Six years after Texas officials removed hundreds of children from their polygamist parents, state and local authorities seized the sprawling 1,700-acre Yearning For Zion Ranch this week.
Terri Langford
Terri Langford is the Tribune's health services reporter based in Austin. Langford is a veteran journalist, having worked at the Florida Times Union, The Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, WNYC, Honolulu Civil Beat and Texas Standard/KUT. Langford has a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin. She has covered various city and state agencies, criminal justice and health and human services for the Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, The Associated Press, WNYC and Texas Standard at KUT.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
DPS Suspends Use of New Handgun Over “Concerns”
The Texas Department of Public Safety has stopped using its newest service firearm after state trooper recruits who were the first to use new Smith & Wesson M&P 9 mm handguns reported “concerns” about the weapon.
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Criminal Justice
Fort Hood Shooting Sparks Calls for Concealed Guns on Military Bases
Two separate rampage shootings within five years at Killeen’s Fort Hood Army base have sparked renewed discussion over whether those on military bases in Texas should be able to carry concealed handguns.
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Criminal Justice
Special Prosecutor: Perry’s Veto of Integrity Unit Funds “Concerning”
A special prosecutor, who is investigating whether Gov. Rick Perry abused his authority when he eliminated state funding of the Texas public integrity unit, told the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE that what he’s found so far is “concerning.”
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Criminal Justice
Inmate Executed After High Court Declines Drug Challenge
UPDATED: Tommy Lynn Sells was executed Thursday evening, the Associated Press reported, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up his case challenging the state’s denial of information about the drugs to be used in his execution.
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Criminal Justice
Willingham Won’t Get Posthumous Pardon
UPDATED: The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has voted not to recommend a posthumous full pardon for Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed a decade ago after being convicted of setting a fire that killed his daughters.
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Criminal Justice
Use of Force Against Inmates on the Rise
The population in Texas prisons dropped from 2005 to 2013, but statistics from the corrections agency show that officers are using “major” force against inmates more often.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: State Shuts Daystar Center
The state has shut down Daystar Residential Inc. in Manvel, the facility where The Texas Tribune and the Houston Chronicle revealed that staff had forced young girls with disabilities to fight each other.
Posted in
State Government
A Death at Daystar
The same Houston-area residential treatment center where staffers forced disabled girls to fight each other — prompting child welfare officials to halt admissions and hire a safety monitor — is now under fire for the asphyxiation of a 16-year-old boy who died Friday after a restraint was applied by a staffer in a closet.
Posted in
Health care
TribBlog: A Death At Daystar
A 16-year-old boy has died of an apparent restraint-related asphyxiation at the Daystar Residential Treatment Center, the same facility where children with disabilities were forced to fight each other a couple of years ago.