On the Texas side of the U.S. border with Mexico, an estimated half a million people live in colonias, impoverished subdivisions that often lack basic services. Take our video tour of some of the worst — and most improved — conditions.
Emily Ramshaw
Emily Ramshaw was the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune from 2016 to 2020. During her tenure, the Tribune — billed “one of the nonprofit news sector’s runaway success stories” — won a Peabody Award, several national Murrow Awards and top honors from the Online News Association.
Before joining the Tribune in 2010 as one of its founding reporters, Ramshaw spent six years at The Dallas Morning News, where she broke national stories about sexual abuse inside Texas’ youth lock-ups, reported from inside a West Texas polygamist compound and uncovered “fight clubs” inside state institutions for the disabled. The Texas APME named Ramshaw its 2008 star reporter of the year. In 2016, she was named to the board of the Pulitzer Prizes.
A native of Washington, D.C., and the product of two journalist parents, Ramshaw graduated from Northwestern University in 2003 with dual degrees in journalism and American history.
Posted in
Demographics
Red Tape, Catch-22s Slow Progress in Texas Colonias
Conditions have clearly improved in Texas’ colonias since devious developers first established them for migrant workers in the 1950s. But many efforts have fallen short, the result of bureaucratic nightmares and a spiral of confusion and fees.
Posted in
Demographics
Updated: The Sanctuary Cities Blame Game
Gov. Rick Perry and House Speaker Joe Straus have released statements blaming the death of sanctuary cities on Sen. Robert Duncan and the full Senate, respectively. Now, the Senate’s Republicans are returning the favor.
Posted in
Health care
The Final Push: A Special Session Update
Lawmakers must wrap up the special session on Wednesday, with a few outstanding priorities left to tackle. Here’s a rundown of where the Texas Legislature stands going into the second-to-last day of the special session.
Posted in
Health care
Updated: House, Senate Pass Health Reform Bill
House and Senate lawmakers have approved the conference committee report for SB 7, an omnibus health reform bill loaded with amendments, some of them controversial.
Posted in
Health care
Glitch in Federal Health Reform Could Cost Texas
A glitch in the federal health reform bill that would make many middle-class Americans eligible for Medicaid could cost Texas nearly $90 million a year by 2017, according to a state analysis.
Posted in
Health care
Anti-Abortion Group Photographing Empty House Seats
The Texas Alliance For Life had a photographer in the House gallery this morning shooting empty seats on the floor —checking for lawmakers who ducked the vote on SB 7, a health bill that has anti-abortion amendments.
Posted in
Politics
The Brief: June 27, 2011
Will they or won’t they? That’s the question lawmakers, who seem to have met for a matter of minutes in the waning days of the special legislative session, face today on a series of controversial measures Gov. Rick Perry added to the call.
Posted in
Politics
Joaquin Castro To Take On Doggett for New Congressional Seat
San Antonio State Rep. Joaquin Castro will take on veteran U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett to vie for a newly-created congressional district that spans from San Antonio up to southern Travis County.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Updated: Advocates Say Change to Strip Club Fee is Dead
Advocates for a $5 “pole tax” on strip club patrons that raises money for state services say their effort to change which programs benefit from the fee is dead.
