Texas law enforcement officers and other first responders are shipping out to the Houston area to help local authorities in rescue and security efforts, thanks in part to a statewide aid system.
Jolie McCullough
Jolie McCullough was a reporter at The Texas Tribune from 2015 to 2023. She began as a data visualization journalist and then reported on criminal justice policy, ranging from policing and courts to prisons and the death penalty. She joined the Tribune from the Albuquerque Journal, her hometown newspaper. She previously worked at the Arizona Republic and is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Posted in
In Harvey's Wake
Bexar County delays execution because of Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey has delayed the execution of a San Antonio man. Bexar County officials withdrew the execution date because part of the man’s defense team works in the Houston area.
Posted in
In Harvey's Wake
Two more Texas prisons evacuated as Hurricane Harvey flooding continues
Two more Houston-area prisons have been evacuated as flooding continues, bringing the total to five prisons and almost 6,000 inmates shipped off to drier facilities in the region.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
How a “perfect storm” of problems has shrunk Texas’ largest city police forces
Texas’ two biggest city police departments are losing officers because of troubled pension funds and low pay. The shrinking ranks have paired with rising violent crime rates, longer call response times and fewer solved crimes.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Court halts execution of convicted child killer who claims intellectual disability
A man convicted in the sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old girl was set to die next Wednesday. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped his execution amid claims of intellectual disability.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Murderer Bernie Tiede denied new trial by appeals court
Bernie Tiede, the East Texas mortician-turned-murderer whose crime prompted a Hollywood movie, lost one round of his appeals Thursday.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Judge approves temporary relocation of 1,000 hot prisoners
A federal judge signed off on Texas’ proposal to temporarily move more than 1,000 inmates from one hot prison to 11 different facilities around the state.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas plans to move 1,000 inmates to air-conditioned prison units
Texas submitted a court-ordered proposal Thursday to move about 1,000 medically sensitive inmates from an uncooled prison southeast of College Station to air-conditioned units elsewhere in the state.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
DPS agrees to reverse new policy of charging for crime lab testing
Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Texas Department of Public Safety Friday to retract its plans to begin charging local agencies for forensic testing.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas executes man who claimed his lawyers committed fraud
Texas carried out its fifth execution of the year Thursday evening, putting to death TaiChin Preyor in the 2004 murder of a San Antonio woman.
