Retailers relieved that Texas skirted a THC ban — again
While Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick remains adamant about a ban, hemp industry representatives say they would compromise on creating a 21 age limit to purchase. Full Story
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![THC products sit near the cash register in Hyde Park Market in Austin, Texas on May 5, 2025. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has partnered with the senate in pursuing a complete ban on THC products across the state.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune -
Texas launches downloadable form to exempt kids from school-required vaccines
Previously, parents had to wait for the state to mail them the exemption form. They still have to get the form notarized before submitting it to the school for enrollment purposes. Full Story
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![Mateo Cardona, 4, receives a vaccine in Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on June 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
In response to failures and grieving parents, Texas lawmakers advance flood bills
Here’s where the proposed laws to address camp safety, flood warnings and emergency response stand in the Legislature. Full Story
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![Parents of Camp Mystic girls lost during the Guadalupe River flooding of July 4, 2025 pack seats in the Senate Chamber to view passage of Senate Bill 1 which strengthens summer camp regulations to help prevent future tragedies.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Proposal limiting Texas city, county property taxes dies in the Legislature
The House refused to back a bill that would apply only to the state’s largest cities. Full Story
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![The Celina water tower among newer housing developments in Celina on November 13, 2024.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
This West Texas town's proof is in the banana pudding
More than 10,000 people met over Labor Day weekend in Slaton to sample the banana pudding — a major boost to the rural town’s economy. Full Story
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![People line up to purchase or pick up passes at Texas Banana Pudding Festival in Slaton on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. An estimated 10,000 people attended the festival in the small town about 17 miles southeast of Lubbock.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Judge temporarily blocks Texas’ Ten Commandments requirement in 11 school districts
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the ruling, saying separation of church and state is “a bogus claim” that does not appear in the Constitution. Full Story
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![The 10 Commandments monument at the state Capitol in Austin on June 22, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA Press Wire via REUTERS -
State Sen. Brandon Creighton named sole finalist for Texas Tech chancellor
The Conroe Republican has authored some of Texas’ major higher education legislation in recent years. U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington was also considered for the job. Full Story
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![State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, on the Senate floor on the second-to-the-last day of the 89th legislative session on June 1, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Lawmakers fail to pass a bill to end massive water exports from East Texas
The House refused Senate changes allowing exports to continue while the state studies its underground water supply. Lawmakers left the Capitol without reaching a compromise. Full Story
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![The Houston County Lake in Houston Co. on Nov. 30, 2022.]()
Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Lawmakers redrew Texas’ congressional districts. See how yours changed.
The new maps, which aim to flip five Democratic seats to favor Republicans, will go into effect for the 2026 midterms, barring court intervention. Full Story
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![Shapes of the new Congressional districts with the red Republicans on the left and the blue Democrat ones on the right.]()
Credit: Illustration by Carla Astudillo -
Bill overhauling disaster emergency response misses final approval in Texas Senate
Both legislative chambers adjourned without agreeing on changes to Senate Bill 2, which aimed to create new training and licensing requirements for local officials. Full Story
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![Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt on July 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune -
Most Texas THC products remain legal after GOP leaders fail to break legislative impasse
Legislators couldn’t reach a last-minute deal to tighten regulations on consumable hemp products. Full Story
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![Hemp plants are seen at Caprock Family Farms, Friday, May 23, 2025, in Lubbock.]()
Credit: Annie Rice for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Legislature ends second special session marked by new political maps, slew of conservative wins
Between cracking down on abortion pills and restricting transgender restroom use, lawmakers also tackled flood safety and the STAAR test. Left untouched: Texas’ hemp industry. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, oversees roll call on the House floor in Austin on Sept. 3, 2025.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Legislature approves stiff penalties, fundraising limits for lawmakers who leave state to block bills
House members who freeze future legislation by fleeing Texas will face steeper fines, loss of seniority and committee posts, and limits on political fundraising. Full Story
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![Members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus at a press conference at IBEW Local 701 in Warrenville, Ill., on Aug. 4, 2025.]()
Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The Texas Tribune -
Texas kids’ camps must remove cabins from floodplains, operate warning systems under new laws
The parents of children who died at Camp Mystic advocated for the new legislation, which now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. Full Story
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![Damaged cabins seen along the river in Ingram on Monday July7, 2025.]()
Credit: Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune -
Bill shielding some police complaints from public again dies in Texas House
The measure failed after the two chambers disagreed on whether to include a carveout that would have let parents access records from the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. Full Story
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![El Paso police block off Leavell Avenue by Dyer Street in Northeast El Paso, Texas, in the Logan Heights neighborhood as they investigate a shooting on Thursday, April 17, 2025. A man was found dead after police officers responded to the shooting.]()
Credit: Gaby Velasquez/El Paso Times/USA Today Network via REUTERS -
Texas is poised to replace STAAR. Here is what schools’ new standardized tests would look like.
A bill scrapping the state’s standardized test heads over to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. It would replace STAAR with three shorter tests at the beginning, middle and end of the year. Full Story
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![Nimitz Middle School teacher Selena Olivares leads her 7th grade class in an activity Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023 in Odessa.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas bill allowing private citizens to sue over abortion pills clears Legislature
House Bill 7 would allow people to sue manufacturers and distributors of the drug. Full Story
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![A bottle and pills of Misoprostol, made by Lupin Pharmaceuticals, sit in a counting tray at a pharmacy on June 19, 2019, in Provo, Utah.]()
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“Bathroom bill” aimed at trans people awaits governor’s signature after decade of failed attempts
Senate Bill 8 restricts bathroom use in government buildings and schools to sex assigned at birth. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, speaks on the floor of the Texas House on Aug. 18, 2025, two weeks after democrats walked out during the middle of the special session.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett for The Texas Tribune -
Texas student groups sue to block state law that limits campus protests
The law, largely in response to pro-Palestinian protests last year, bans "expressive activity" on campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. The lawsuit says it is overly broad and will affect protected speech. Full Story
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![Law enforcement leads a pro-Palestinian protester away in custody as they begin to remove demonstrators from an encampment set up in support of Gaza on the UT-Austin campus on April 29, 2024.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune -
Texas sued over its lab-grown meat ban
Two California-based companies accuse the state of government overreach for banning the sale of their products for the next two years. Full Story
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![Roy Mills checks on the cattle at J&R Mills Family Farms, on Wednesday February 26, 2025, in Nacogdoches County.]()
Credit: Michael Cavazos for The Texas Tribune