Commissioner of Education Mike Morath has repeatedly waived expansion requirements for charter school networks, allowing them to serve thousands more students, even when they don’t meet academic performance standards.
Kiah Collier
Kiah Collier was a reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative initiative from 2020 through 2023. She previously worked at the Tribune as a reporter and associate editor, covering energy and the environment through the lens of state government and politics. Kiah has reported for numerous other publications across Texas since 2010, including the Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle. Her beats also have included government and politics, public education and business. Kiah’s work has been honored with numerous prizes, including a George Foster Peabody Award, a Gerald Loeb Award, the Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism, the National Edward R. Murrow Award for best investigation and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. A seventh-generation Texan, she grew up in the Austin area and graduated with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in journalism and philosophy.
Posted in
Health care
Nurses walk out of Austin’s Ascension Seton in historic strike
The nurses union says its members are responsible for too many patients at a time, resulting in delays in care for patients and more exhaustion among nurses.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Impeached Texas attorney general partnered with troubled businessman to push opioid program
While launching a statewide program to distribute packets to dissolve opioids, Attorney General Ken Paxton worked to connect Kenny Hansmire with the state’s comptroller, who oversees the distribution of millions of dollars in opioid settlement money.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Inside 30 years of former NFL player Kenny Hansmire’s troubled businesses
Politicians across the country have allocated millions to the National Child Identification Program. The company stands out as a success amid a decadeslong string of businesses plagued by legal and financial problems.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
A former NFL player persuaded politicians that his child ID kits help find missing kids. There’s no evidence they do.
Texas is among at least 11 states that have agreed to distribute fingerprinting kits sold by Kenny Hansmire’s Waco-based National Child Identification Program. Some are spending millions even though similar kits are available for free.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
EPA proposes major air pollution reforms to lower residents’ cancer risk near industrial facilities
The EPA has proposed tougher air pollution rules for chemical plants and other industrial facilities after ProPublica found an estimated 74 million Americans near those sites faced an elevated risk of cancer.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Closing a critical loophole for gun background checks has gained bipartisan support in Texas
After a ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigation found courts failed to report juvenile mental health hospitalizations to the federal firearm background check system, lawmakers from both parties are backing bills to ensure compliance with the law.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Laredo approves air pollution monitoring following ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation
Two air monitoring initiatives are moving forward in Laredo after an analysis by the news outlets showed that a plant emitting ethylene oxide elevated the estimated lifetime cancer risk for nearly 130,000 people, including over 37,000 children.
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Environment
The EPA has identified 23 U.S. facilities that are emitting toxic air pollution that puts people at risk
One of them is in Laredo, which has elevated rates of cancer, according to a recent state analysis. The findings come after reporting by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Uvalde school shooting
Texas’ law on gun background checks plagued by critical omissions of minors’ mental health records
Lawmakers tried in 2009 to require that the state report all court-ordered mental health hospitalizations to a federal gun background check system. Juveniles have been left out.