As reporters investigated Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, they repeatedly found situations in which Abbott and Department of Public Safety officials cited accomplishments that lacked crucial context or did not match reality. Here are a few examples.
Perla Trevizo
Perla Trevizo is a Mexican-American reporter born in Ciudad Juárez and raised across the border in El Paso, Texas, where she began her journalism career. Trevizo spent more than 10 years covering immigration and border issues in Tennessee and Arizona before joining the Houston Chronicle as an environmental reporter. She has written from nearly a dozen countries, from African refugee camps to remote Guatemalan villages, with the goal of broadening readers’ understanding of the global issues that impact the local communities where she has worked. Her work has earned her national and state awards including the Dori J. Maynard Award for Diversity in Journalism, French-American Foundation Immigration Journalism Award, and a national Edward R. Murrow for a story done in collaboration with Arizona Public Media. She was also honored as the 2019 Arizona Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Newspaper Association. She is based in El Paso.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Texas has spent billions of dollars on border security. But what taxpayers got in return is a mystery.
Since 2005, Texas Govs. Rick Perry and Greg Abbott have launched a multitude of widely publicized and costly border initiatives, which usually kicked off during their reelection campaigns or while they were considering bids for higher office.
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Operation Lone Star
Gov. Greg Abbott brags about his border initiative. The evidence doesn’t back him up.
Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. The data that Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star raise more questions than answers.
Posted in
The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Carbon monoxide killed a Texas mother and daughter. A firefighter was reprimanded after a delayed 911 response.
After half of a Houston family was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, reporting by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News revealed that a fire crew had failed to enter the house to check on them. A firefighter has now been disciplined.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
U.S. plans new safety rules to crack down on carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators
The announcement comes two months after an investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News detailed the deadly cost of the government’s failure to regulate portable generators.
Posted in
The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Generators can cause deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. But the industry resists rules to make them safer.
Portable generators are among the deadliest consumer products. Two decades after the government identified the danger, and as climate change leads to more power outages, people are left vulnerable by a system that lets the industry regulate itself.
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Politics
State Rep. Scott Sanford, a McKinney Republican, announces he’ll retire at the end of his term
Sanford’s announcement came a day before the Texas Legislature reconvenes for a third special session of 2021.
Posted in
The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Texas must do more to effectively prevent carbon monoxide disasters, experts say
Months after the deadly gas killed at least 17 Texans during a massive winter storm, lawmakers have failed to take significant action to protect most of the state’s residents.
Posted in
The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Inside an agonizing three-hour wait for 911 response to carbon monoxide poisoning in Texas
Following a 911 call about a family that had fainted, first responders arrived at the house and knocked on the door. No one answered, so they left. Inside, an entire family was being poisoned by carbon monoxide.
Posted in
The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Texas enabled the worst carbon monoxide poisoning catastrophe in recent U.S. history
They used their car to stay warm when a winter storm brought down the Texas power grid. In a state that doesn’t require carbon monoxide alarms in homes, they had no warning they were poisoning themselves.
