Five firms being considered for design and construction of Texas-Mexico border wall that Gov. Greg Abbott promised
One of the companies being considered previously built a 3-mile barrier that is at risk of falling into the Rio Grande. Full Story
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![A storage lot for border wall fencing on Oct. 16, 2021 in Pharr. The Biden administration canceled all border wall contracts prompting a lawsuit from Ken Paxton.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Restrictions on transgender student athletes’ participation in school sports signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott
House Bill 25 will require student athletes who compete in interscholastic competition to play on sports teams that correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate at or near their time of birth. Full Story
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![Supporters and activists gather at the front of the Governor's Mansion for the Lights in Darkness demonstration on Oct. 12, 2021. The demonstration was in opposition to anti-trans legislation.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott signs dog tethering bill after vetoing similar proposal over the summer
Abbott criticized an earlier proposal as “micro-managing.” But advocates say the differences between the original bill and the new law won’t affect its impact. Full Story
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![Bloodhounds are held in a pen in Refugio on Aug. 21, 2019.]()
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Gov. Greg Abbott’s pick for top Texas election post worked with Trump to fight 2020 results
As secretary of state, Fort Worth attorney John Scott would oversee election administration in Texas. Full Story
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![A Texas Historical Commission plaque on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Is the Texas Legislature finished for 2021?
On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Alexa, James and Patrick about the end of the Texas Legislature’s third special session and whether there will be a fourth. Full Story
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![Hose Speaker Dade Phelan talks with several House members after gaveling in on a late night session at the Capitol on Oct. 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Gov. Greg Abbott should call lawmakers back for a fourth special session
In a tweet, Patrick said he supported Abbott calling lawmakers back to Austin to increase the penalty for illegal voting and approve a “forensic audit bill.” Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks from the podium in the Senate on the first day of the special session on July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t get everything he wanted in the special session. Will he call lawmakers back for more?
The latest special session ended without lawmakers passing two of Abbott’s priorities — legislation to increase an illegal-voting penalty and to ban vaccine mandates by any entity in Texas. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to the Senate at the Capitol on Jan. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman -
Houston state Rep. Dan Huberty, who spearheaded Texas’ 2019 public education overhaul in Legislature, to retire
Earlier this year, Huberty was arrested in Montgomery County after he crashed his car into another vehicle and failed a sobriety test. The lawmaker was driving home from the Capitol in late April. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, speaks from the dais at the Capitol on May 4, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas legislators pass most — but not all — of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priority measures in final flurry of lawmaking
Lawmakers approved new political maps and decided how to spend COVID-19 relief money. But they didn’t pass bills about vaccine mandates or the criminal penalty for illegal voting. Full Story
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![Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan listens to a colleague while presiding over the chamber on Oct. 18, 2021, shortly before the Texas Legislature ended its third special session of the year.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Texas bill to block COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employers failed in Legislature after business groups rallied against it
A prohibition on vaccine mandates was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities for the special session, but it did not have enough support in the Legislature. Full Story
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![Diana Phipps pulls up doses of the Pfizer vaccine into syringes at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School on July 28, 2021.
Source diversity info: White Female]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Austin voters could put hundreds more police officers on the streets after last year’s budget cuts
A November vote on whether Austin should hire hundreds of new police officers is shaping up as a test of Austinites’ appetite for police reform. Full Story
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![The Austin Police Department building with the Austin skyline in the background on March 22, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate approves $3 billion college campus construction bill
Lawmakers haven’t passed a tuition revenue bond bill since 2015. Full Story
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![Students walk through an area known as “The Quad” on the first day of the fall semester at Texas State University in San Marcos on Aug. 24, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
As Texas GOP wages war on COVID-19 mandates, lawmakers OK bill that would make companies requiring the shot vulnerable to lawsuits
Senate Bill 51 would make any entity, including hospitals, vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits if they mandate vaccinations for all employees. Full Story
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![A COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card sits on a table at a vaccine clinic held in partnership between the Central Texas Food Bank and University of Texas in Austin on July 21, 2021.]()
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Texas Supreme Court puts San Antonio school district’s vaccine mandate on hold
The halt comes after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded his ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates — which previously applied to cities, counties and school districts — to private employers. Full Story
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![School supplies are individually bagged in each cubbie in a classroom at Ott Elementary School on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 in San Antonio.]()
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“Extremely influential” or “delusional ideas of grandeur”? GOP primary foe Don Huffines sees impact as Gov. Greg Abbott pushes rightward
Huffines has been the most vocal fellow Republican taking on Abbott, pressuring him over his COVID-19 response, the border and other hot-button issues. Full Story
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![Former state Sen. Don Huffines speaks at a Texas Republican Party rally on the east side of the Capitol Grounds on Jan. 9, 2021.]()
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“It puts a big burden on employers”: Businesses face tough choices after Gov. Greg Abbott bans vaccine mandates
American Airlines and Southwest Airlines say they will continue requiring employee vaccinations despite Abbott’s new order, which has left federal government contractors, nursing homes and other companies caught between conflicting rules from the Biden administration and the state. Full Story
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![Pharmacist Ilana Druker prepares the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Houston Independent School District’s Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Jan. 9, 2021, in Houston. HISD partnered with Kroger to administer the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine to educators, police officers and school nurses as part of Phase 1A and 1B of the vaccine rollout.]()
Credit: May-Ying Lam for The Texas Tribune -
State agency removed online resources for LGBTQ youth after complaints from a Republican challenging Gov. Greg Abbott, emails show
Democratic state senators want the webpage reinstated. The resources were removed after Don Huffines, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, criticized their inclusion on a state website. Full Story
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![Activists and members of Austin's LGBT community gathered on the steps of the capitol to celebrate the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. These riots signify a key moment in the birth of the modern LGBT movement in America. June 28, 2017.]()
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Analysis: Greg Abbott and the policy contradiction of an anti-mandate mandate
Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest executive order contradicts what he's been saying for months about mandates and the personal choices of Texans and their businesses during the pandemic. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference about the state's response to the coronavirus on Tuesday in Austin on March 24, 2020.]()
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans any COVID-19 vaccine mandates — including for private employers
Abbott also called on the Legislature to pass a law expanding the ban on vaccine mandates. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a press conference with nine other governors regarding the southern border at Anzalduas Park in Mission on Oct. 6, 2021.]()
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Analysis: When Texas legislators admit they don’t know what they’re doing
When lawmakers find something in the law that they don’t like — or that their voters don’t like — they can always say they didn’t know what they were voting on. It happens more than you’d think. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol grounds are covered in snow on Feb. 16, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune