Storms swept over the more than 90,400 acres still burning in Palo Pinto and Jack counties. Containment increased to 76%, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
Alex Nguyen
Alex Nguyen is a general assignment reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Before joining the newsroom in 2025, she was a breaking news reporter at The Dallas Morning News. She previously was a reporting fellow for the Tribune and a reporting intern at Bloomberg News. A graduate of Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Alex was raised mostly in Vancouver, Canada, and she has reported for various regional and national outlets there. She speaks Vietnamese and conversational Spanish and will be based in Austin.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas prisons seek $298 million for air conditioning. That’s a fraction of what’s needed.
It would cost $1.5 billion to fully cool all prisons, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice estimates.
Posted in
Houston ICE Shooting
Brother of migrant shot by ICE agent in Houston released from detention
Victor Salgado, the brother of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot by ICE agents, is the third witness to be released from detention.
Posted in
Immigration
ICE officer in Minnesota-Texas extradition fight is freed from jail
Christian Castro was released a day after a federal judge rejected Minnesota’s bid to keep him jailed while Gov. Greg Abbott decides whether to sign extradition papers.
Posted in
Immigration
Abbott asks court to reject Minnesota bid to force extradition of ICE officer
The Texas governor said he has doubts Christian Castro is a fugitive subject to extradition, adding the state is still investigating. A hearing on keeping him in custody is Tuesday.
Posted in
Immigration
Minnesota sues Abbott to force extradition of ICE agent accused of shooting Venezuelan man
Christian Castro, accused of assault and lying about the circumstance surrounding the Jan. 14 shooting, could be released if a judge does not grant Minnesota’s request for a restraining order.
Posted in
Courts
Limits on certain firearms, silencers lifted for some in Texas after judge’s order takes effect
The Trump administration declined to immediately appeal a ruling by a federal judge in Lubbock that invalidated parts of the 1934 National Firearms Act.
Posted in
Immigration
Migrant kids are often being held in a South Texas detention center five times longer than a court order allows
The nation’s only detention center for families is routinely holding children beyond the 20-day limit, including an Iranian-born “average American kid” who’s been locked up for 123 days and counting.
Posted in
Health care
Texas fights court ruling requiring that defendants get quicker access to psychiatric hospitals
A federal judge recently ruled that Texas must give defendants who are mentally incompetent to stand trial a state hospital bed within 21 days.
Posted in
State Government
Appeals court rejects Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to overturn Texas State Fair gun ban
The fair banned firearms in 2024 after a shooting at Fair Park. Paxton’s lawsuit has faced multiple setbacks, the latest from a court appointed entirely by Gov. Greg Abbott.
