A new bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers wants to highlight the state’s fragile water infrastructure
So far there has been an average of six boil-water notices a day across Texas in 2023. Full Story
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![Volunteers unload water during a water distribution and free flu vaccination event at the Holman Street Baptist Church in Houston on Nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
More than 70 Texas prisoners are 3 days into a hunger strike protesting harsh solitary confinement practices
Prisoners have refused food to protest practices that have kept more than 500 people in isolation for more than a decade. Full Story
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![The Gurney Unit prison, operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Tennessee Colony, in 2016.]()
Credit: Martin do Nascimento for The Texas Tribune -
EPA moves away from Permian Basin air pollution crackdown
The oil industry pushed hard against the proposal to issue an ozone nonattainment designation, which would have required that companies reduce oilfield emissions. Full Story
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![A natural gas flare operates less than 200 yards away from a family home on March 14, 2022 in Midland.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
COVID-19 upended Texas schools’ finances. Now they’re calling for a new funding system.
Districts like Pflugerville ISD, which is struggling with a $12 million deficit and weighing school closures, say the pandemic and rising inflation have eroded the value of the state’s last effort to overhaul its public education finance system. Full Story
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![Members of the Parmer Lane parent teacher organization advertise an informational meeting about the potential closure of the elementary school to parents during student-pickup in Pflugerville on Jan. 9, 2023. According to the volunteers, many parents still don't know or understand the situation involving the school, and the meeting is meant to address any questions parents might have.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
T-Squared: Renzo Downey will write the Tribune’s politics newsletter
Downey, who currently reports on Florida politics, covered the Texas Legislature’s 2019 session for the Austin American-Statesman. Full Story
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![Renzo Downey will be joining us on Feb. 1 as the lead writer of The Blast, The Texas Tribune's premium politics newsletter.]()
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The fringe ideology of “constitutional sheriffs” is attracting believers within Texas law enforcement
Some 50 Texas sheriffs and numerous elected officials have attended trainings on the unsupported notion that sheriffs can single-handedly overrule state and federal law. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which offered state peace officers credit for the seminars, is now investigating. Full Story
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![From left: Michigan Sheriff Dar Leaf sits next to Coryell Co. Sheriff Scott Williams during a news conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 12, 2022.]()
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Ken Paxton wants more power to prosecute election crimes. These bills in the Texas Legislature would give it to him.
Although no evidence of widespread voter fraud has been found, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been actively pursuing election-related crimes since he took office in 2015. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton gave a speech in the Senate chamber during his swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 10, 2023. This is Paxton's third term in the office.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House speaker addresses prospects of anti-LGBTQ bills, gun legislation and casinos
At the start of his second term leading the lower chamber, Dade Phelan talked to reporters about several legislative issues that will be decided this year. Full Story
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![Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, presides over the House during a session at the Capitol in Austin on Jan. 11, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas higher ed leaders optimistic about funding, faculty uneasy about culture wars as new session starts
Community colleges want a funding overhaul this legislative session, and four-year universities are hoping for a boost in research funds. Meanwhile, faculty are bracing for a potential threat to tenure and limits to conversations about race. Full Story
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![Texas State University campus in San Marcos in 2018.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Afghan soldier arrested at border while seeking asylum has new lawyers, meets with FBI
Abdul Wasi Safi’s physical and mental health are deteriorating as he waits at a detention center near the border. Full Story
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![Abdul Wasi Safi stands in the foreground of Afghan military vehicles surrounded by HESCO barriers and concrete bunkers.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Sami-ullah Safi -
State agency that oversees Texas power grid needs more money to do its job, Sunset Commission finds
The Public Utility Commission has about 200 employees but needs more to handle shoring up the state power grid and tackling an expanded list of regulatory duties, according to the state Sunset Advisory Commission. Full Story
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![Electrical workers repair a power line in Austin on Feb. 18, 2021. Many Texas residents are still without power, and many don't have clean drinking water or working water at all.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas senators draw lots to determine how long their terms will be
After redistricting, the state constitution requires senators to draw lots to determine which half of the chamber will have four-year terms and which will have two-year terms. This keeps Senate district elections staggered every two years for the rest of the decade. Full Story
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![The Texas Senate Floor on June 8, 2022.]()
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Effort to ban Democratic chairs fails in Texas House, but rule passes to penalize future quorum-breakers
House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, snuffed out a monthslong push Wednesday to end the chamber’s longtime tradition of having committee chairs from both parties. Full Story
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![State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, speaks at a Texas Freedom Caucus press conference at the Capitol on Aug. 30, 2021.]()
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Republican Texas House candidate’s election complaint tossed after he fails to pay fee
Mike May was one of more than 20 losing candidates in Harris County who filed election contests, citing reports of Election Day issues. Full Story
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![From left: Republican Mike May and Texas House District 135 incumbent Democrat Jon Rosenthal.]()
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Oaths, M&Ms and a historic Quran: Texas’ freshman lawmakers begin their inaugural legislative session
New Texas House members were sworn into office Tuesday, including some who have already made history. Full Story
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![State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-HD92, speaks with Usama Malik, resident chaplain of Muslim Space, before participating in an interfaith ceremony the morning of the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
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Texas Senate votes to take up redistricting again
The redistricting process this year is mostly procedural and is not expected to produce very different results from the most recent process completed in 2021. Full Story
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![A woman waits for the Senate to gavel in from the Senate gallery on Aug. 10, 2021.]()
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Questions about validity of shaken baby syndrome not enough to give Texas death row inmate new trial, court rules
Robert Roberson was sentenced to death for killing his 2-year-old daughter. Experts have since backtracked on the science used in part to win his conviction. Full Story
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![Robert Roberson seeks a new trial for the 2003 conviction of the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine, Texas on August 14, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
As Donald Trump mounts his 2024 presidential bid, his support among Texas officials is waning
About two months into his comeback bid, few prominent Texas Republicans have endorsed Trump — and some are showing more willingness to cross him publicly. Full Story
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![Former President Donald Trump delivers a speech at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas on Aug. 6, 2022.]()
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Farmers face a higher risk of suicide. The Texas Agriculture Department wants $500,000 a year to change that.
The department’s helpline is less than a year old. But advocates hope state lawmakers fully fund it as farmers and ranchers continue to face hard economic times and isolation. Full Story
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![Grant Heinrich, Operations Manager for Pro Agri Spraying, stands outside of his Slaton business Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2022.]()
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As the share of white Texans continues to shrink, the Legislature remains mostly white and male
In the 2023 legislative session that convened Tuesday, 70% of lawmakers are men. More than half of the Senate and House members are white, and nearly half are white men. Full Story
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![Opening Day of the 2023 Texas Legislature at the Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune