Republicans were not in agreement about whether they supported suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Stories by Texas Tribune fellows
The Texas Tribune welcomes a group of student fellows into our newsroom each spring, summer and fall. Here is a sampling of their work. Learn more about the fellowship program here.
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Energy
As brutal heat tests Texas’ power grid, batteries play a small but growing role in keeping the lights on
This summer, industrial scale batteries have helped boost the energy supply during critical evening hours. Battery storage represents a small fraction of Texas’ energy mix now, but it’s expected to rise sharply in coming years.
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New Texas Laws 2023
New Texas law bars animal cruelty offenders from owning animals for five years
The law bans those convicted of animal cruelty, including those involved with dogfighting, from owning any kind of animal for five years after their first criminal offense.
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Energy
ERCOT’s pleas for power conservation raise concerns: Are Texans tuning them out?
Repetitive power conservation appeals by the state’s grid operator face a challenge: Texans becoming less responsive to calls. Past conservation requests have helped reduce 100,000 homes worth of power demand on the grid.
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Higher Education
West Texas A&M will no longer require students to pay for textbooks starting next fall
The move is an effort to provide relief for college students struggling with the skyrocketing costs of higher education. But professors expressed concerns about the impact the decision might have on their ability to prepare for classes.
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Health care
Motivated by grieving parents, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has made fentanyl crisis a priority
The Republican from Texas has combined attention to border issues with efforts to address deadly overdoses, including ideas that are opposed by some in his party, such as decriminalizing test strips.
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Graphics and data reporting
“We’d lose one after the next”: Texas bats face a pandemic of their own
Weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept into Texas, a biologist found a dead bat covered in a white fungus — the state’s first official case of white-nose syndrome. Now, scientists are on a mission to understand how many bats have been lost.
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Environment
New forecast predicts more hurricanes because of record-warm sea surface temperatures
Texas meteorologists remind residents to make sure they have a plan in the event of a tropical storm
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Criminal Justice
Texas state troopers are routinely stopping motorists of color in Austin, data shows
More than 8 in 10 people charged by state troopers since they began helping Austin police have been people of color. In Southeast Austin, a neighborhood president calls it “outright racial profiling.”
Posted in
Guns in Texas
Texans do not need a license to carry, but some gun owners still want one
Since the permitless carry law passed in 2021, Texans have not needed a license to carry a gun. But gun instructors and some gun owners still see the benefits in taking the classes necessary to obtain a license.
