Speaking out for the first time, an El Paso mom recounts the moments from a bank inside the Walmart where 23 people were fatally shot and dozens more were injured in 2019.
Emily Foxhall
Emily Foxhall is The Texas Tribune's climate reporter. She joined the Tribune as an energy reporter in December 2022, focused on the state’s transition to green energy and the reliability of the power grid. She completed a year-long Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in May 2025. Emily is based in Houston, where she grew up. After a stint as a Tribune student intern in 2012, she began her career at the Los Angeles Times and its community papers. She later worked at the Houston Chronicle where her environmental reporting uncovered the effects of climate change and pollution on the region. She won several Texas Managing Editors awards and was part of the 2017 team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of Hurricane Harvey. Emily graduated from Yale University in 2013, where she studied English and was a Yale Journalism Scholar.
Posted in
Environment
Texas, New Mexico pushing for settlement in Rio Grande water fight
The case sparked from a series of lawsuits over Rio Grande water and escalated with Texas arguing that New Mexico pumping prevents Texas from receiving its fair share.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Two years after Walmart mass shooting, El Paso leaders see inaction and betrayal by Texas officials
In what some people call an affront to the families of the 2019 shooting victims, Texas Republicans expanded gun rights earlier this year when the state Legislature passed a permitless carry bill.
Posted in
Energy
Off Beaten Path, Coastal Cabins Are Paradise for Their Permit Holders
Through a nearly 40-year-old program run by the Texas General Land Office, several people hold permits to use cabins on remote, state-owned islands near the Intracoastal Waterway. Permit holders love the isolation — and the fishing.
Posted in
State Government
TDCJ Faces Ongoing Staffing Challenges
During the 1990s, many Texans believed prison construction would help boost the economies in rural areas. Today, ongoing staffing shortages in rural units are causing legislators and other officials to reconsider that assumption.
Posted in
State Government
Probation Supervision Program Set for Trial Run
A program started in Hawaii that closely oversees criminal offenders’ probation periods is starting a test run in Texas. The experiment, which is getting federal funds, will help determine how the program translates to the mainland.
Posted inState Government
Interactive Map: Texas DPS Office Locations
If preclearance for the state’s voter ID law is granted, the state has promised to issue free “election identification certificates,” forms of photo ID for use only in voting. But some argue that Texas voters could have a tough time reaching the Department of Public Safety offices to get those IDs. Take a look for yourself at our map of the all the DPS driver’s license offices in Texas.
Posted in
Energy
Legislators Hone Question of Eminent Domain
The Texas House Committee for Land and Resource Management heard testimony Monday regarding the use of eminent domain by oil and gas companies to build on private land for what they say is the public good.
Posted in
Health care
At Capitol, Protesters Criticize Perry’s Medicaid Announcement
About 150 Texans gathered in front of Gov. Rick Perry’s Capitol office on Tuesday to protest his announcement that Texas would not expand Medicaid or establish a health insurance exchange.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
New Facility is Haven for Victims of Sex Trafficking
Freedom Place, outside of Houston, is Texas’ first privately run safe house that provides long-term housing for American girls who are victims of sex trafficking.