Stories by Texas Tribune fellows

Buzbee challenged Mary Nan Huffman, the incumbent, who was backed by the Texas GOP and local Republican officials. Full Story 

Whitmire defeated U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to be the next mayor of Texas’ largest city and the fourth largest city in the U.S. Full Story 

A series of incidents across Texas campuses have brought attention to universities’ handling of heated political debates about the war. Full Story 

Cruz on Tuesday requested a unanimous consent decision on his AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. The legislation was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who said the mandate on private companies would be an overstep of congressional power. Full Story 

Frazier was indicted in June 2022 on two charges of impersonating a public servant, a felony offense. He pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges as part of a plea agreement. Full Story 

Ramirez is currently a U.S. magistrate judge for the Northern District of Texas, serving in that role for over two decades. Full Story 

The Texas House’s vote to block education savings accounts disappointed voucher advocates and likely spelled doom for additional public school funding. Both bands say they’ll keep pushing for their priorities during next year’s primary elections and the 2025 legislative session. Full Story 

The appeals court upheld an earlier ruling by an Austin federal judge to remove the 1,000-foot-long barrier the state deployed near Eagle Pass. Full Story 

O’Connor, the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice, died Friday. She is more commonly known as an Arizonan, but she graduated high school in Texas and multiple schools here now bear her name. Full Story 

Inflation, stagnant federal funding for food programs and high housing costs mean that demand at food banks still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. Full Story 

The announcement comes after the university spent more than $75 million to fire former football coach Jimbo Fisher. A&M did not immediately say how much it will pay Elko. Full Story 

The Pew Research Center analyzed unauthorized immigrant data from 2021 finding that there’s been a significant shift in migrants’ country of origin and where they choose to live in the U.S. Full Story 

The debate, scheduled for Sept. 16, 2024, will be the first of four for the general election. The San Marcos school would be the first Texas university to hold a presidential debate, Texas State officials said. Full Story 

Abbott made the presidential endorsement after he and Trump served meals to service members deployed for Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s sprawling border security mission. Full Story 

The Sherman school board also temporarily ended the superintendent oversight of its fine arts programs pending the results of the investigation. Full Story 

The Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education this week rejected most of the proposed textbooks that include climate science for eighth grade students. Five of 12 were approved. Full Story 

Last year, Texas joined more than 30 other states in banning TikTok on government-issued cell phones and computers. A nationwide coalition of professors are suing the state over the ban, arguing it has limited their ability to teach and research the social media app. Full Story 

Bishop Strickland, a Pope Benedict XVI appointee, has been a fiercely vocal critic of Pope Francis’ efforts to reform the Catholic Church. Full Story 

After Max Hightower scored a role in the seminal American musical, administrators changed their policy on performers’ gender. After backlash, the school board directed the school to produce the original version “Oklahoma!” — not a youth version that cut Hightower’s solo. Full Story 

The two new measure could bring $1.3 billion more to schools to pay for security systems, fencing and personnel training. Full Story