Morgan Smith

Morgan Smith was a reporter at the Tribune from 2009 to 2018, covering politics, public education and inequality. In 2013, she received a National Education Writers Association award for “Death of a District,” a series on school closures. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College, she moved to Austin in 2008 to enter law school at the University of Texas. A San Antonio native, her work has also appeared in Slate, where she spent a year as an editorial intern in Washington D.C.

Past Contributions

The Brief: Nov. 15, 2010

By Morgan Smith Nov. 15, 2010

Want a straw poll in the Speaker’s race? Not so fast. Full Story

Credit: Bob Daemmrich
License to Torture?

By Morgan Smith Nov. 15, 2010

The State Board of Psychologists will decide whether an architect of Bush-era "enhanced interrogation techniques" developed for use in so-called black prison sites violated the profession's rules of practice. Full Story

Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
TribBlog: HISD Leaving Girls Sports Behind?

By Morgan Smith Nov. 10, 2010

The largest school district in Texas isn't providing enough opportunities for high school girls to play sports, according to a Title IX complaint filed by the National Women's Law Center today. Full Story
TribBlog: High Court: Property Rights Trump Open Beaches

By Morgan Smith Nov. 5, 2010

In a pivotal decision, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the Open Beaches Act may not allow the state to ask landowners to remove private property if a hurricane or other natural disaster moves it within the public section of a beach. Full Story

Credit: http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/Beachwatch/images/beach1.jpg
What Chet Does Next

By Morgan Smith Nov. 4, 2010

His resounding defeat was only one of Election Day’s many hits to the solar plexus of the state Democratic Party. But the loss of the powerful and politically talented U.S. congressman from Waco engenders the most speculation. What's next for Chet Edwards? Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Marjorie Cotera/Todd Wiseman
2010: Chet Edwards Speaks

By Morgan Smith Nov. 3, 2010

"I can swim against the stream and have done so repeatedly, but I can't swim against a tidal wave," he says. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Marjorie Cotera/Todd Wiseman
2010: No Surprises on the High Courts

By Morgan Smith Nov. 2, 2010

There weren't any surprises in the races for the highest courts: All Republican incumbents won. Full Story
Red November

By Brandi Grissom, Reeve Hamilton, Elise Hu, Ross Ramsey, Emily Ramshaw, Morgan Smith, Matt Stiles, Julián Aguilar, David Muto, Kate Galbraith, Becca Aaronson, Julie Chang, Tristan Hallman and Emily Brown Nov. 2, 2010

Rick Perry won his third full term as governor of Texas on Tuesday, defeating former Houston Mayor Bill White by a convincing double-digit margin and positioning himself for a role on the national stage. And he led a Republican army that swept all statewide offices for the fourth election in a row, took out three Democratic U.S. congressmen and was on its way to a nearly two-thirds majority in the Texas House — a mark the GOP hasn't seen since the days following the Civil War. Full Story

Credit: Bob Daemmerich
2010: Chet Edwards Concedes

By Morgan Smith Nov. 2, 2010

If he had won tonight, it would have cemented his reputation as a political miracle worker. Instead, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards lost the Central Texas seat he's held for more than two decades to Republican Bill Flores of Bryan by a wide margin. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Marjorie Cotera/Todd Wiseman
Hammer Time

By Morgan Smith Nov. 1, 2010

Today, five years after Tom DeLay’s fall from power, his trial on the money laundering and conspiracy charges that forced his resignation as U.S. House majority leader is finally slated to begin. What's at stake, other than voyeuristic curiosity about whether a former congressman will go to prison? Full Story

Credit: Bob Daemmrich