Video: As more Texans die from fentanyl overdoses, advocates and experts urge harm reduction policies
Alyssa Pastrana was 21 years old when she died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at her home in Abilene. Full Story
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![The Fuentes family at a memorial for Alyssa Pastrana, 21, who died of an accidental fentanyl overdose last year in Abilene.]()
Credit: Lauren Santucci/The Texas Tribune -
Trump appointees are helping Texas derail Biden’s immigration agenda
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has sued the Biden administration 20 times in Texas federal courts over everything from mask mandates to immigration policies. Trump-appointed judges have ruled in seven of them, all in favor of Texas. Full Story
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![Migrants arrive in Nuevo Laredo after being returned by Customs and Border Protection. The group requested asylum in the United States and under the Migrant Protection Protocols, are returned to Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings. July 22, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott replaces Texas military leader who has overseen heavily criticized border mission
Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer will take over as the military department’s new leader. He replaces Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, who was criticized for her handling of Operation Lone Star, as adjutant general of the Texas Military Department. Full Story
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![From left: Gov. Greg Abbott, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen and Brig. Gen. Tracy Norris, the adjutant general of the Texas National Guard, discuss sending an additional 1,000 troops to assist at the border at a press conference in Austin on June 21, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
His public custody battle helped ignite a movement against transgender health care for kids. Will it carry him to the Texas House?
Jeff Younger sees himself as the “tip of the spear” in an effort that led the state to investigate parents of transgender children for child abuse. Full Story
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![Jeff Younger stands outside the Denton County Republican Party Headquarters in Denton on March 10, 2022.]()
Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Texas environment agency’s plan to remedy language discrimination allegations leaves advocates frustrated
A civil rights complaint prompted the state’s environmental agency to guarantee interpretation and translation services at public meetings for people who don’t speak English. But the rollout has been plagued by confusing procedures and little clarity on how interpreters will be selected. Full Story
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![A house stands in the Manchester neighborhood while refineries are visible in the background in Houston on Sept. 8, 2018.]()
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Analysis: Whatever the campaigns say, the Texas electric grid isn’t fixed yet
After 2021’s winter storm electric blackouts, Texas lawmakers worked to shore up the state’s electric grid. But they’re not finished, despite what you might hear from campaigning politicians. Full Story
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![Food pantry manager Farrah Rivera maps out routes to resident rooms at the Rebekah Baines Johnson Center in Austin on Feb. 17, 2021.]()
Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune -
“They’re talking about how my existence is child abuse”: Trans teen fears crackdown on gender-affirming health care
Speakers at South by Southwest decried attempts by Texas officials to open child abuse investigations into families whose kids have used treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Full Story
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![From left: Jessica Shortall, executive director of Texas Competes; Andy Marra, executive director of the Transgenders Legal Defense and Education Fund; Emmett Schelling, executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas; Charlie Allen, high school senior; and Diamond Stylz, host of the Black trans podcast Marsha's Plate.]()
Credit: Sewell Chan/The Texas Tribune -
Prairie View A&M President Ruth Simmons to step down
Simmons also served as president of Smith College in Massachusetts and Brown University, where she was the first Black woman to preside over an Ivy League school. Full Story
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![Prairie View A&M University interim President Ruth J. Simmons and the sole finalist for permanent president, interviewed on October 25, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
O’Rourke calls Abbott a “thug” and an “authoritarian” who’s “got his own oligarch here in the state of Texas”
The Democratic nominee for governor slammed the Republican incumbent in harsh terms, presaging a bitter lead-up to an election nearly eight months away. Full Story
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![Evan Smith, CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, interviewed Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke on Saturday at South by Southwest.]()
Credit: Sewell Chan/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court deals final blow to federal abortion law challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court left abortion providers only the narrowest avenue to challenge the ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Friday’s Texas Supreme Court ruling has effectively ended that federal legal challenge. Full Story
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![The Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Judge temporarily blocks Texas investigations into families of trans kids
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum said the governor’s directive for the state child welfare agency to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children was “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional.” The statewide injunction will remain in effect until the case is heard in July. Full Story
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![Empty seats reserved for transgender children and their parents sit empty as most were too afraid to publicly testify at a DFPS Committee meeting in Austin on Friday, March 11, 2022.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ child welfare agency ordered to investigate trans kids’ families has been in crisis for years
The Department of Family and Protective Services has been under federal court monitoring for over a decade for violating the civil rights of kids in foster care. Now, the short-staffed agency has to investigate parents who provide their children with gender-affirming care. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services offices in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
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Political pressure led to shutdown of Texas’ largest gender-affirming care program
Hospital administrators and doctors at GENECIS struggled to reconcile halting care with the knowledge that doing so could severely jeopardize patients’ mental health, recordings of internal meetings show. Full Story
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State-licensed shelter where sex trafficking victims were reportedly abused ordered to close
The Refuge, which closed Friday, said it fired an employee accused of coercing the victims to sell nude photos as soon as it found out. The Bastrop-based shelter has not addressed the other eight staff members also accused of causing harm to the girls. Full Story
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![A chapel and buildings located at Refuge Ranch in Bastrop. The Texas-contracted facility is meant to provide residential treatment for child sex trafficking survivors, but was discovered to be trafficking the same children, according to a federal judge.]()
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TribCast: Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigates the families of trans children
In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Eleanor and Sneha about Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to open child abuse investigations into families providing gender-affirming care for their children. Full Story
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![Protesters participate in a rally against anti-trans legislation at the southern steps of the state Capitol on April 28, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
At least 18,000 Texas mail-in votes were rejected in the first election under new GOP voting rules
In just 16 of the state’s largest counties, more than 18,000 mail-in ballots were rejected, most for failing to meet the new law’s ID requirements. A full statewide tally isn’t yet available. Full Story
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![Harris County election workers process election materials and prepare them for central count at the NRG Arena in Houston on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.]()
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Apple, Google among dozens of corporations condemning Texas’ order to investigate families of trans kids
The letter, published as a full-page ad in The Dallas Morning News, was also signed by Salesforce, Johnson & Johnson, Dow and Capital One. The companies said they do business, create jobs and serve customers in Texas and are committed to creating safe communities for LGBTQ people. Full Story
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![Naia Fulton-Jones chants in front of the Texas Capitol to protest for transgender kids' rights on Tuesday, Mar. 1, 2022.]()
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Analysis: Texas officials bully transgender kids for political points
Lucky for them, Texas officials probably can’t be prosecuted for bullying under the state’s education laws. The gist of those laws, however, is crystal clear, and so is the effect of their actions and rhetoric about gender-affirming health care. 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.]()
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Kids in foster care who’d been victims of sex trafficking endured fresh abuse at a state shelter, report says
The children were sexually abused and neglected while at The Refuge, a facility located in Bastrop contracted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, according to a report from a current employee. Full Story
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![Heart Galleries — portraits of adoptable children — on display at the Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
University of Texas Medical Branch names school for 19th-century Galveston magnate John Sealy
Sealy and his family have donated more than $1 billion over the past 100 years to UTMB and its medical institutions. Full Story
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![From left: Plastic surgery residents Dr. Kristi L. Hustak, and Dr. Surjit S. Rai check a patient's skin graft with Faculty Plastic Surgeon Dr. John Bauer at UTMB's John Sealy Hospital in Galveston on Aug. 19, 2013.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune
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