Defending Texas sovereignty has been central to Abbott’s political identity. Yet he has helped Trump erode states’ authority over elections, policing and deploying the National Guard.
Zach Despart
Zach Despart is an enterprise and investigative reporter focusing on state government. His work on a team investigating the flawed police response to the Uvalde school shooting was awarded the 2024 Collier Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting. He led the Tribune’s effort to become the first news organization to map the fragmented 50-mile Texas border wall, a project that also found the state struggled with holdout landowners along the route. After it was published, the Legislature stopped funding the wall. He previously covered Harris County for the Houston Chronicle, where he reported on corruption, elections, disaster preparedness and the region’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey. His investigation on how Texas diverted Harvey aid away from areas most at risk for storms sparked a federal investigation. An upstate New York native, he received his bachelor’s degree in political science and film from the University of Vermont.
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Investigations
DHS asked Texas to hand over driver’s license data for citizenship checks
It’s the latest step to pool confidential data that the Trump administration claims will help identify noncitizens on voter rolls and tighten immigration enforcement.
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Hill Country floods
History repeated itself when the Guadalupe River swept away Camp Mystic. Why few lessons were learned after the 1987 flood.
The Fourth of July flood bore a striking similarity to the Hill Country flood that killed 10 summer campers in 1987. In the following years, officials took little action to protect against the next storm.
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Investigations
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is handing more of his office’s work to costly private lawyers
Despite having an office with hundreds of attorneys, Ken Paxton frequently opts to hire private lawyers. One cost taxpayers more than $24,000 in one day.
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Health care
Texas is illegally keeping people with disabilities in nursing homes, federal judge rules
A federal judge determined the state illegally institutionalized severely disabled people for decades, often in poorly run facilities.
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Politics
Former Texas state Sen. Kelly Hancock to become acting comptroller, run for permanent job
Hancock, a North Richland Hills Republican, announced his candidacy shortly after being sworn in as chief clerk at the comptroller’s office.
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Graphics and data reporting
With only 8% built, Texas quietly defunds state border wall program
Texas officials suggested the federal government could pick up construction. However, during President Trump’s first term, his administration built about one-third of what the state was able to put up in the same amount of time.
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Criminal Justice
Top deputies to Attorney General Ken Paxton pushed out over sexual harassment allegations, lawsuit says
The harassment allegedly took place while the two were on leave from the agency working on Paxton’s impeachment defense.
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Texas Legislature 2025
“Anti-Red Flag Act” that would limit when guns can be taken from people advances in Texas House
Senate Bill 1362 would prevent officials from taking someone’s firearms if they haven’t been charged with a crime or aren’t subject to a protective order under the Texas Family Code.
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Economy
Ken Paxton says Google will pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle privacy suit
The state attorney general sued Google in 2022, alleging it unlawfully tracked and collected users’ private data.