How Texas educators train before arming themselves at school
The school marshal program allows certain school staffers to carry a firearm and neutralize active shooters on campus. Here's how participants train. Full Story
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Matthew Choi
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Matthew Choi is a Washington correspondent for The Texas Tribune. He previously covered energy and climate policy at Politico, where he wrote the Morning Energy newsletter and covered campaign events as a breaking news reporter during the 2020 presidential election and the Mueller investigation. Before joining Politico, Matthew was a two-time reporting fellow at The Texas Tribune based in Austin, reporting on education, health care, immigration, guns, agriculture and land management. He graduated from Northwestern University where he studied journalism and political science and was managing editor of The Daily Northwestern. Matthew is a native of Northern Virginia and speaks both French and English. In his free time, Matthew enjoys cooking French country food while listening to Simon and Garfunkel.
Past Contributions
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![An educator partakes in a simulated shooting as part of a training for school marshals. School marshals are school staff trained and armed to take out a threat to their campus.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate school safety committee recommends focusing on mental health, avoids gun control
The Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Safety also wants to explore new funding to help arm certain school employees. Full Story
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![Left to right: State Sens. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownville, and John Whitmire, D-Houston, at the second day of hearings held by the Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security on June 12, 2018.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune -
Blocked from distributing plans for 3D-printed guns, "crypto-anarchist" is still in the DIY gun business
Cody Wilson's group Defense Distributed is known for attempting to upload the digital blueprints for 3D-printed guns. But he also helps customers make unregistered, unserialized conventional firearms. Full Story
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![Cody Wilson, gun rights activist and founder of Defense Distributed, a Texas-based company developing and publishing open source gun designs for 3D printing and manufacture.]()
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Following lawsuits, Texas company's plans to upload blueprints for 3D-printed guns are on hold
An Austin organization founded by a self-identified anarchist is no longer releasing information on how to use 3D printers to make guns at home in light of legal challenges from states. Full Story
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West Texas A&M president finds home in Panhandle after controversial past
Walter Wendler, president of West Texas A&M University, has expanded community outreach and doctoral programs for rural areas, but his past has its share of contentious moments. Full Story
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![West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler.]()
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The Trump administration will aid farmers hurt by trade war. Some Texas lawmakers call it welfare
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $12 billion in emergency aid to offset the effects of new tariffs — to the relief of many Texas farmers. But some Republicans in Congress would rather see Trump end the tariffs. Full Story
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![Cotton fields ready for harvest, Highway 87, south of Lubbock, Texas.]()
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Texas senators agree on the need for school mental health services, but can they fund it?
In their third scheduled meeting, the Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security discussed the role of mental health in school shootings and ways to address it. But questions of funding kept popping up. Full Story
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![State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, listens to testimony during a Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security hearing on July 18, 2018.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Police interventions spike in Texas schools after shootings in Santa Fe and Parkland
Students have been referred to law enforcement in dramatically higher numbers after the school shootings in Parkland and Santa Fe. A study suggests the arrests show a return to zero-tolerance policies that can harm students. Full Story
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![Police tape in front of Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, on May 20, 2018.]()
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"No question, it's going to hurt": Trump trade war with China worries Texas agriculture
President Donald Trump advanced on one of his primary campaign promises last week, imposing major tariffs on Chinese imports. The tariffs are expected to raise the price of production for agriculture while making Texan crop exports less competitive in China. Full Story
![Cotton fields ready for harvest, Highway 87, south of Lubbock, Texas.]()
Credit: Calsidy Rose -
Guns chill free speech, UT-Austin professors will argue at federal appeals court
Three UT-Austin professors sued to end a state law mandating campus carry in Texas. Though a federal judge dismissed the suit, the fight isn't over as the case goes to a federal appeals court. Full Story
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![On Nov. 10, University of Texas at Austin faculty and students protest Senate Bill 11, which will allow people with concealed handgun licenses to pack heat in campus buildings. The law allows private schools to opt out and empowers university administrators to set their own rules and declare some parts of campus "gun free zones."]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles