UPDATED: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst sent the president a letter demanding repayment for the more than $156.6 million that Texas counties have spent since 2011 on jailing undocumented immigrants with federal detainers.
Brandi Grissom
Brandi Grissom worked at the Tribune from its launch in 2009 until 2014, rising to the rank of managing editor. In addition to editing duties, Grissom led the Tribune's coverage of criminal justice issues. During her tenure at the Tribune, she was chosen as a 2012 City University of New York Center on Media, Crime and Justice/H.F. Guggenheim Journalism Fellow and was a fellow at the 2012 Journalist Law School at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Grissom, along with Tribune multimedia producer Justin Dehn, received a 2012 regional Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting for work on the case of Megan Winfrey, who was acquitted of murder in February 2013 after the Trib’s coverage brought statewide attention the case. Grissom joined the Tribune after four years at the El Paso Times, where she acted as a one-woman Capitol bureau. Grissom won the Associated Press Managing Editors First-Place Award in 2007 for using the Freedom of Information Act to report stories on a variety of government programs and entities, and the ACLU of Texas named her legislative reporter of the year in 2007 for her immigration reporting. She previously served as managing editor at The Daily Texan and has worked for the Alliance Times-Herald, the Taylor Daily Press, the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung and The Associated Press. A native of Alliance, Neb., she has a degree in history from the University of Texas.
Posted in
Energy
TribuneFest: Audio From the Environment Track
The environment track at the 2013 Texas Tribune Festival featured panel discussions on the aftermath of the fertilizer plant explosion in West, the future of water and parks in Texas, and the fight over climate change.
Posted in
Energy
TribuneFest: Audio From the Energy Track
The energy track at The Texas Tribune Festival featured discussions about regulation, the shale boom, energy efficiency and the fight over electricity. You can hear the sessions here.
Posted in
Higher Education
TribuneFest: Audio From the Higher Education Track
The higher education track at The Tribune Festival featured discussions about the future of higher education, what’s happening at non-flagship universities, the role of regents and whether to pay student-athletes. You can hear the sessions here.
Posted in
Public Education
TribuneFest: Audio From the Public Education Track
The public education track at the Texas Tribune Festival featured panel discussions about early childhood education, charter schools, innovations in teaching and the future of public schools. You can hear the sessions here.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TDCJ Refuses to Return Execution Drugs to Pharmacist
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said Monday that they will not heed a request to return a supply of execution drugs from the pharmacist who sent them to the state.
Posted in
Health care
TribuneFest: Audio From the Health Care Track
The health care track at The Texas Tribune Festival featured panel discussions on the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, new developments coming out of Texas, and abortion and women’s health.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Judge Ken Anderson Resigns Amid Ethics Lawsuit
Williamson County state district Judge Ken Anderson, who oversaw the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Morton in 1987, has submitted a letter to Gov. Rick Perry resigning his position effective immediately.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Violence Behind Bars and a Tie to Mental Illness
A Tribune analysis of violent-incident data in state prisons shows that far more violent incidents occur at facilities with large populations of mentally ill inmates.
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Interactive: Psychiatric Prisons See More Violence
Data from the Texas criminal justice system shows that psychiatric prison units experience the most violence per capita. Use this interactive to examine the violent incidents reported at more than 90 Texas prisons between 2006 and 2012.