Fort Bend school board president challenging state Sen. Joan Huffman
Kristin Tassin, the president of the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees, is running against state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, in the 2018 GOP primary. Full Story
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![Kristin Tassin, the president of the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees (left), and state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston.]()
Credit: Official portraits -
The Brief: Engineers were already concerned about Houston's dams. Then Harvey hit.
How worried should the city of Houston — the fourth largest in the nation — be over a possible failure of the Addicks and Barker dams? Full Story
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![Clarke Godkin bought an RV to use at his hunting lease about two years ago. Now it’s become his semi-permanent home while he attempts to make repairs to his flood damaged house in Rose City. Here he is trying to connect the trailer to electricity. "I feel blessed, even though we’ve lost everything. We’ve been here 20 years, and lost everything. But some folks, they’ve lost everything and have nowhere to go.”]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
New Texas law criminalizes drone use near animal farms
House Bill 1643 makes it a crime to operate a drone over “concentrated animal feeding operations,” as well as telecommunication facilities and certain oil and gas facilities. Full Story
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![Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi engineering student Adam Ersepke and lab coordinator Jack Edward Esparza prepare for the take off of the University’s RS-16 unmanned aerial vehicle, otherwise known as a drone, for a test flight over the Kennedy Ranch near Sarita, Texas on January 18, 2013.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal -
Documents detail concerns about Houston dams — before Harvey
How concerned is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the integrity of Addicks and Barker reservoirs? The agency has never answered the question clearly, but documents offer new clues. Full Story
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![An afternoon thunderstorm forms over Barker Dam and Reservoir, where construction is being done on its floodgates in Houston on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released water from the dam three weeks earlier as historic rainfall from Hurricane Harvey filled the reservoir.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
TribFest recap, tapping the Rainy Day Fund (podcast)
On this week's TribCast, Emily talks to Evan, Ross and Patrick about the highlights from the Texas Tribune Festival (Speaker Straus! Cruz and Cornyn!) and the governor's plans for Harvey relief and the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
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Credit: Emily Albracht / Todd Wiseman -
Slideshow: For southeast Texas, recovery after Harvey is slow
Reporter Morgan Smith and photographer Michael Stravato recently toured southeast Texas to document Harvey's aftermath. Full Story
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![Motiva, the largest crude oil refinery in the United States, can be seen in the distance from Port Arthur on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. Flood-damaged debris is piled outside of homes in the foreground.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
The Brief: Gov. Abbott and Houston's mayor are split on Harvey recovery funding
Gov. Greg Abbott and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner have traded a few jabs in the media this week over when and how to spend state funds on recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott (left) and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera: Abbott/Pu Ying Huang: Turner -
Texans to get help reaping mental health insurance benefits
Under a new law that took effect Sept. 1, insurance companies may not cover mental health and substance abuse care differently than they cover medical care. Full Story
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New Texas law lowers fees for handgun licenses
A new law reduces the first-time fee for a license to carry from $140 to $40 and the renewal fee from $70 to $40. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
Can a web tool help coastal Texans assess their flood risk? A professor thinks so.
A university professor who studies natural hazards launched a flooding risk assessment tool for homes in Harris and Galveston counties. But after Hurricane Harvey, flooding risks are even harder to determine. Full Story
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![Samuel D. Brody, a Texas A&M-Galveston professor, researches what causes floods and how communities can help prevent them.]()
Credit: Texas A&M University at Galveston -
Analysis: The spectacle isn’t the important part
College protests against controversial speakers and the uproar about professional athletes protesting racial injustice have this in common: The protests themselves overshadow the ideas and practices being protested. Full Story
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![The Dallas Cowboys football team takes a knee prior to the national anthem during a game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 25, 2017.]()
Credit: Dallas Cowboys Twitter account -
Houston mayor hits on highs and lows of Hurricane Harvey recovery
Watch Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's wide-ranging interview with The Texas Tribune, one month after Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 40 inches of rain, flooding entire areas of the city. Full Story
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Texas attorney general now accepting complaints on "sanctuary" jurisdictions
Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced his office is accepting sworn complaints against “sanctuary” jurisdictions that prohibit local police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Full Story
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![Ken Paxton speaks at the Texas State Rifle Association General Meeting in Round Rock on Feb. 25, 2017.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Abbott: Houston has enough funding for Harvey recovery
The governor said if the state needs to tap the Rainy Day Fund for Harvey recovery, it won't be until the next legislative session in 2019. Full Story
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![John Sharp, Texas A&M University chancellor and head of the new Governor's Commission to Rebuild Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott and Nim Kidd, Chief of Texas Emergency Management, get briefed on recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey at the FEMA Joint Field Office in Austin on Sept. 14, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
3 Texans in Congress met with Trump ahead of tax overhaul rollout
As the latest efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act appeared dead Tuesday, Republicans appeared poised to pivot to overhauling the tax code. Full Story
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![U.S. Reps. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell.]()
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U.S. House passes tax breaks for victims of Harvey, Irma and Maria
After back-and-forth sniping and a divided vote on a bill to help hurricane victims, the Texas delegation came together in a press conference and declared they're unified on the issue. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, in his office in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., September 21, 2016.]()
Credit: Allison Shelley for The Texas Tribune -
The Brief: Parts of the state's "sanctuary cities" law are going into effect
Just like that, parts of the state's "sanctuary cities" ban that a federal district judge halted last month are set to go into effect. Full Story
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![Protesters opposed to Senate Bill 4, known as the "sanctuary cities" law, turn out in force for the last day of the legislative session on May 29, 2017.]()
Credit: Erika Rich for The Texas Tribune -
New state law seeks to reduce the number of child brides in Texas
A new state law prohibits anyone under 16 from getting married and requires people under 18 to get a judge's consent before marrying. Full Story
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The best moments from the 2017 Texas Tribune Festival podcasts
Miss the podcast track at the Texas Tribune Festival this weekend? Our panelists talked Trump, Texas politics and everything in between. Here are the highlights. Full Story
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![Larry Wilmore hosts a live recording of the “Black on the Air” podcast featuring Cecile Richards at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 23, 2017.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
How Tech's president juggles free speech and political polarization
Like many of his colleagues across the state, Texas Tech University President Lawrence Schovanec has felt pressure from both sides of the political spectrum. His response is to call for open dialogue between both sides. Full Story
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![Lawrence Schovanec is president of Texas Tech University.]()