Texans who fall behind on their property taxes face one of the most punitive systems in the nation, where private collection companies can tack up to 20% onto their bill.
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.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2025
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Legislature should clarify Texas abortion law to protect mothers at risk
Patrick on Sunday said the Legislature should amend the language of the state’s near-total abortion ban to address confusion over when doctors may terminate pregnancies.
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Politics
Feds refer Texas’ Harvey funding discrimination case to Justice Department
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed its finding that Texas unfairly favored white residents in rural areas when it distributed $1 billion in Harvey aid in 2021.
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Texas Border Crackdown
As landowners resist, Texas’ border wall is fragmented and built in remote areas
At least a third of landowners approached by state officials have refused to let wall be built on their properties. That’s forced the state to largely build on ranchland in remote areas, or erect sections that are full of gaps.
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Politics
Trump picks Texan Brooke Rollins to lead Agriculture Department
Rollins, who grew up in Glen Rose and once led the Texas Public Policy Foundation, will need Senate confirmation before becoming agriculture secretary.
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Politics
Ken Paxton can’t be deposed under oath in whistleblower lawsuit, Texas Supreme Court says
The attorney general has agreed not to contest a lawsuit brought by former employees accusing him of retaliation after they said he abused his office.
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2024 Texas Elections
Trump’s near sweep of Texas border counties shows a shift to the right for Latino voters
The former president captured 55% of Latino voters in the state, according to exit polls. He also won 14 out of the 18 counties within 20 miles of the border, a number that doubled his 2020 performance in the Latino-majority region.
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2024 Texas Elections
Texas GOP poised to increase its majorities in the Legislature
Gov. Greg Abbott said the House would have enough Republicans to pass school vouchers next year.
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Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde city officials release missing footage from officers responding to 2022 Robb Elementary shooting
The new videos largely affirm prior reporting and investigations that detailed law enforcement’s failures to confront the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers.
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Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde police failed to turn over some video footage from Robb Elementary shooting, department says
Chief Homer Delgado said the department has turned over the footage to the district attorney’s office and ordered an investigation into how the error occurred.