TribCast: Measles, COVID and the state of our public health system
On the fifth anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemic, we discuss the measles outbreak and the state’s ability to respond to health crises. Full Story
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An abandoned West Texas oil well has created a 200-foot-wide sinkhole
The rapidly-growing sinkhole in Upton County is the latest of many problems caused by old wells in the Permian Basin. Full Story
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![A sinkhole formed by an old oil well on the Kelton Ranch in Upton County, Texas, has grown rapidly in the past year.]()
Credit: Martha Pskowski/Inside Climate News -
After COVID, Texas is less prepared for the next pandemic
Five years after Texas’ first COVID death, the state spends less on public health, vaccination rates have dropped and a distrust of authority has taken hold. Full Story
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Texas Republicans seek to clarify when doctors can intervene under abortion bans
A Senate bill filed Friday does not expand abortion access, but aims to give doctors clarity while operating under laws that come with up to life in prison. Full Story
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![A surgical suite at Eastland Memorial in Eastland on March 11, 2019.]()
Credit: Gary Rhodes for The Texas Tribune -
Lawmakers weigh moving bingo operations out of Texas Lottery’s purview amid agency’s uncertain future
A possible reassignment of the charitable games comes as 15 bills in the Legislature seek to either alter or abolish the troubled agency. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers seek to transfer University of Houston-Victoria to Texas A&M system
Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said Texas A&M is better positioned to grow the Victoria school and serve the region’s petrochemical and agriculture industries. Full Story
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![Students walk to class on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station on Nov. 15, 2022.]()
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As Trump vows mass deportations, Texas lawmakers want to require sheriffs to work with ICE
Some sheriffs worried that Senate Bill 8 could create an unfunded mandate, while civil rights advocates warned about possible racial profiling. Full Story
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![U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers carry out a raid as part of Operation Cross Check in Sherman on June 20, 2019.]()
Credit: Courtesy Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement -
National Republicans target South Texas Democrats for 2026 election
Reps. Cuellar and Gonzalez are moderate Democrats who represent border districts that increasingly vote Republican. Full Story
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![U.S. Reps. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.]()
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Christian Menefee, top civil attorney for Harris County government, announces bid for Sylvester Turner’s congressional seat
The district has been a Democratic stronghold, held for decades by Sheila Jackson Lee and most recently by former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who died March 5. Full Story
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![Harris Co. Attorney Christian Menefee speaks at the first general session at the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso on June 7, 2024.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Texas schools have leaned on uncertified teachers to fill vacancies. Lawmakers want to put a stop to it.
Underprepared teachers have been tied to student learning losses. But amid a teacher shortage crisis, school leaders fear the restrictions will lead to fewer instructors in their classrooms. Full Story
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![A classroom in Texas.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas to close border site used to process arrested migrants
The state opened the facility in Jim Hogg County in 2022. Full Story
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![A pedestrian films a video of Texas National Guard soldiers repairing concertina wire along the U.S.-Mexico border after a migrant swam north across the Rio Grande to the United States Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville. President Joe Biden visited Brownsville on Thursday, receiving briefings from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, USCIS, and ICE along the border before giving remarks at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
In Texas, Christian right grows confident and assertive
Emboldened by court rulings and election victories, the Christian right is outspoken as it pushes its moral views through the Texas Legislature. Full Story
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![FILE: The 10 Commandments plaque on the Capitol grounds in Austin on July 17, 2012.]()
Credit: Ariel Min for The Texas Tribune -
Texas school districts hopeful lawmakers will help plug $1.7 billion gap in special education funding
Proponents say the changes would better serve special education students with widely varying needs — and help schools pay for it. Full Story
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![A classroom at Alfonso Borrego Sr. Elementary School. The school received Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds for new flexible seating, desks, and spaces for students to relax during class in San Elizario, Texas on July 23, 2024]()
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Sylvester Turner eulogized as a man of faith, family and public service to Houston
The former Houston mayor’s funeral drew more than 1,000 mourners on Saturday, including 20 of his congressional colleagues from both political parties. Full Story
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![Mrs. Ashley Paige Turner Captain, Sylvester Turner’s daughter arrives at her father, the late Congressman Sylvester Turner’s funeral service at The Church without Walls in West Houston, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Houston. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)]()
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Houston police directed to call ICE on undocumented immigrants with deportation orders
The new guidance comes after ICE added 700,000 individuals with deportation orders to a national crime database that law enforcement uses to track warrants. Full Story
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![A Houston Police Department officer is seen during a demonstration on Presidents' Day outside City Hall in Houston, Texas, on February 17, 2025.]()
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University of North Texas and Rice University under federal investigation for “race-exclusionary practices”
The Texas universities are among dozens accused of violating the law by partnering with a group that had sought to increase diversity in graduate programs. Full Story
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![Rice University in Houston on March 11, 2020.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Paxton says trans Texans can’t use court orders to change sex on driver’s licenses, birth certificates
Per the attorney general’s nonbinding opinion, state agencies should change gender markers on government documents back to a person’s sex assigned at birth. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to the media during a press conference in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on Jan. 15, 2025.]()
Credit: Luke Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers and charter leaders push back on the $870K paid to Valere schools’ superintendent
The rebuke from lawmakers and charter school leaders came after an investigation from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that Salvador Cavazos, who oversees fewer than 1,000 students, is among the most well-paid superintendents in the country. Full Story
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Credit: Lauren Crow for The Texas Tribune and ProPublica -
Texas lawmakers are pushing harsher criminal penalties while prison and jail populations soar
Proposed legislation includes increased penalties for retail theft, car burglaries and forgery, among others. Full Story
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![Inmates are monitored at a security station at the Harris County Detention Center on April 16, 2024, in Houston.]()
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Feds are opening more detention centers in Texas as Trump administration steps up deportations
The feds are adding thousands of beds to hold families in Texas, which reportedly holds the most immigrants of any state at its 21 detention centers. Full Story
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![The South Texas Family Residential Center is an immigrant detention center in Dilley, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune
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