The Texas Department of State Health Services, which tracks the number of coronavirus vaccinations, cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the state, won’t be updating its daily dashboard Friday through Sunday both this week and next over the holidays.
Cassandra Pollock
Cassandra Pollock was a state politics reporter for the Tribune. She joined the Tribune full-time in June 2017 after a fellowship during the 85th Texas Legislature. Pollock spent her first two years at the Trib as an engagement reporter, which meant her name likely landed in your inbox every weekday morning with “The Brief,” a newsletter on all things Texas politics and public policy. Pollock is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism. Pollock left The Texas Tribune in 2021.
Posted in
Demographics
Unhappy holidays: Texas endures another COVID Christmas
After nearly two years of navigating life during a pandemic, many Texans are now scrambling for COVID tests, delaying plans and worrying about relatives who have been exposed to the virus.
Posted in
Texas Abortion Restrictions
“Every constitutional right is now at risk”: Legal experts warn Supreme Court action on Texas abortion law could lead to copycats
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority was straying from the court’s precedent to step in when state laws chill the exercise of constitutional rights while allowing other states to follow suit.
Posted in
Economy
Texas’ multibillion-dollar corporate tax incentive program is slated to end in 2022. Will state officials let it die?
Critics of the Chapter 313 corporate tax incentive program say it lacks accountability and is burdensome to taxpayers in the state.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
A growing number of Texas Republicans want a fourth special session to pass COVID-19 vaccine mandate ban
It remains unclear whether Gov. Greg Abbott — the only official with the power to convene special sessions — will order state lawmakers back to Austin, or what issues he would include on the agenda.
Posted in
Politics
Gov. Greg Abbott, GOP leaders allocate $4 million to fund county-level election audits
A new state law requires the secretary of state’s office to audit results in four randomly selected counties every two years.
Posted in
Politics
Longtime Houston Democrat Garnet Coleman to retire from Texas Legislature
The lawmaker has represented parts of central and southeast Houston in state House District 147 since 1991.
Posted in
Politics
Jay Kleberg, King Ranch scion and conservationist, to run for land commissioner as a Democrat
At least three other Democrats and four Republicans are vying for the office that GOP incumbent George P. Bush is leaving to run for attorney general.
Posted in
Public Education
How a YA oral-sex scene touched off Texas’ latest culture war
A coming-of-age memoir by a California writer has been seized upon by politicians who want greater control over the kinds of books available in Texas schools.
Posted in
Public Education
Gov. Greg Abbott calls for criminal investigation into availability of “pornographic books” in public schools
It’s unclear why the governor tasked the state’s education agency, which does not employ law enforcement officers, to perform the investigation.