After the county’s hospitalization rate crept up over 15%, public health officials issued a public health warning to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus.
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.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
“Cancel gatherings, large and small”: Texas officials raise alarm ahead of Thanksgiving holiday
Health experts worry that increased travel and mingling over Thanksgiving and into the December holidays could exacerbate an already dangerous situation as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising across Texas.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Texas reports more than 1 million COVID-19 cases, but state officials are slow to act
Texas joins California, which has 10 million more residents than Texas, as the nation’s leaders in coronavirus cases.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Incarcerated Texans are dying from COVID-19 at a rate 35% higher than rest of the U.S. prison population, UT study finds
Texans behind bars are also testing positive at a rate 40% higher than the national prison population average, according to a new report from the University of Texas at Austin.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
El Paso officials attribute Nov. 4 single-day record coronavirus case count to data backlog
Cases continued rising as a state district judge heard arguments Wednesday over a shutdown order issued by El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego. Judge William Moody said he would render a decision later this week on whether to temporarily halt the county order.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Jim Wright wins Texas Railroad Commission race, extending decades of Republican dominance on the oil and gas regulating board
Wright defeated Democrat Chrysta Castañeda. The commission’s elected, three-member board has been entirely Republican for at least 25 years.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Tarrant County faces delayed counts for its tightest races due to staffing shortages
Officials are warning that coronavirus-related staffing shortages mean elections workers are unlikely to finish counting mail-in ballots Tuesday night, potentially leaving the county’s tightest races undecided until later this week.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
As Texas Republicans center campaigns on city crime, anti-police brutality activists say the party’s messaging is racist
GOP campaign ads paint cities as lawless places and Democrats as enablers of crime. But people pushing for criminal justice reform say those portrayals sidestep the systemic racism that prompted this year’s protests against police brutality.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
“No one understands how difficult elections are to run”: Officials in small-town Texas endure a stressful election
While big cities and high-stakes lawsuits dominate Texas voting news, the election may come down to rural counties like Archer or Aransas, where there’s usually just a few people to handle registering voters, reporting results — and everything in between.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Texas Democrats think a seat on the oil and gas regulating board could be their best chance of winning statewide in two decades
With attention on Texas races up and down the ballot, a virtually unknown Republican candidate and big-time donations to the Democratic nominee, Democrats think they have a shot of winning a seat on the Railroad Commission.
