State lawmakers passed a bill requiring courts to report involuntary mental health hospitalizations of juveniles for inclusion in the federal gun background check system. The law closes a gap revealed by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune in 2022.
Investigations
The Texas Tribune’s investigative journalism dives deep into the policy and political decisions that matter most to Texans. Read the latest — and most ambitious — work from our newsroom and the investigative team we share with ProPublica.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Churches’ role in Abilene election prompts calls for investigations
West Texas voters rejected three conservative Christian candidates who sought to infuse religious values into local politics. The campaign support the candidates received from local churches has prompted calls for state and federal probes.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Texas public records loophole lets cities keep suicide reports from families of dead soldiers
Texas law allows officials to withhold police records if no one was convicted in a case. At least one city has used this rule to deny the release of suicide records. A new bill aims to close this loophole.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Despite decades of mass shootings in Texas, legislators have failed to pass meaningful gun control laws
State lawmakers have rejected dozens of bills that would have prevented people from legally obtaining weapons used in many mass shootings. Instead, they’ve made it easier for residents to get guns and harder for local governments to regulate them.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Inside 30 years of former NFL player Kenny Hansmire’s troubled businesses
Politicians across the country have allocated millions to the National Child Identification Program. The company stands out as a success amid a decadeslong string of businesses plagued by legal and financial problems.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
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.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
A trio of Texas churches donated to political candidate despite clear IRS prohibition
A candidate for the Abilene City Council said that three churches made an honest mistake by donating to his campaign and that he is returning the money. The race has been beset by allegations of electioneering by churches.
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Graphics and data reporting
Toxic benzene lingered for weeks after shelter-in-place warnings ended following 2019 Houston-area chemical fire
The Texas Tribune analyzed previously unreported air monitoring data and records from the 2019 ITC chemical disaster near Houston and found that high benzene levels lingered in the air for two weeks after public health measures were lifted. Experts say more shelter-in-place advisories should have been issued.
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Investigations
For years, the EPA and Texas ignored warning signs at a chemical storage site. Then an inferno erupted.
Regulators repeatedly documented — but did little to address — problems at a Houston-area tank farm. Then on March 17, 2019, a fire blew through a corner of the facility, releasing toxic chemicals into nearby communities for weeks.
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Military Injustice
The Army increasingly allows soldiers charged with violent crimes to leave the military rather than face trial
A federal watchdog called for ending the practice nearly 50 years ago, but the military pushed back. Now, soldiers leave the Army with a negative discharge, avoiding possible federal conviction and with little record of the allegations against them.