Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asks state to halt new concrete plant permits until 2025
Citing community concerns about a planned cement plant in Grayson County, Patrick’s letter asks TCEQ to reject the permit and halt permit approvals statewide. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks during a keynote lunch at the Texas Public Policy Foundation Texas Policy Summit 2024 at the AT&T Hotel & Conference Center in Austin, TX on Mar. 21, 2024. Lt. Gov. Patrick spoke on policies regarding energy, border control, school choice and taxes.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
As climate change intensifies wildfire risk, prescribed burns prove their worth in the heat-stressed Panhandle
In Borger, officials say a prescribed burn stopped the Windy Deuce Fire from entering neighborhoods. But the practice has faced opposition from some landowners. Full Story
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![A structure damaged by the flames of the Smokehouse Creek Fire in Stinnet, Texas.]()
Credit: Keaton Peters/Inside Climate News -
Man crashes stolen 18-wheeler into DPS office, killing one and injuring several others
Authorities arrested the driver, whom a local official said was denied a commercial driver’s license from the Brenham DPS station. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety vehicles outside of the state Capitol on Aug. 11, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas psychologists’ board pushes back on costly new national licensing exam, considers crafting a cheaper state test
Faced with a nagging mental health provider shortage, the state psychologists’ licensing board is looking into whether the state should devise its own exam to get professionals licensed more quickly. Full Story
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![Chair John Bielamowicz speaks during a the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists meeting during the discussion with the Association of State & Provincial Psychology Boards regarding the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology on Thursday, April 11, 2024 in Austin.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick lists housing affordability, fighting antisemitism on campus among 2025 priorities
Examining charitable bail organizations and banning Delta 9 were also among Patrick’s priorities in the next legislative session. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presides over on the Senate floor during the first day of the second special session at the state Capitol in Austin on June 28, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Amid fears of arsenic in private water wells, Texas A&M is offering low-cost tests in Ector and Midland counties
Officials are worried that there’s arsenic in some of the estimated 13,500 private water wells in Ector and Midland counties. Full Story
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![A water faucet drips on Feb. 5, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Some South Texas school employees could be barred from holding elected office after fraud investigation
A state-appointed board of managers overseeing the La Joya Independent School District is set to consider the policy this week. Full Story
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![The Texas Education Agency has replaced the entire school board of La Joya Independent School District.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
South Texas groups trying to stop state’s land swap with SpaceX
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is negotiating a land trade involving part of Boca Chica State Park. Full Story
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![SpaceX rockets at the launch pad at the Brownsville facility on Oct. 20, 2021. On Oct. 22, Elon Musk said via Twitter the Starship rocket would be ready for an orbital launch by next month.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
T-Squared: Get your tickets now for the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival
Reserve your spot to connect with other Texans and big-name speakers on issues that affect our daily lives. Full Story
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Most 18-year-old Texans aren’t signed up to vote despite a law requiring voter registration in high schools
Voting is habit-forming and high schools are critical for starting that pattern. Full Story
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![On the left, Mihir Relan, 18, and Bianca Juarez, 18, registers to vote with the help of Jolt Initiative, a non-profit organization that increases the civic participation of Latinos in Texas, on Friday, April 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Joseph Bui for The Texas Tribune -
Años antes de que los caracterizaran como criminales, los residentes de Colony Ridge buscaron ayuda del estado
Los residentes presentaron más de 60 quejas en contra de Colony Ridge. No obtuvieron muchas soluciones del estado. Full Story
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![An overhead view of the Colony Ridge development on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in New Caney, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
About 40% of Texas election administrators leave their job each presidential election cycle, report finds
Texas’ turnover rate has held steady at 40% since 2014. That’s slightly above the new national average. Full Story
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![Texans cast their votes at the start of early voting at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center near downtown Houston on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
How Texas teens lost the one program that allowed birth control without parental consent
Federal Title X clinics do not require parental consent for birth control — except in Texas, where a lawsuit upended the longstanding program. Full Story
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![Various birth control pills available at a Planned Parenthood in Austin.]()
Credit: Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court justice implies Democrats will cheat in 2024 election
Justice John Devine’s comments at a conservative event are the latest to prompt concerns about his impartiality as a jurist. Full Story
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![Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine, far left, with fellow judges on the House floor in Austin in 2013.]()
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Public blasts Texas agencies, regulators for poor communication and oversight at wildfire hearings
Thursday’s hearing marked the end of the Legislature’s three-day marathon of public hearings. Full Story
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![Craig Cowden gives testimony to the house committee investigating the Panhandle wildfires Thursday, April 4, 2024 in Pampa.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas counties, cities embrace new child care center tax credit even though few providers qualify
Child care centers are struggling to make ends meet, and a new voter-approved tax credit is a first step toward boosting the flagging system, advocates say. Full Story
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![Kindergarten students are loaded into a van by Pita Espinosa so they can be driven to their elementary school from the Learning Tree childcare center in Yoakum, on Sept. 13, 2022.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Utility pole inspection company declines to testify at Texas Panhandle wildfire investigation hearing
The Texas A&M Forest Service concluded that a fallen decayed utility pole caused the Smokehouse Creek fire. Full Story
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![State Rep Ken King, R-Canadian, speaks during an investigative house committee hearing on the Texas Panhandle wildfires Tuesday, April 2, 2024 in Pampa. In late February, the largest wildfire in Texas history raged across the panhandle, burning just over a million acres.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas, Biden administration take their battle over new immigration law to federal appeals court
A panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to keep in place a lower court’s block of Senate Bill 4, which makes illegally entering Texas a state crime. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety officers patrol along the border wall after the U.S. Supreme Court let a Republican-backed Texas law known as SB 4 take effect, allowing state law enforcement authorities to arrest people suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, in El Paso on March 19, 2024.]()
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Texas, U.S. reach $6.6 million settlement over 2019 Deer Park chemical fire
Attorney General Ken Paxton said the settlement will reimburse the state and feds for damages to natural resources. Full Story
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![Firefighters struggle to extinguish the towering flames pouring out of ITC’s tank 80-8 on the afternoon of March 17, 2019. The fire would blow through the entire “2nd 80’s” section of the facility.]()
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Texas counties facing surprise surcharge from voter registration software vendor
Votec, one of only three companies certified to manage voter registration data in Texas, is facing a financial squeeze and asking counties for a 35% surcharge. Full Story
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![Voter registration forms at a registration event in Austin, on Sept. 27, 2020.]()
Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune