Hemp is booming in Texas. Distinguishing it from marijuana is still a challenge.
In this video, The Texas Tribune dug into hemp and marijuana with lawmakers, crime lab scientists, criminal defense attorneys and hemp entrepreneurs. Full Story
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Jolie McCullough
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Jolie McCullough was a reporter at The Texas Tribune from 2015 to 2023. She began as a data visualization journalist and then reported on criminal justice policy, ranging from policing and courts to prisons and the death penalty. She joined the Tribune from the Albuquerque Journal, her hometown newspaper. She previously worked at the Arizona Republic and is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Past Contributions
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![A container of dried hemp plant with leaves and stems on Jan. 23, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
As the Texas prison population shrinks, the state is closing two more lockups
The closures are expected in the coming months, as the state faces dangerous understaffing in its prisons. Full Story
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![Telford prison in New Boston.]()
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Three Texas inmates have died at the hands of prison officers as use of force continues to rise
The increase in altercations with inmates comes as Texas' prison population dwindles. In three years, three officers have faced criminal charges in prisoners' deaths. Full Story
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![Birds fly overhead at the Hilltop prison unit in Gatesville, Texas, Nov. 25, 2019.]()
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Texas executes Abel Ochoa, who killed five family members in Dallas shooting
Ochoa was sentenced to death after the slayings in Dallas of his relatives, including his two young daughters. His defense argued he was in a cocaine-induced delirium. Full Story
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![Abel Ochoa was sentenced to death for the murder of five relatives, including his wife and two young daughters.]()
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Austin police chief: We will still ticket, arrest for marijuana
The day after the Austin City Council unanimously approved stopping arrests and tickets for low-level marijuana cases, police Chief Brian Manley said he will continue to enforce such laws. Full Story
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![Austin Police Chief Brian Manley speaks during a news conference near the scene where a woman was injured in a package bomb explosion, in Austin on March 12, 2018.]()
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Austin police will stop arrests, tickets in most low-level marijuana cases after unanimous City Council vote
The decision to back away from pursuing criminal charges against people with small amounts of pot comes after state lawmakers legalized hemp last year in a way that threw marijuana prosecution into chaos. Full Story
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Texas carries out nation's first execution of 2020 for domestic violence slaying in Collin County
John Gardner, 64, was put to death for the 2005 murder of his estranged wife. His lawyers had argued the crime wasn't eligible for the death penalty. Full Story
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![John Gardner was sentenced to death for the 2005 murder of his estranged wife, Tammy Dawn Gardner.]()
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Austin to consider stopping arrests, tickets in low-level marijuana cases after hemp law
Four progressive members of the City Council are pushing the proposal, which needs two more votes to pass. Full Story
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He spent a month in Texas jail accused of hauling 3,350 pounds of marijuana. But lab results say it was legal hemp.
The man had told a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper that his truck contained hemp, not weed. He was released from detention after a federal crime lab tested the cargo. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Public Safety claimed last month that it seized more than 3,000 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop in Carson County. Lab results indicate the load was legal hemp.]()
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Marijuana prosecutions in Texas have dropped by more than half since lawmakers legalized hemp
After Texas legalized hemp and threw marijuana prosecution into chaos last year, prosecutors filed far fewer criminal charges, police departments paid for private testing and public crime labs were struggling to catch up. Full Story
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