Autonomous vehicles, or AVs, are here. Tribune journalists took a ride in one recently and answer the biggest questions about who’s driving the driverless trend and how the state regulates them.
Department of Public Safety
Posted in
Politics
Bodycam video shows confrontation between U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson and law enforcement
The footage shows Jackson being tackled to the ground and placed in handcuffs, with the Amarillo Republican directing a profanity-laced tirade toward a trooper. His office has said Jackson, a physician, was trying to help with a medical emergency.
Posted in
Politics
Sheriff says U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson cursed at officers, threatened his job in rodeo altercation
The Amarillo Republican was briefly detained in the incident as he was trying to help a teenager suffering from a seizure.
Posted in
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
Graphics and data reporting
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of July 1. It includes detailed data for the 113 agencies in state government and positions at each of those agencies.
Posted in
Immigration
Body found stuck in buoys Texas installed in the Rio Grande
Texas authorities believe the person drowned upstream and floated into the buoys near Eagle Pass. Mexico criticized Texas’ placement of the buoys along the river.
Posted in
Politics
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin resigns to run for Texas House
McLaughlin, who led the small South Texas community through the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, was first elected in 2014.
Posted in
State Government
State investigating claim that DPS troopers were told to push migrants back into the Rio Grande and deny them water
The Office of the Inspector General is investigating the claims, which include pushing small children and women with nursing babies back into the river and turning away a 4-year-old girl who later passed out on the riverbank from the heat.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2023
New school safety laws seek to add armed guards, chaplains and mental health training. Here’s what you need to know.
Experts say many of the changes will bolster school safety but some requirements may be challenging for public schools to implement by the upcoming school year with limited funding and staffing constraints.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Gov. Greg Abbott sends more state police to patrol Austin after city leaders call for end to partnership
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson had said that troopers pulling a gun on a 10-year-old prompted the end of the agreement. A video of that encounter shows troopers with guns pointed at the ground, not the child.
