Experts say it costs about $500 to train a school employee under Texas’ school marshal program. But school leaders say their worries go beyond the cost.
Alex Samuels
Alex Samuels was a reporter for The Texas Tribune from 2017 to 2021. She helped with national campaign coverage, wrote stories about the intersection of race and politics in Texas, and covered the hottest political news bubbling out of local communities. She was also one of the primary authors of The Blast, the Tribune’s subscription-only daily newsletter for political insiders. Alex began at the Tribune as a fellow in 2016. She graduated in 2017 from the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism. She originally is from Massachusetts and is the best pingpong player at the Tribune.
Posted in
Texas Elections 2018
Four things to watch at Texas Republican and Democratic party conventions
Thousands will gather at the state GOP convention in San Antonio this week. Texas Democrats will meet in Fort Worth for their biennial meeting the following weekend. School shootings and the #MeToo movement are among the issues that could loom large at one or both events.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
After crowdfunding law, Texans raise nearly $250,000 toward testing rape kits
The money collected will go to a “dedicated testing evidence account” controlled by the state comptroller. The Governor’s Criminal Justice Division will then distribute the funds to qualifying crime labs and agencies on an application basis.
Posted in
This Is Your Texas
Voting rights groups say a citizens commission could fix gerrymandering. It’s unlikely to happen.
As the U.S. Supreme Court ponders a Texas redistricting case, a coalition of voting and civil rights groups is pushing to establish an independent commission in which citizens, rather than lawmakers, would draw the state’s political maps.
Posted in
Texas Elections 2018
In Texas, lawmakers have to live in their districts. But good luck proving it if they don’t.
The state law that defines residency requirements is hard to enforce.
Posted in
Politics
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller posts — and then deletes — a fake photo of Whoopi Goldberg
The doctored photo purported to show Goldberg wearing a shirt that showed President Donald Trump shooting himself.
Posted in
Politics
The Green Party needed nearly 50,000 signatures to make it onto the November ballot in Texas. It got about 500.
The Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians were the only three parties that secured statewide ballot access this year.
Posted in
Guides
Hurricane season starts June 1. Here are some ways Texans can prepare.
People along the Texas coast should consider buying insurance, packing an emergency supply kit and learning their evacuation routes now.
Posted in
Graphics and data reporting
We visualized how underrepresented Texas women are in government. This year, it could change — but not by much.
This year’s surge in women candidates could result in a record high percentage of female representation in Texas’ congressional delegation and the state legislature. But regardless of the outcome in November, Texas women will still fall short of equal representation in their government.
Posted in
Texas Elections 2018
In these four Texas counties, no one voted in the Democratic primary runoffs
Hall, King, Lynn and McMullen counties held Democratic runoff elections but no one voted. Each county only had one Democratic matchup on their ballots: the gubernatorial race between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White.
