, where she broke national stories about sexual abuse inside Texas’ youth lock-ups, reported from inside a West Texas polygamist compound and uncovered “fight clubs” inside state institutions for the disabled. The Texas APME named Ramshaw its 2008 star reporter of the year. In 2016, she was named to the board of the Pulitzer Prizes. A native of Washington, D.C., and the product of two journalist parents, Ramshaw graduated from Northwestern University in 2003 with dual degrees in journalism and American history.
Past Contributions
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![State troopers denying visitor entrance to the Capitol due to a bomb threat on June 18, 2010.]()
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TribBlog: Gallego Wants "Fight Club" Investigation
State Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, has asked the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics to review how the Department of Family and Protective Services licenses, reviews and oversees residential treatment centers for foster kids. Full Story
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No More Valley Carve-Out?
When Texas expanded its Medicaid managed care program in 2003 to cover more than urban centers, the Rio Grande Valley narrowly avoided being included. But as state leaders stare down a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, they say it’s unlikely the Valley will make it through another session without being roped in. Full Story
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Forced to Fight, Continued
Texas officials have halted the placement of foster care children at Daystar and have assigned the Houston-area residential treatment center a state monitor following revelations of a staff-instigated “fight club” incident two years ago and a new incident that has come to light this past week: a possible sexual assault of a girl living at the facility. Full Story
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Credit: Nick de la Torre / The Houston Chronicle -
TribBlog: State Suspends Daystar Placements
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has suspended all new placements of foster children at the Daystar Residential Treatment Center outside of Houston, following a Texas Tribune/Houston Chronicle investigation that revealed workers forced young girls to fight each other in return for snacks. Full Story
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Credit: Nick de la Torre / The Houston Chronicle -
Far From Home
Alaska officials sent 16-year-old Richard DeMaar 4,000 miles away from his parents to a psychiatric facility in San Antonio because his home state wasn’t equipped to handle his severe depression. Within six weeks, he had tied a makeshift noose around his neck, strangling himself to death. He's one of roughly 900 out-of-state kids sent to residential treatment centers in Texas in the last five years, part of a national compact that allows states that don't have adequate psychiatric services to send kids to states that do. But the practice has come under fire from children’s health advocates, who say it takes kids away from their families and their communities — two things they need to make a full-fledged recovery. Full Story
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![Richard DeMaar in his Fairbanks, Alaska home.]()
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TribBlog: Watkins Plays Self-Defense
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, under fire at home for his handling of an investigation into Democratic county constables, played defense before an Austin crowd this morning in a TribLive interview with the Tribune's Evan Smith. Full Story
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TribBlog: Governor Responds to "Fight Club" Abuse
Gov. Rick Perry's office said this evening that it has ordered the Department of Family and Protective Services to review its investigation and sanction policies in light of a Houston Chronicle/Texas Tribune article on staffers who forced young girls to fight at a Houston-area residential treatment center for foster children. Full Story
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![The Daystar Residential Inc. campus, in Manvel, photographed on Saturday, June 5, 2010.]()
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TribBlog: Campaigns Sound Off Over 'Fight Club' [Updated]
The day after the Texas Tribune and the Houston Chronicle collaborated to expose a fight club — this one involving young girls at a Houston-area residential treatment center for foster kids — gubernatorial hopeful Bill White's campaign sounded off on it, blaming Gov. Rick Perry for not being aware of the abuse. Full Story
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Credit: Nick de la Torre / The Houston Chronicle -
Forced to Fight
Workers at a center for distressed children in Manvel provoked seven developmentally disabled girls into a fight of biting and bruising, while they laughed, cheered and promised the winners after-school snacks. The fight was one of more than 250 incidents of abuse and mistreatment in residential treatment centers over the last two years, based on a Houston Chronicle/Texas Tribune review of Department of Family and Protective Services records. Full Story
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![The Dystar Residential Inc. campus, in Manvel, photographed on Friday, June 4, 2010.]()
Credit: Nick de la Torre / The Houston Chronicle