A group of 19 camps said fiber-optic internet that lawmakers ordered them to install after last year’s floods is too expensive or impossible to get.
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.
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Hill Country floods
Amid license review, Camp Mystic being investigated by Texas Rangers and state health officials
Camp Mystic filed to renew its license in March. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has repeatedly urged state officials to reject the application.
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Hill Country floods
Camp Mystic can’t alter flood-damaged area while civil suit proceeds, judge rules
Cabins, grounds and other buildings hit by the July 4 flood on the Guadalupe River cannot be renovated or removed, according to the order.
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Hill Country floods
Dan Patrick seeks to block Camp Mystic’s summer reopening pending inquiry into July 4 flood deaths
The lieutenant governor’s request to delay renewing the camp’s license came hours after parents who lost children in the July 4 flood sued the state for its alleged failure to enforce an evacuation plan requirement.
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Hill Country floods
Texts among Kerr County officials show confusion about missing campers during July 4 floods
Hundreds of newly released messages add more detail to the devastating timeline of the deadly floods.
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Hill Country floods
Texas is approving money for flood warning systems, but will it be enough to build Kerr County’s?
The county where more than 100 died in July floods wants to quickly build a $5 million flood warning system.
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Environment
Contracts awarded to design gates and dunes for Gulf Coast “Ike Dike” project
Supporters say the massive project would protect the Galveston Bay area from dangerous storm surge, but it remains billions of dollars short of what’s needed to build the barrier.
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Hill Country floods
They couldn’t save their daughters’ lives in the July 4 floods. Now they’re dealing with the grief and the guilt.
RJ and Annie Harber have leaned on faith, their community and each other to move through each day after losing their daughters and RJ’s parents. But memories of that night still haunt them.
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The 2025 Texas Tribune Festival
Former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan says he’s “not a MAGA Republican” and couldn’t carry Trump’s agenda
At a Texas Tribune Festival event on Thursday, the Beaumont Republican said his opposition to Trump and his agenda informed his decision to give up the speaker’s gavel last year.
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Hill Country floods
FEMA has denied or not advanced most Kerr County aid applications after deadly July 4 flood
Advocates are questioning why so many applicants from the flood-ravaged county have not received federal disaster help. Nonprofits are trying to fill in the gaps.
