Relive the year in Texas politics and policy through the Tribune’s video coverage of the 85th Legislature, Hurricane Harvey, the deadly shooting in Sutherland Springs, the controversy over Confederate monuments and more.
2017
Can you tell these fake Texas news stories from the real ones? Take our quiz to find out.
The furor over fake news showed no signs of slowing down in 2017. Take our quiz to see how good you are at identifying falsehoods.
Texas schools weathered Hurricane Harvey, political strife in 2017
Take a look back at our 2017 public education coverage and read about how the Texas Legislature failed to overhaul the school finance system, how several Texas students and teachers are still recovering from a devastating hurricane, and more.
Now on the books: What Texas’ newest laws mean for you
This year, new laws went into effect in Texas that do everything from lowering fees for handgun licenses to requiring seat belts on new school buses. Learn more about the state’s newest laws.
U.S. House approves billions more for Harvey relief, measure now heads to Senate
The U.S. House voted for billions more in Hurricane Harvey relief, but the U.S. Senate is not likely to take up the measure until after the holidays.
House Ethics Committee expands investigation into U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold
The U.S. House Ethics Committee announced Thursday it was expanding its investigation into U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold to explore, among other things, whether he used official resources for his re-election and if he made false statements to the committee.
Texas, feds agree to renew Medicaid funds for safety net hospitals
With a Republican in the White House, top Texas leaders have reached an agreement with the federal government to keep Medicaid money flowing into Texas to help hospitals treat uninsured patients.
Paxton: Texans can bring guns to church unless church says otherwise
Attorney General Ken Paxton has clarified that licensed handgun owners can bring their weapons to church as long as the church does not say otherwise — a question raised after the deadly church shooting last month in Sutherland Springs.
Analyses in the rearview mirror: Bathrooms and GOP politics
2017 was the year when House Speaker Joe Straus found his voice, when the culture conservatives lost out to the business conservatives and when the fault lines that define today’s Texas GOP opened up for everyone to see.
How many Texas eighth-graders from 2005 went on to college?
Use our Texas Higher Ed Outcomes Explorer to track the educational milestones of every student who started eighth grade in a Texas public school between 1997 and 2005. You can see figures broken down by county, ethnicity and other factors.


