In December, all five members of the city council quit. A fight over a railroad development spiraled into political mudslinging, broken trust and conspiracy.
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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Texas Legislature 2023
How Gov. Greg Abbott lost a yearlong fight to create school vouchers
The governor projected confidence throughout 2023 that vouchers would pass. But his insistence on universal eligibility ensured his failure to convince 21 House Republican holdouts.
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Uvalde school shooting
DPS appeal halts release of Uvalde shooting records ordered by Texas judge
The files would shed light on the disastrous police response that day, in which officers waited more than an hour to confront the shooter after learning he had an AR-15 style rifle.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas Legislature adjourns fourth special session — leaving vouchers, school safety and elections bills unfinished
The latest casualties were Senate Bill 5, which would spend $800 million on school safety measures through 2025, and Senate Bill 6, which would change the timeline of a trial after an election contest is filed by a citizen or group.
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Ken Paxton Impeachment
Republican Rep. Andrew Murr, who led impeachment of Ken Paxton, won’t seek reelection
Murr, who represents Junction, suggested he wanted to come home to spend more time with family. He had become a target of hardline conservative supporters of Attorney General Paxton.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas House votes to remove school vouchers from massive education bill
The outcome was an embarrassment to Gov. Greg Abbott, who spent seven months lobbying two dozen Republicans who signaled opposition to vouchers in April.
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Politics
U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon drops Texas Senate bid, will run again for Congress
Fallon, who made the decision 24 hours after filing to run for his old Texas Senate seat, did not say why he changed his mind. His staff said the congressperson would provide more information later.
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Ken Paxton Impeachment
Nate Paul, the businessman at the center of Ken Paxton’s impeachment, charged with four new federal crimes
During the impeachment trial, whistleblowers testified they believed Paul to be a criminal and were concerned that Paxton was essentially turning the keys of the office over to him.
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Politics
Abbott calls lawmakers back for fourth time to try again on school vouchers and border security
The governor announced the fourth special session would start an hour after the previous session adjourned.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Fighting between legislative leaders imperils Texas border security bills
The governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker generally agree on building more border barriers and making illegal border crossings a state crime. But disagreements over strategy and personal animosity mean those measures face long odds this special legislative session.