A fatal stabbing near downtown Austin on Friday has reignited a social media squabble between Abbott and Austin leaders over the city’s decision to overhaul its homeless policies.
Juan Pablo Garnham
Juan Pablo Garnham covered urban affairs for the Tribune in 2019-21, focusing on the main challenges of the state’s largest metro areas — Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and Dallas-Fort Worth, where he was based. He previously worked as senior producer for the podcast In The Thick, editor of CityLab Latino and city hall reporter for El Diario in New York. He has also taught at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He is from Santiago, Chile, and the Texas flag constantly reminds him of his home country.
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Homeless in Texas
In rural Texas, people experiencing homelessness lead “masked” lives outside of public view
Homeless Texans in the state’s less populated areas are harder for people to find and help. But the number of people experiencing homelessness outside of Texas’ urban centers has increased 33% in recent years.
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Homeless in Texas
At least 25,000 people in Texas experience homelessness. Here’s what we know about Texans without homes.
Gov. Greg Abbott has focused attention on homeless Austin residents. But many more Texans are homeless in other parts of the state.
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State Government
Someone has died on Texas roads every day for 19 years. Here’s a look at some reasons why — and ideas for turning the tide.
Ever since Nov. 8, 2000, someone has been killed in a Texas wreck each day. The state’s transportation department is spending an additional $600 million on safety — and trying to end all roadway deaths by 2050.
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Politics
Local Texas officials balk at animus toward cities, plans for sales tax cuts in legislators’ secretly recorded meeting
The recording revealed that top Republican lawmakers wanted the 2019 session to be painful for cities and counties — and 2021 to be even worse.
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Transportation
Texas’ $7 billion plan to remake Houston highways once again targets homes, businesses in communities of color
Historic black neighborhoods like Independence Heights and the Fifth Ward are in the crosshairs of Houston highway plans, decades after expressways separated communities from the rest of the city.
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Criminal Justice
Amber Guyger trial highlighted why Dallas communities of color often distrust law enforcement
Hours after the former Dallas police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing Botham Jean, the city’s top cop vowed to launch an internal investigation into police behavior exposed at trial.
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Criminal Justice
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger found guilty of murder in shooting of Botham Jean
Guyger shot and killed Jean, who was 26 and unarmed, in his apartment. She said she mistook Jean’s apartment as her own and thought he was a burglar.
Posted inState Government
Fort Worth mayor Betsy Price joins bipartisan group of mayors calling for universal background checks on gun purchases
It’s been almost 20 years since a gunman killed seven people in a church in Fort Worth. Price was among a group of mayors who visited the White House on Monday to push for some gun reform.
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Blocked Out
Feds plan to make housing assistance harder for undocumented immigrants. Few in Texas are even getting it.
Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for federal housing assistance. But a new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule barring such residents from subsidized homes could prompt evictions of families.
