A rural Texas landowner is battling Texas Central in a lawsuit that hinges on whether the company can forcibly take parcels needed to connect the state’s two biggest urban areas.
Alexa Ura
Alexa Ura reported for The Texas Tribune from 2013 to 2023. She covered the complex dynamics of race, ethnicity, wealth, poverty and power and how they are shaping the future of Texas and Texans, in the long and short term. Alexa started at the Tribune as a reporting intern before graduating from the University of Texas at Austin and joining the staff full time. Originally from Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border, she is a native Spanish speaker and is based in Austin.
Posted in
Politics
Texas’ renewed voter citizenship review is still flagging citizens as “possible non-U.S. citizens”
The secretary of state’s office says it is following the legal settlement agreement it entered in 2019 after botching its first review effort. But scores of citizens are still being marked for citizenship verification — and possible removal from the rolls.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
Opportunity was snatched away from Dallas County Latino communities when Texas Republicans redrew congressional maps
Dallas-area Latinos hoped their growing numbers would finally translate into political clout this year through the creation of a new congressional district anchored by their communities. Instead, their neighborhoods were splintered between numerous white-majority districts.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
U.S. Department of Justice sues Texas over new political maps
Texas lawmakers illegally discriminated against voters of color by drawing new political districts that give white voters more political power despite rapid growth of Hispanic and Black populations, the department claims in its lawsuit.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
Texas’ new House map challenged in state court, expanding redistricting fight
The Mexican American Legislative Caucus is arguing that the new state House map violates the Texas Constitution. The lawsuit follows two legal challenges to the state’s new maps previously filed in federal court.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
Republicans say Texas’ new political maps are “race blind.” To some voters of color, that translates as political invisibility.
With partisan fervor, Republicans drew new maps for Congress and the Legislature that dilute the power of voters of color. Now the lawsuits begin, as groups that feel marginalized battle for representation in the halls of power.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
Texas Republicans send Gov. Greg Abbott a new congressional map that protects GOP power, reduces influence of voters of color
After a few last-minute alterations, the state’s new congressional districts are drawn and await the scrutiny of federal courts. Already, one lawsuit has been filed claiming the new maps intentionally discriminate against Latino voters.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
First lawsuit filed challenging new Texas political maps as intentionally discriminatory
Before they’re even signed into law, the state’s new maps for congressional and statehouse districts have been challenged in federal court by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Posted in
Redistricting Texas
Texas congressional map heads into last-minute negotiations as Democrats decry shortage of Hispanic representation
Though people of color drove nearly all of Texas’ population gains in the last decade, the proposed map gives white voters control of both of the two new congressional districts the state earned.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
Lawmakers send to Gov. Greg Abbott new political maps that would further solidify the GOP’s grip on the Texas Legislature
The redistricting plans for the House, Senate and State Board of Education were approved Friday.
