In rural counties, Texas law puts low-income defendants at a disadvantage
A two-tiered system gives less populated counties more time to provide court-appointed lawyers, requiring creative responses to a long-standing problem. Full Story
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![Chief Public Defender of the Concho Valley Public Defender's Office Joe Stephens looks out at the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo on March 12, 2023.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
Houston language advocates race to keep their one small request from disappearing in Capitol bedlam
Woori Juntos began the legislative session hoping to win over a majority of legislators to their cause — making it easier for Texans who speak no or limited English to communicate with state agencies and access crucial services. First, they needed a lawmaker to file their bill. Full Story
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![Hyunja Norman, executive director of Woori Juntos, leads her group through the state Capitol rotunda as they make their way to their next lawmaker meeting on Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Advocacy Day on March 9, 2023. The group hoped to speak with lawmakers and seek support for bills that would improve language access for Korean and Spanish speakers in regards to health and social services,]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas AG Ken Paxton pushes court to reconsider injunction halting investigations into affirming care
In the state’s final brief to appeal a September injunction that halted the investigation into Texas parents of transgender children, Paxton argued that individual families must provide evidence of harm from the actions of the Department of Family and Protective Services. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on April 26, 2022. Earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Texas v. Texas, the enforcement of the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy that required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico as they waited for hearings in U.S. immigration court. (Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune).]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
Houston ISD families blast the state’s takeover of the district as an intervention that won’t improve student learning
Parents and students of the Houston Independent School District decried the state’s decision to take control of the school system. Despite the news, many questions remain about how it would affect them. Full Story
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![Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner speaks to the press about the Texas Education Agency (TEA) takeover of Houston Independent School District (HISD) during a press conference in Houston, on Friday, March 3, 2023.]()
Credit: Joseph Bui for The Texas Tribune -
The Texas House and Senate differ on how to cut property taxes. Here’s what their proposals say.
Cuts to school property tax bills. Bigger tax benefits for homeowners. A controversial idea to limit property tax growth. Here’s what you need to know about the brewing property tax debate at the Texas Legislature. Full Story
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![An Aerial image of a suburban neighborhood in San Marcos on October 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Education Agency will take control of Houston ISD in June
The announcement comes almost four years after the agency first moved to take over the district. Full Story
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![Millard House II, superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, delivers the HISD State of the Schools Address in Houston on Friday, March 3, 2023. The luncheon celebrates distinguished alumni and showcases student projects.]()
Credit: Joseph Bui for The Texas Tribune -
Senate passes bill opening door for prosecutors to charge fentanyl distributors with murder
Gov. Greg Abbott and state lawmakers have taken a tough-on-drugs approach to the fentanyl crisis, primarily pushing efforts to increase criminal penalties. Full Story
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![Tablets of the opioid-based Hydrocodone at a pharmacy in Portsmouth, Ohio, on June 21, 2017.]()
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Federal judge hears challenge to FDA approval of abortion drug
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said he would rule “as soon as possible” on the request for a preliminary injunction that would move mifepristone, a common abortion-inducing drug, off the market. Full Story
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![Kathy Thomas, far left, holds a sign that reads “abortion is healthcare” during the Women's March protest outside of the Federal Courthouse in Amarillo, on March 15, 2023. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk hears a motion by anti-abortion groups, led by Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, to pull mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortion, off the market.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Annie Rice -
Bill would make UT-Austin center formerly known as Liberty Institute into its own college
Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, has filed legislation that would establish The Civitas School of Civic and International Leadership as a formal college at the University of Texas at Austin. Full Story
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![Students walk through campus at the University of Texas at Austin on Aug. 25, 2021.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Lawmakers propose energy bill relief for Texans with $4 billion legislation
The allocation is part of a plan to add $12 billion to the current budget. It hasn’t been approved yet by the House. Full Story
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![Marfa is covered with snow on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. The temperature dropped to 7 degrees on Friday morning.]()
Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune -
How a fading West Texas town has gone four years without safe drinking water
Some Toyah residents say state regulators at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality were “negligent” and want to know what took so long. The Texas attorney general has filed a lawsuit. Full Story
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![The Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Texas Law School conducted water testing at houses in Toyah in Feburary 2023.]()
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Texas’ U.S. Rep. Chip Roy says Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should be president
The Austin Republican is the staunch conservative who led 19 House members in blocking Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the speakership. “I believe it’s time for a new generation of leadership,” he said of DeSantis. Full Story
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![Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Marco Bello | Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via REUTERS -
Texas Senate confirms Jane Nelson as secretary of state
Nelson’s former colleagues in the Senate gave her resounding approval, avoiding another embarrassment for Gov. Greg Abbott, whose last three nominations for secretary of state did not receive confirmation. Full Story
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![Secretary of State Jane Nelson presides over the House of Representatives on the first day of the 88th legislature on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Uvalde families ask to join suit pushing for DPS to release public records
The lawyers for some of the Uvalde families say there is “a compelling need” for records into the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary to be publicly released. Full Story
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![Velma Duran, the sister of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary school shooting, confronts Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw after he finished testifying to the Homeland Security & Public Safety committee hearing at the state Capitol in Austin on Feb. 28, 2023. “They stood around and enabled the shooter to obliterate my sister. You couldn’t recognize her,” Duran said to McCraw. “Look at me!”]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge at center of FDA abortion drug case has history with conservative causes
U.S. District Matthew Kacsmaryk was once deputy counsel for the First Liberty Institute, the Plano-based conservative Christian law firm. Full Story
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![Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.]()
Credit: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas -
Texas education agency ready to find new leaders for Houston school district, documents show
Texas’ education agency first moved to take over the district in 2019 after years of low student performance at a single Houston ISD high school. Critics said the district has made improvements since then. Full Story
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![(Left) Patricia Allen, a union organizer with Houston Educational Support Personnel, holds a poster along with her colleague against Texas Education Agency (TEA) takeover of Houston Independent School District (HISD) during a press conference regarding HISD's imminent state takeover in Houston, on Friday, March 3, 2023.]()
Credit: Joseph Bui for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Democrats and Republicans are on the hunt for rare chances to flip seats in 2024
The dearth of competitive down-ballot races could contrast with the last few election cycles in Texas, when multiple congressional seats and state legislative seats drew significant national investment. Full Story
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![Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Robstown, a western suburb of Corpus Christi, on Oct. 22, 2022.]()
Credit: Lucas Boland/Caller-Times USA Today Network -
Ken Paxton’s campaign against election crimes ensnared a Texas justice of the peace three times before judges thwarted the efforts
Many of the illegal voting cases the Texas attorney general has boasted about are unraveling after a key court ruling. But Tomas Ramirez III said the pursuit of charges against him has taken its toll. Full Story
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![Medina County Precinct Four Justice of the Peace and attorney Tomas Ramirez III takes calls and responds to emails at his office in Devine on March 12, 2023.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
Texas renters got unprecedented help during the pandemic. The Legislature is unlikely to extend it.
Lawmakers will decide whether to keep protections that shielded tenants from eviction — or to ban them. Full Story
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![A leasing sign outside Garden Court Apartments in north Midland, where rent for a one-bedroom can run as high as $850 per month. Leasing signs were an uncommon sight in Midland as recently as 2014, when apartment occupancy nearly hit 100 percent. It's fallen to about 80 percent now, according to the Permian Basin Apartment Association.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate passes bill to make illegal voting a felony again
The priority bill, backed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, reverses a change the Legislature made two years ago during an omnibus voting bill that made illegal voting a misdemeanor. Full Story
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![Voters line up outside of the Hays County Independent School District Arnold Transportation Building voting center to cast their vote in the Texas General Elections on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022 in Kyle.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune