Here's your guide to voting in Texas's May 2025 local elections
On May 3, many Texans will vote on local leaders and initiatives. Here's how to check for elections in your area and register by April 3. Full Story
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![Voters wait in line to cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election at the Esperanza Acosta Memorial Library in El Paso on Nov.5, 2025.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
The Texas Legislature is having big battles over gender and sexuality. Track them here.
The Senate voted Wednesday to give initial approval to a bill that would require buildings, including public schools and universities, among others to segregate private facilities, like bathrooms, by sex. Full Story
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![Attendees wave a trans flag while marching with over 300 activists and supporters from the Bexar County Courthouse to Crockett Park in “March for Us,” San Antonio's third annual celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility, on Saturday, March 29, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.]()
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House panel passes bill requiring air conditioning in Texas prisons by 2032
Weeks after a federal judge declared hot conditions in Texas prisons unconstitutional, a bill requiring air conditioning in those facilities by 2032 has gained traction in the House. Full Story
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![Mountain View prison in Gatesville on September 19, 2019.]()
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Abbott signs first bill of session into law, creating a Texas DOGE
The first bill to reach Abbott’s desk this session creates a regulation-cutting state agency under the purview of the governor. It was passed with bipartisan supermajorities. Full Story
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![Flanked by House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Gov. Greg Abbott signs his first bill into law this session on April 23, 2025. Senate bill 14 establishes a DOGE office in state government. Looking on from behind are the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, and its author, state Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune -
School districts stay quiet as lawmakers push to limit when they can sue the state
School leaders have privately criticized a bill that would make it harder to contest their performance ratings in court. But they did not testify against it to avoid lawmakers’ ire. Full Story
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![Tables are spaced out in a classroom at Ott Elementary School on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 in San Antonio. The tables, which typically seat six to eight students, were arranged to seat four students and 16 total students in the classroom.]()
Credit: Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune -
Financial hardships shutter East Texas hospital 14 months after reopening
Residents in Trinity County will now have to travel 30 miles to access the closest hospital. Full Story
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![Mid Coast Medical Center - Trinity is scheduled to scheduled to close after just 14 months in operation. The district is working quickly to find someone to take over the hospital, which serves the East Texas town of Trinity, about 90 miles north of Houston.]()
Credit: Mid Coast Medical Center - Trinity website -
Texas may study the impact of immigration again, but focus only on costs
The only time the state conducted such an assessment two decades ago, it found that undocumented Texans contributed more to the state’s economy than they cost the state. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott arrives at a press conference with several other states leadership at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass on Feb. 04, 2024.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
In act of forgiveness, woman hugs the El Paso Walmart mass shooter who killed her brother
A day after the shooter pleaded guilty to killing 23 people and wounding 22 others, Yolanda Tinajero gave the judge an unusual request. Full Story
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![Adriana Zandri, right, hugs the mass killer who murdered her husband, Ivan Filiberto Manzano, at the conclusion of the second day of victim impact statements in District Judge Sam Medrano’s courtroom. Crusius pleaded guilty Monday to capital murder and aggravated assault charges for killing 23 people and wounding 22 others at an El Paso Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019.]()
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Maternal health care experts say the needs in the rural parts of Texas are vast, but can be addressed with help
Experts talk to The Texas Tribune about the challenges of providing maternal health care in rural parts of the state and how they can be addressed. Full Story
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Amended bill clarifying Texas abortion laws receives Senate panel approval
The revised bill, which seeks to clarify when a doctor can perform medically necessary abortions, aims to address concerns from abortion advocates and conservative groups. Full Story
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![A patient returns for a follow up appointment to make sure her abortion treatment was successful hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade at the Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services abortion clinic in San Antonio on June 24, 2022.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Get out the popcorn, it’s Paxton vs. Cornyn
The gang welcomes back an old friend, Patrick Svitek, to preview Texas’ biggest political throwdown in years. Full Story
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![Incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (l.) is being challenged by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The two Republicans will face off in the 2026 primaries.]()
Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Sipa USA via REUTERS|Emil T. Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Why Texas Republicans are trying to rein in high home prices and rents
There’s political urgency for Republicans to deal with housing affordability, especially as surveys find most Texans say housing costs are a top concern. Full Story
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![The Mueller neighborhood in East Austin on Oct. 7, 2023.]()
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Early Texas hospital data shows millions spent in care for non-U.S. citizens
A state employee testified Monday that tens of thousands of people in the U.S. unlawfully were treated, but it was unclear how long the data had been collected. Full Story
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![An Austin-Travis County EMS vehicle parked outside of an emergency room in Austin on July 7, 2020.]()
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Texas Lottery executive director resigns as lawmakers’ scrutiny mounts
The Texas Lottery Commission did not immediately clarify why Ryan Mindell chose to resign, as lawmakers have discussed abolishing the lottery outright. Full Story
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![Texas Lottery stand at an Austin convenience store on Feb. 20, 2025.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune -
Prosecutor cites anti-immigrant rhetoric as El Paso shooter is sentenced to 23 life terms
”This community will always remember those whose lives you stole … Their light will never fade,” the judge told the shackled shooter. “While you, your name and your hate, will be forgotten.” Full Story
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![Mass shooter Patrick Crusius, center, stands up to listen to the charges from Judge Sam Medrano in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse for his sentencing in El Paso, Texas, on April 21, 2025. Crusius was convicted of massacring 23 people in a racially motivated mass shooting nearly six years ago at a Walmart in the Cielo Vista area of East El Paso.]()
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“A global loss”: Millions of Texans mourn the death of Pope Francis
Some churchgoers in the Rio Grande Valley remembered the leader of the Catholic Church as a forward-thinking figure who cared for everyone. Full Story
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![Jeanie Piña, 67, pays her respects in front of the image of Pope Francis at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle in San Juan, Texas on Monday April 21, 2025.
Gabriel V. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune]()
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“It’s what’s best for a very select few”: Some Texans are skeptical about vouchers as they near the finish line
Texas Republican lawmakers in regions known for support of public schools defended voting for vouchers, saying they gained leverage to seek concessions. Full Story
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![Public school advocates rally with Democrat House members in the Capitol Rotunda prior to the morning session on April 16, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
With the border quiet, Texas ponders spending another $6.5 billion on border security
Some are questioning whether lawmakers should commit billions more to border security with illegal crossings dwindling and a Trump immigration crackdown. Full Story
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![Shelby Park, until recently occupied by the Texas National Guard and other state agencies, sits aside the Rio Grande on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Eagle Pass.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
Supreme Court blocks deportations of Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law
The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Full Story
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![The United States Supreme Court is seen on Saturday, May 18, 2024 in Washington, D.C..]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Court orders immigration officials to restore legal status of three people who came to Texas on student visas
The three former students went to UT-Arlington and UT-Dallas. While they have prevailed in court so far, many other international students’ education futures remain uncertain. Full Story
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![Students walk through campus on the first day of classes at the University of Texas at Arlington on Aug. 27, 2021.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune