Gov. Greg Abbott focuses on border security in first address since Allen and Brownsville tragedies
Abbott announced the deployment of new “Texas Tactical Border Force” units to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley on Monday and Tuesday. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott greets Texas Army National Guard troops deploying from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Monday May 8, 2023, to secure the Texas-Mexico border in anticipation of the end of Title 42 later this week.]()
Credit: Jay Janner/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS -
A former NFL player persuaded politicians that his child ID kits help find missing kids. There’s no evidence they do.
Texas is among at least 11 states that have agreed to distribute fingerprinting kits sold by Kenny Hansmire’s Waco-based National Child Identification Program. Some are spending millions even though similar kits are available for free. Full Story
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Credit: Lauren Crow for The Texas Tribune and ProPublica -
Gunman in Allen mall shooting may have had right-wing extremist beliefs
The shooter wore a patch that said, “RWDS,” an acronym for Right Wing Death Squad, according to people familiar with the investigation. The phrase is popular among right-wing extremists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, they said. Full Story
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![People gather on the street across from of the Allen Premium Outlets after the shooting that killed eight people Saturday afternoon and wounded at least seven more on May 6, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
After Allen shooting, Texas Republican leaders downplay guns, focus on mental health
President Joe Biden confirmed Sunday that the gunman used an AR-15 in the attack. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during the Texas Rally for Life event at the Capitol in Austin on Jan. 28, 2023.]()
Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House may revise anti-diversity legislation to allow some programs to maintain grants, federal funding
A new version of Senate Bill 17 expected to be considered by the House’s Higher Education Committee on Monday would still ban DEI offices and prohibit required diversity training, but it would open the door for university boards of regents to approve such programs in certain circumstances. Full Story
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![Illustrated posters reading “We Belong Here” litter the Capitol’s rotunda floor during Texas Students for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s protest of HB1 Rider No. 186, which would defund DEI initiatives at public universities, on Mar. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Can Texas’ political leaders stop their bickering for the legislative homestretch?
In this week’s episode, we discuss the final three weeks of the Legislature and Colin Allred’s bid for U.S. Senate. Full Story
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![Representatives recite the Pledge of Allegiance on the House floor in Austin on April 18, 2023.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Legislature enters homestretch with many of the session’s biggest issues unresolved
The list of potential hurdles includes property tax cuts, school choice, the power grid, the state budget, plus diversity and tenure in higher education. Full Story
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![State Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, talks with Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-Dallas, during budget discussions on the House floor at the state Capitol on April 6, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Poll finds solid majority of Texans, even Republicans, favor raising age for gun purchases
The University of Texas survey also found stronger support for Sen. Ted Cruz, while Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis remain popular among Republicans. Full Story
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![Hundreds of handguns and rifles for sale at McBride’s Gun’s in Central Austin on Wednesday, April 20, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Once again, tension builds after state police are deployed to a major Texas city
A month after the Texas Department of Public Safety began patrolling Austin streets, city officials have both praised a drop in violent crime and condemned the operation’s disparate impact on Latino and Black residents. In 2019, Dallas faced the same challenges. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) graduates a class of 74 new state troopers at the Texas Capitol.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
After backlash, Abbott expresses some regret after labeling all Cleveland shooting victims “illegal immigrants”
The governor’s focus on immigration status, not the loss of life, draws rebukes from across the country. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott addresses the House floor on the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
“A death sentence”: Trans Texas teen plots his future as proposed ban on hormone therapy progresses
As Texas House members could soon vote to ban transition-related care for minors, many lives are in limbo, and trans kids like 16-year-old Randell are grappling with difficult decisions. Full Story
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![Randell inspects the rose bush outside of his home in Fort Worth, on April 27, 2023. He says it can be difficult for anything, or anyone, to grow in Texas.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune -
FBI, Texas authorities search for gunman who killed 5 neighbors in San Jacinto County
In the face of mass shootings in Texas, state leaders have made it easier to access guns. Full Story
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![In a still image from video, an aerial view of the wooded area where a search is being conducted for Francisco Oropeza, 38, who police say shot dead five neighbors in Cleveland on Saturday, April 29, 2023. The shooting took place the night before.]()
Credit: ABC affiliate KTRK via REUTERS -
Texas Senate passes bill limiting farmland sales to China, other countries
The amended bill is a dramatically watered-down version of an earlier proposal that sought to ban land and home purchases by citizens of China and three other countries. Full Story
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![Attendees in opposition to SB 147 hold signs during a press conference in opposition to Senate Bill 147 outside of City Hall on Jan. 23, 2023, in downtown Houston.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Biden approves disaster relief for 13 Texas counties with damage from winter ice storms
Gov. Greg Abbott, who requested a federal disaster declaration for 23 counties, called it a critical first step in the recovery. Full Story
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![A technician from the Pedernales Electric Cooperative arrives to check on a power line in northwest Austin, Texas on February 1, 2023. Power outages swept across the region as a result of damage to power lines from ice and fallen tree limbs.]()
Credit: Angela Wang for The Texas Tribune -
San Antonio to vote on progressive wish list on abortion, marijuana, low-level arrests
Proposition A on the May 6 ballot will test the city’s political climate and progressives’ ability to advance a controversial agenda. Full Story
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![Women sit in the waiting room after their appointments at Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services in San Antonio on June 14, 2022.]()
Credit: Kylie Cooper/The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: A major Texas abortion case and a potential Gov. Greg Abbott pardon in a murder trial
In this week’s episode, we discuss an attempt to use the courts in Texas to restrict the use of an abortion drug and Gov. Greg Abbott’s potential pardon of an Army sergeant found guilty of murdering a protester in Austin. Full Story
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![Andrea Gallegos sorts through abortion pills that they’re now no longer able to administer at the Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services abortion clinic since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in San Antonio on June 24, 2022.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
Unsealed evidence shows racist comments, threats of violence made by Daniel Perry before killing of Austin protester
Gov. Greg Abbott has said he wants to pardon Perry, who was convicted by a Travis County jury last week. Full Story
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![Daniel Perry and his family walk to the 147th District Courtroom at the Travis County Blackwell Thurman Criminal Justice Complex on Thursday Mar. 23, 2023 in Austin. Perry is on trial for shooting and killing protester Garrett Foster during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Austin.]()
Credit: Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman via REUTERS -
With tweet about a pardon, Gov. Greg Abbott injects politics into Texas’ criminal justice system
In an unprecedented use of his power, the Republican governor moved to pardon Daniel Perry less than a day after an Austin jury convicted him in the murder of protester Garrett Foster. Full Story
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![Daniel Perry during his first day of trial in the 147th District Courtroom at the Travis County Justice Center on March 28, 2023.]()
Credit: Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman via REUTERS -
Lawmakers’ attempts to tighten drug laws could saddle crime labs with an unsustainable workload
Texas lawmakers want tougher criminal penalties for possession of delta-8 and fentanyl. But that would mean much more work for the crime labs handling most of the drug testing for the state’s 254 counties. Full Story
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![Angelica Noyola, a forensic analyst in the seized drugs lab, prepares a tray of pills, which likely contain oxycodone, for a chemical spot test as the state grapples with the effects of the nation's growing opioid epidemic at the Houston Forensic Science Center in Houston on March 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Callaghan O'Hare for The Texas Tribune -
How Republicans’ threats to tenure and diversity might undercut their own efforts to advance Texas’ universities
Texas lawmakers are poised to create a new multibillion-dollar endowment to boost emerging research universities in national rankings. But faculty members say banning diversity offices and tenure would stymie those efforts. Full Story
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![Nearly 40 protestors with Texas Students for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion join in chants against HB1 Rider No. 186, which would defund DEI initiatives at public universities, at the State Capitol rotunda on Mar. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune