Texas Hill Country floods: What we know so far
With hundreds confirmed dead, questions remain about the local response to flood warnings. Meanwhile, lawmakers will weigh measures to mitigate future disasters. Full Story
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![Two men from an excavation company aiding in search and recovery look on to the debris left from the flood in Center Point on Tuesday July 8, 2025.]()
Credit: Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune -
From racism claims to a $725,000 settlement, a UNT professor's lawsuit mirrors Texas' shifting views on free speech
Professor Timothy Jackson was accused of making racist remarks at the height of the racial reckoning that followed George Floyd's murder. His free speech suit against the university comes to an end in the era of DEI bans. Full Story
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![McConnell Tower is framed by The Sustaining Arch at the University of North Texas in Denton on Feb. 14, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Cruz introduces weather radio modernization bill with a new focus on flood communications
This comes after Cruz voted in favor of the spending megabill that rescinded funds for NOAA. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with television personality Dr. Phil McGraw on the day of a roundtable discussion with first responders and local officials along with with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump after catastrophic floods, at the Hill Country Youth Center in Kerrville on July 11, 2025.]()
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Draft Texas congressional map pits Democratic incumbents against each other, spelling possible primary clashes
Multiple Democratic members have been packed into blue districts in Austin, Dallas and Houston to make way for newly crafted Republican districts in those areas. Full Story
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Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
How a rural Texas sheriff became a poster child for serving Trump’s immigration goals
Roy Boyd has also become one of the loudest cheerleaders for partnerships between sheriffs and ICE to offer the federal agency unprecedented access to jails and deputies. Full Story
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![From left: Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's "border czar," Goliad Co. Sheriff Roy Boyd and Gov. Greg Abbott in a panel discussion during the Sheriff's Association of Texas 147th Annual Training on July 15, 2025, in Fort Worth.]()
Credit: Camilo Diaz Jr. for The Texas Tribune -
Former Sid Miller allies told police the ag commissioner feared the DEA, told a friend to get rid of marijuana
Miller denies wrongdoing after allegations surfaced during an investigation into one of his aides, who pled guilty to bribery. The agriculture commissioner has not been charged with a crime. Full Story
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![Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller speaks to press during a Trump Rally at Million Air in Austin on Oct. 25, 2024.]()
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As the floods hit, Kerrville officials’ messages show lack of information about what was coming
Lawmakers plan to hear testimony Thursday in Kerr County. Questions remain about how state and local entities responded to flood warnings. Full Story
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![A July 5 aerial view of toppled trees near Hunt reveal the scope of the devastating July 4th flood in Kerr Co. Texts and emails show local officials were slow to grasp the severity of the disaster.]()
Credit: Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals pushes death row inmate’s case back to trial court
Dissenting judges expressed frustration over a lack of clarity on why the case of David Leonard Wood, whose execution in March was halted, was remanded to the lower court. Full Story
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![Huntsville, Texas: Exteriors of the Texas State Penitentiary “Walls Unit” August 20, 2020 in Huntsville, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Newsom will move to redraw California map if Texas redistricts, teeing up national fight
The governor plans to go through the Legislature to usher in a map with more Democratic seats if Texas tilts its map to the right, according to a person with knowledge of Newsom’s thinking. Full Story
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![California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference with Texas state representatives about redistricting at the Governor's Mansion in downtown Sacramento, California, on Friday, July 25, 2025, after meeting with Texas lawmakers about Republican plans to redraw districts in Texas.]()
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Texas House Republicans unveil new congressional map that looks to pick up five GOP seats
The first draft of the lower chamber’s new redistricting map targets Democratic members of Congress in the Austin, Dallas and Houston metro areas and in South Texas. Full Story
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A fight to save an Austin middle school puts families at odds with Texas over how to rate schools
Legislators have a chance this summer to replace the STAAR test. What they come up with will decide the fate of schools like Dobie Middle School, where low test scores have pushed the Austin district to intervene. Full Story
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![AUSTIN, TEXAS - July 24, 2025: Carmen Mendoza hands out gift bags to campers as they head home. Austin Voices for Education and Youth hosts a summer camp at the Dobie Middle School for students that attend the three Austin ISD schools at risk of closure. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
Venezuelan deportees say they endured months of abuse inside a Salvadoran prison
Trump framed the deportation of more than 230 Venezuelan men as a long-overdue campaign to rid the country of immigrants who have committed violent crimes. The facts tell a different story. Full Story
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![Juan José Ramos Ramos, who was held in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador known as CECOT, is back home in Guatire, Venezuela.]()
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TribCast: What’s next for Republicans?
Mark Davis, the dean of Texas conservative talk radio, joins TribCast to talk about the GOP’s outlook for 2026. Full Story
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![A Texas representatives speak on House floor during the opening day of the 89th Texas special legislative session Monday, July 21, 2025 in Austin, Texas.]()
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Feds move to eliminate petrochemical watchdog, putting Texans and others at risk
Amid increasingly intense weather, the Chemical Safety Board is the lone independent agency watching over the Gulf Coast’s petrochemical corridor. Full Story
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![Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, on March 18, 2019.]()
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Seven House Democrats making day trip to New Mexico amid redistricting battle
With a quorum break on the table for the minority party as a way to thwart a GOP bid for more congressional seats, members travel out-of-state for a third time. Full Story
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![New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) speaks during the Democratic Party of New Mexico Election Night Watch Party at the Isleta Casino and Resort on Nov. 5, 2024 on the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico.]()
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East Texans condemn Dallas millionaire’s plan to pump 16 billion gallons of their groundwater to other parts of the state — every year
Texas law largely allows landowners to do what they want with the groundwater beneath them, potentially protecting the latest plan to ship water out of East Texas. Full Story
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![Kyle Bass speaks during the Reuters Global Investment 2019 Outlook Summit in New York on Nov. 14, 2018.]()
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Texas Democrats are fundraising to potentially leave the state to block GOP-backed redistricting
The money could be used to cover the $500-a-day fines lawmakers would incur under House rules set to discourage members from absconding after Democrats fled the state in 2021. Full Story
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![Flanked by members of the Texas Democratic Caucus, state Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, speaks during a press conference at the Capitol in Austin on Monday, July 21, 2025.]()
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Texas A&M System’s new leader hints faculty senates in state leaders’ crosshairs will stay
In an interview with the Tribune, Chancellor Glenn Hegar also said he would prioritize student outcomes over big projects and skirted questions about diversity and academic freedom. Full Story
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![Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar, center, meets with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Duane Wagner, left, and Lance Bullard before a crash test at the Texas A&M RELLIS campus in College Station, Texas, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Hegar’s visit to the RELLIS campus was his first since beginning his tenure as chancellor on July 1.]()
Credit: Cassie Stricker for The Texas Tribune -
Texas buys land for new state parks that will be developed using $1 billion voter-approved fund
The fund opens a new era of public land acquisition and park development for Texas, which ranks 35th nationally in state park acreage per capita. Full Story
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![Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists and staff use an anode, an electrical rod that temporarily stun fish during electrofishing for netting, during an aquatic sampling search at Yancey Creek in what will become Post Oak Ridge State Park, a newly acquired park near Lampasas, Texas, on Thursday, June 5, 2025. The park’s acquisition marks the first since $1 billion dollars were allocated to buy more land for the state parks system as part of the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, approved by the state legislature in 2023. Before development can begin, survey teams collect samples and information regarding the environment and wildlife at the newly acquired land.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
The guerilla campaign to save a Texas prairie from "silent extinction"
Students and naturalists have been sneaking onto private land to extricate threatened native plants: “This is a war between us and the developers, and nobody’s calling uncle.” Full Story
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Credit: Grist/Amelia K. Bates