Property tax revision, judicial branch expansion among new Texas laws that took effect Jan. 1
While the Legislature will soon start its new session, some laws passed in 2021 are just now taking effect. Full Story
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Zach Despart
Enterprise and Investigative Reporter
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Zach Despart is an enterprise and investigative reporter focusing on state government. His work on a team investigating the flawed police response to the Uvalde school shooting was awarded the 2024 Collier Prize and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting. He led the Tribune’s effort to become the first news organization to determine where Texas has built 50 miles of border wall, a project that also found the state struggles with holdout landowners along the route. He previously covered Harris County for the Houston Chronicle, where he reported on corruption, elections, disaster preparedness and the region’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey. An upstate New York native, he received his bachelor’s degree in political science and film from the University of Vermont.
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Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
After Uvalde shooting, Texas senators recommend better mental health care access and school security
The committee urged lawmakers to pay special attention to rural areas. But its lone proposal on guns would not have made a difference in the Robb Elementary shooting. Full Story
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![Flowers lay on the sign for Robb Elementary School on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 in Uvalde. Twenty one people were killed after a gunman after a high school student opened fire inside Robb Elementary School on Tuesday where two teachers and 19 students were killed.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for the Texas Tribune -
Records reveal medical response further delayed care for Uvalde shooting victims
Previously unreleased video, audio and interviews show for the first time how the medical response faltered after police finally confronted the Robb Elementary shooter. Full Story
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![The scene outside Robb Elementary School minutes after officers killed the shooter who had been occupying two adjoining classrooms.]()
Credit: Helicopter footage gathered by the Texas Rangers and obtained by The Texas Tribune, The Washington Post and ProPublica. Graphics by Imogen Piper/The Washington Post -
For the first time, Texas voters send Muslims and openly gay Black men to Legislature
Voters elected Christian Manuel Hayes to House District 22 in Beaumont, Venton Jones to HD-100 in Dallas, Salman Bhojani to HD-92 in Tarrant County and Suleman Lalani to HD-76 in Fort Bend County. Full Story
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![An empty House chamber, prior the start of the special session on Thursday, July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for the Texas Tribune -
Republicans narrowly increase their majorities in Texas Legislature
Republican incumbents are successfully defending their seats while the party appears to be making inroads in South Texas. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol in Austin on Aug. 13, 2022.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
“I’m so scared”: 911 recordings reveal fear and urgency of those trapped in Uvalde elementary school
Audio obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica shows just how long police and dispatchers likely knew that children and teachers were in danger before taking action at Robb Elementary School. Full Story
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![At 12:33 p.m. May 24, exactly an hour after the gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a group of unidentified police officers began advancing toward the classrooms where he had trapped more than 30 students and teachers. But after one officer said “no, no, no,” they stopped. That moment exemplified the overall failed law enforcement response.]()
Credit: State trooper body camera footage obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica -
Texas state trooper who responded to Uvalde shooting fired amid investigations into police response
Department of Public Safety Sgt. Juan Maldonado is the first state police officer fired in the aftermath of a botched police response to the shooting. He was the highest-ranking state trooper to initially respond to Robb Elementary School. Full Story
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![Hundreds of flowers, toys, and candles surround the crosses in memorial of the 21 victims of the school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, on June 9, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
For Republicans, winning Hispanic voters will be a bigger fight than South Texas
Nearly half of Hispanic Texans live in the state’s five largest counties, a voting bloc Democrats cannot afford to lose as they struggle to compete in the state’s vast rural areas. Full Story
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![Straight Edge barbershop owner Virginia Murillo discusses how she has shifted her political views to those that align more with the GOP. Although Murillo comes from a Democratic supporting family, including immigrant parents, she has gradually moved towards a more Conservative point of view, citing religion and children moral welfare. She remains ambivalent on some issues and finds herself straddling views that have long been part of the Democratic Party’s platform too. Oct. 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Jaime R. Carrero for The Texas Tribune -
In Texas, where money has long dominated politics, Greg Abbott is in a league of his own
The two-term governor’s donors enjoy access, appointments to boards and commissions, and a chance to bend the ear of a politician who may harbor bigger ambitions. Full Story
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![In an illustration, Greg Abbott overlooks the Texas Capitol and reflected buildings representing Texas cities.]()
Credit: Rebecca Mock for The Texas Tribune -
As fentanyl plagues Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott directs state police to focus on cartels
Abbott directed the Department of Public Safety to boost efforts to collect intelligence on cartels and investigate gangs in Texas that support drug and human smuggling. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton hosted 12 attorneys general from around the U.S. for a border security briefing at Texas DPS regional headquarters in Weslaco on Jan. 27, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune