Ricardo Ramos, Ramon Fuentes III and Andres Arguelles were all 45. Loving husbands. Strangers who died with the coronavirus in neighboring South Texas cities. They left behind young widows who found each other in Facebook groups and bonded over the similarities in their stories.
Shannon Najmabadi
Shannon Najmabadi was a reporter at the Tribune from 2017 to 2021, most recently covering women's health. Her stories — on higher education and other topics — have prompted lawmakers to change three state laws, including one involving a very narrow definition of the word “pickle.” She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas lawmakers push bill to make it easier to sue abortion providers and harder for new anti-abortion laws to be blocked by courts
The provisions are packaged in one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priority measures, dubbed the “heartbeat bill.” Senate Bill 8 would ban abortions as early as six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.
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Energy
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Biden administration demanding reinstatement of Keystone XL Pipeline permit
Twenty-one states signed onto the multi-state lawsuit led by Texas and Montana.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Slate of Texas legislation limiting abortion, including so-called “heartbeat bill,” heads to Senate
The legislative session that began in January has been driven by the coronavirus pandemic and the response to last month’s power crisis. But abortion-related measures dominated a Senate State Affairs committee hearing Monday, and lawmakers advanced all of the proposals.
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Health care
Judge rejects bid by Planned Parenthood to stay in Medicaid, affecting health service for thousands of low-income Texans
Health officials had told Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid patients they had until early February to find new doctors, but the health provider filed an emergency lawsuit saying the state had not followed the proper procedures.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Another Texas GOP lawmaker is attempting to make abortion punishable by the death penalty
Similar bills filed in the Texas Legislature in previous years have failed.
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Demographics
For some Texans who lost loved ones to the coronavirus, lifting the mask mandate is a “slap in the face”
One woman whose husband died said Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to end the mask mandate makes the convenience of not wearing a mask seem more important than loss of life. Abbott’s spokesperson says he “joins all Texans in mourning every single life lost.”
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Winter Storm 2021
Texans blindsided by massive electric bills await details of Gov. Greg Abbott’s promised relief
Electric bills are likely to rise for everyone, experts and consumer advocates say, but some Texans on variable rate contracts have been hit with immediate, massive price spikes. Lawmakers and the governor have promised to help, but haven’t said how.
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Winter Storm 2021
Busted pipes, water damage, hotel bills: As power flickers on, costs loom for storm-weary Texans
Texans face a cascade of frustrations and expenses as the state tries to recover from the storm. Insurance companies are bracing for claims rivaling those after major hurricanes, and homeowners are trying to find plumbers and electricians.
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Winter Storm 2021
“We’re in it alone”: Power outages leave millions of Texans desperate for heat and safety
Texas residents said the storm — and ensuing partial collapse of the state’s power system — sapped what mental reserves they had left after eleven months of a global health crisis that has cost thousands of jobs and claimed more than 40,000 lives in the state.