Just five months after the monster storm gave Texas its wettest month in history, much of the state is now in a drought — including areas that saw historic flooding.
Paul Cobler
Paul Cobler is the Tribune's economy and industry reporter, covering the socioeconomic and political forces that impact Texans’ pocketbooks and upward mobility. Before joining the Tribune, he was a politics reporter for the Houston Landing and covered Baton Rouge City Hall for The Advocate in Louisiana. Paul grew up in Victoria, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. His reporting has appeared in news publications across the state, including the Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle. He is based in Austin.
Posted inState Government
Why are Texas’ smaller utilities not cleaning up drinking water?
Dozens of small and rural utilities in the state have for years provided water that contains illegal levels of radiation, lead and arsenic. Lack of resources is largely to blame — but there’s more to it than that.
Posted in
Environment
Texas Supreme Court hears oral arguments in plastic bag ban case
Lawyers spent almost an hour in the Texas Supreme Court arguing whether Laredo’s 2015 ban on plastic grocery bags was illegal. The future of bag bans in cities across the state could hinge on the case.
Posted inState Government
State Supreme Court case could bring an end to plastic bag bans in Texas
The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Thursday in the case, Laredo Merchants Association v. The City of Laredo, in which the merchants’ association is arguing a ban on single-use bags by the city is illegal.