The state’s three top elected leaders also fiercely criticized the Austin officials who plan to cut up to one-third of their police department’s budget, largely through reorganizing divisions out from under law enforcement.
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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Police brutality in Texas
Texas’ largest cities spend more on police than anything else. Activists want more of those funds spent on the social safety net instead.
Austin officials slashed their police department’s budget this week as other Texas cities are rethinking how general fund dollars are spent — and whether spending so much to combat crime addresses the poverty that can cause it.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says local governments can’t stop or delay evictions
The nonbinding opinion comes as housing experts and advocates fear that the COVID-19 recession will prompt a surge in evictions across the state.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Houston announces $15 million to assist tenants, but passes on mandatory eviction grace period for people behind on rent
The city’s first program, launched in May, received overwhelming demand and ran out of funds in 90 minutes.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Hanna brings flooding, power outages to southern Texas Gulf Coast
A section of the Texas coast already reeling from thousands of coronavirus cases will continue to feel the effects of the storm, which was the first hurricane of the season.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Undocumented immigrants behind on their rent are self-evicting across Texas
Without money to pay rent, facing pressures from landlords and afraid of courts, people without legal immigration status have limited options.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Facing budget shortfalls, nearly 100 Texas mayors plead with Congress for coronavirus relief funding
City leaders are asking for more spending flexibility to address the financial shortfalls caused by the pandemic.
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Criminal Justice
As Fort Worth voters preserve more than $85 million for police, activists vow to lobby City Hall for spending changes
Tuesday’s election comes after nationwide calls to defund police departments have gained traction in Texas as Americans demand reforms in how law enforcement officers do their jobs.
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Politics
Ted Cruz said his Nike boycott was exerting free speech, but says people boycotting Goya Foods are silencing speech
The Texas Republican is criticizing calls for a boycott because the Hispanic food company’s CEO praised President Donald Trump.
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COVID-19 Recession in Texas
Texas reverses course, says it won’t collect overpaid unemployment benefits in instances when it was the state’s mistake
A Texas Workforce Commission spokesperson said he was previously unaware that a judicial order bars the state from recovering funds when the overpayment is the agency’s fault.
