We want to hear about how heated elections affect the people learning, teaching and living in districts across Texas.
Jessica Priest
Jessica Priest covers higher education, working in partnership with Open Campus. She joined the Tribune in 2022 as an engagement reporter in the ProPublica/Texas Tribune joint investigative unit, contributing to a series that was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the explanatory reporting category. Prior to the Tribune, Jessica worked for the Fort Worth Report, USA Today, the Victoria Advocate and the Temple Daily Telegram, reporting on topics that included criminal justice, the environment and local government. Her work has often made an impact. The state’s highest criminal court granted a death row inmate a new trial after she detailed a prosecutor’s conflicts of interest. After she exposed questionable hirings and payments at a port and later a water district in another part of the state, both public entities underwent reforms. Jessica was born in Houston and graduated from Sam Houston State University.
Posted in
Investigations
Texas school districts violated a law intended to add transparency to local elections
The Texas Tribune and ProPublica analyzed 35 Texas school districts that held trustee elections last fall and found none that posted all of the required campaign finance records.
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Ken Paxton Impeachment
The many times Ken Paxton refused to defend Texas agencies in court
The Texas attorney general said he’s “back to work” after his recent acquittal, but his office has repeatedly declined to fulfill one of its key duties: representing state agencies who are being sued.
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Ken Paxton Impeachment
Texas AG Ken Paxton’s habit of refusing to defend state agencies cost taxpayers
Records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune give deeper insight into how Paxton’s representation denials often pushed agencies to look for outside legal counsel that was ultimately funded by taxpayers.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Churches’ role in Abilene election prompts calls for investigations
West Texas voters rejected three conservative Christian candidates who sought to infuse religious values into local politics. The campaign support the candidates received from local churches has prompted calls for state and federal probes.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Despite decades of mass shootings in Texas, legislators have failed to pass meaningful gun control laws
State lawmakers have rejected dozens of bills that would have prevented people from legally obtaining weapons used in many mass shootings. Instead, they’ve made it easier for residents to get guns and harder for local governments to regulate them.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
A trio of Texas churches donated to political candidate despite clear IRS prohibition
A candidate for the Abilene City Council said that three churches made an honest mistake by donating to his campaign and that he is returning the money. The race has been beset by allegations of electioneering by churches.
Posted in
The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Gov. Greg Abbott says most gun crimes involve illegally owned weapons. That’s not true in mass shootings.
Most of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
These 20 churches supported political candidates. Experts say they violated federal law.
Churches aren’t supposed to endorse political candidates, according to IRS rules. Across the country, churches appear to be doing so anyway.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Texas churches violated tax law ahead of Tuesday’s election, experts say
Churches in Texas invited Beto O’Rourke and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to speak to their congregations before the 2022 midterms, raising questions about the effectiveness of the Johnson Amendment.