A look at the wins rural Texas scored in this year’s legislative session
Lawmakers sought to close gaps in education and support funding for agriculture, disaster preparedness and health care this year. Full Story
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![The Texas State Capitol on March 17, 2025.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune -
Data centers are building their own gas power plants in Texas
Not long ago, developers of the massive server farms talked about powering them with wind and solar energy. Now they’re bypassing the grid and building their own gas-fired power plants on site. Full Story
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Texas’ undocumented college students no longer qualify for in-state tuition
Within hours of a federal lawsuit targeting Texas’ policy of letting undocumented students qualify for lower public tuition rates, the 24-year-old law was no more. 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 -
Gov. Greg Abbott signs $8.5 billion public education funding plan into law. Here’s how it works.
The spending package will give schools more money for staff pay raises, operational expenses, special education and more. Full Story
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![A kindergartener's classroom at Kennedy-Powell Elementary in Temple, Texas.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
Texas hospital that discharged woman with doomed pregnancy violated the law, a federal inquiry finds
Federal investigators found that the Round Rock hospital had violated a Biden-era law intended to provide abortions in emergency situations. Full Story
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![Ascension Seton Williamson hospital Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Round Rock. Two Texas women filed separate federal complaints last week against Texas Health Arlington Memorial and Ascension Seton Williamson hospitals alleging that the hospitals denied treatment of ectopic pregnancy, leading them to lose their fallopian tubes and suffer severe health consequences.]()
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U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett joins race for top Democratic slot on powerful House oversight panel
“Our work cannot be solely reactive,” Crockett told her colleagues, pitching herself as the most effective messenger among the Democratic hopefuls. Full Story
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![United States Representative Jasmine Crockett (Democrat of Texas), attends a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability markup ì1 H.Res. Recommending that the House of Representatives find Robert Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Accountabilityî in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, Wednesday, January 10, 2024. Credit: Rod Lamkey / CNP/Sipa USANo Use Germany.]()
Credit: Rod Lamkey - CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect -
Sodas, candy to be banned from Texas food stamp purchases
Buoyed by the Trump administration's willingness to place restrictions on food assistance programs, Texas moves to limit junk food. Full Story
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![Local convenience store and meat market El Torito serves residents living along U.S. Highway 281 in San Benito, on June 29, 2018.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Voters will have final say on billions of tax cuts for Texas homeowners, businesses
Texas is slated to spend $51 billion on property tax cuts over the next two years. Some worry that’s unsustainable. Full Story
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![An aerial view of new construction homes in a subdivision next to farmland and an irrigation canal in Edinburg, Texas on May 12, 2025.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Months after detaining 47 people accused of being Tren de Aragua in Austin, authorities offer no evidence of gang ties
People at the raided house say they rented it for a birthday party and deny any connection to the gang. One man says law enforcement accused him of being in Tren de Aragua because of his tattoo. Full Story
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![Austin, Texas - 5/17/25: A family of four swept up in the ICE raids in Austin. The parents, who are both in ankle monitors, have upcoming court dates and are fearful for what's to come. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
Texas allows state agency investment in BlackRock after firm steps away from climate initiatives
The firm’s removal from a state list of companies “boycotting” the fossil fuel industry was lauded by Comptroller Glenn Hegar as a “meaningful victory” for Texas’ energy economy. Full Story
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![BlackRock offices in New York City.]()
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TribCast: Did lawmakers improve Texas’ infrastructure?
Will Texas be able to keep the lights on and water flowing til the next legislative session? Full Story
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![A crew worker attempts to extinguish a leakage as they work to upgrade pipes and valves at a North Alamo Water Supply Corporation water plant in Donna on July 18, 2024.]()
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“All eyes on San Antonio”: Democratic disunity, GOP push turn mayor’s race into a political battleground
A fragmented local party and a damaged Democratic brand have created the perception that one of Texas’ blue strongholds could be in jeopardy. Full Story
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![Mayoral candidates Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pablos face off in a debate hosted by the San Antonio Report on May 19 at the Stable Hall.]()
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From vouchers to a cellphone ban, this year’s lawmaking session brought transformative changes to Texas schools
An agenda driven by conservative priorities, schools’ financial duress and teacher needs led to an $8.5 billion boost, new discipline rules, more Christianity in classrooms and a DEI ban. Full Story
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![JoMeka Gray teaches a class of kindergarteners at Kennedy-Powell Elementary in Temple on April 17, 2025.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
What Texas lawmakers did after the state’s largest wildfire
A package of bills aims to better prepare the state to prevent and fight wildfires. Full Story
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![The Rolling Pines Fire blazes through Bastrop State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers voted to ban consumable THC products. Will Gov. Greg Abbott sign — or veto — the bill?
Abbott faces pressure from both sides of the aisle. The prohibition was a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, but some hemp farmers and veterans want it killed. Full Story
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![Displaying boxes of petitions, members of the Texas Hemp Business Council hold a press conference calling for Gov. Greg Abbott to veto SB 3, a bill which would ban THC products, at the Texas Capitol on June 2, 2025.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
School vouchers, THC ban, property tax cuts: Here’s what Texas lawmakers did in the 2025 regular session
The Legislature wrapped up without the same drama that defined the end of the last two sessions, with state GOP leaders checking off nearly everything on their to-do lists. Full Story
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![State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, looks out the window from the Texas House of Representatives chamber as the lawmakers debate on bills at the Texas Capitol, on Monday, May 26, 2025.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers expand medical marijuana program eligibility amid looming hemp ban
House Bill 46, which awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval, would include more patients with chronic pain and allow for prescribed vaporized and aerosol products, such as vapes. Full Story
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![An engineer at Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation in South Austin tests for impurities on April 30, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
In final act, Texas Legislature boosts judges’ pay and lawmaker pensions
House and Senate members agreed that judges needed a pay raise. But they spent the final hours of the legislative session debating whether Texas lawmakers should also benefit from the boost. Full Story
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![State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, answers questions from state Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, regarding a conference committee report which would raise the base pay for Texas judges.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Rep. Tony Tinderholt, voice of the insurgent far right GOP, to retire from the Texas House
Tinderholt attributed his decision to retire to his confidence in a new conservative generation of lawmakers and a desire to spend more time with his family. Full Story
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![Surrounded by colleagues, state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, is overcome with emotion as he announces his retirement from the House on Sine Die, Monday, June 2, 2025.]()
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Texas to increase funding to state film incentive program by $300 million
SB 22, which awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval, injects $300 million over the next two years into projects filmed in Texas, $100 million more than current funding. Full Story
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![Charles Steen, an operator during a film production showcase hosted on the Texas Capitol grounds on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman/USA TODAY Network via REUTERS