Texas lottery bans online sales through third-party couriers amid mounting criticism
After years of claiming that companies selling lottery tickets online could not be regulated, the Texas Lottery Commission voted to ban the practice. Full Story
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![Members of the Texas Lottery Commission sit at the front of the room during a Texas Lottery Commission meeting on April 29, 2025.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune -
Requiring voters to prove citizenship spurs concern that eligible Texans won’t be able to cast ballots
Democrats and other critics say Texas legislation threatens to keep citizens who can’t easily access the right documents from voting. Full Story
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![The Texas House Elections Committee listens to public testimony on House Bill 5337 at the Capitol in Austin on April 24, 2025. The bill seeks to require people to submit proof of citizenship to register to vote.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune and Votebeat -
Texas lawmakers consider barring counties from mailing unsolicited voter registration forms
Voting rights advocates worry that legislation approved by House and Senate committees could make it harder to get more people on the rolls. Full Story
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![Alex Flucke, regional program manager of Texas Rising in Corpus Christi, right, helps Jessica López, 42, center, register to vote during a Pride celebration in Corpus Christi on Oct. 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Gabriel Cárdenas for VoteBeat -
Texas bill increasing public school funding and teacher pay gets final House approval
The lower chamber overwhelmingly voted in favor of House Bill 2, a sweeping $8 billion piece of legislation that would also limit schools’ reliance on teachers without formal classroom training. Full Story
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![State Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, shakes hands with Rep. Brad Buckley R-Salado, House Education chair, after the vote on school finance on April 16, 2025. The bill passed, 144-4.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
The Texas Legislature is having big battles over gender and sexuality. Track them here.
The Senate voted Wednesday to give initial approval to a bill that would require buildings, including public schools and universities, among others to segregate private facilities, like bathrooms, by sex. Full Story
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![Attendees wave a trans flag while marching with over 300 activists and supporters from the Bexar County Courthouse to Crockett Park in “March for Us,” San Antonio's third annual celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility, on Saturday, March 29, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.]()
Credit: Salgu Wissmath for The Texas Tribune -
Toilet to tap: El Paso is about to embark on a whole new way to save its limited water supply
El Paso’s dry climate — it rains just 9 inches annually — is one of the reasons the city has taken water management so seriously. Full Story
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![Contractors work on expanding the Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant in El Paso on March 5, 2025. By 2028, the utility expects treated wastewater from the plant to be further purified at the new Pure Water Center next door to produce up to 10 million gallons of drinking water.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Verifying hand-counted ballots in Texas elections may be easier under GOP bill
The proposal would require counties who opt for hand counts to use ballots that can be scanned and tabulated by a voting machine. Full Story
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![Election workers count ballots by hand inside of The Edge in Fredericksburg on Mar. 5, 2024. Early voting ballots for the Republican primaries were hand counted on Election Day at this location.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ clarifying abortion bill draws criticism
While Democrats and abortion access advocates pushed to ensure pregnant women aren’t criminalized, some conservatives questioned whether this bill is needed. Full Story
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![An empty emergency room at Goodall-Witcher Hospital in Clifton on August 3, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Despite Texas defendant’s death in Louisiana prison, lawmakers unlikely to end reliance on out-of-state lockups
Lawmakers are pursuing legislative changes that would keep more people locked up in overcrowded county jails while awaiting resolution to their cases. Full Story
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![Sarah Knight poses for a portrait at her home in Houston with a birthday card she made for her son Jaleen Anderson on May 13, 2024. Anderson died earlier in the year while being held in LaSalle Correctional Facility in Louisiana.]()
Credit: Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune -
Bill requiring voters to show proof of citizenship clears Texas Senate
Senate Bill 16 would create new barriers for voters and new burdens for election officials. Full Story
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![Voters visit the White Oak Community Center during the first day of early voting on Monday October 21, 2024, in White Oak.]()
Credit: Michael Cavazos for The Texas Tribune -
Private school voucher bill clears first test in Texas House
The House Public Education Committee voted to advance a pair of priority bills to create education savings accounts and to raise how much state money public school districts receive. Full Story
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![The Texas House of Representatives Public Education Committee holds a hearing in Austin on March 18, 2025.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune -
Telehealth for pets? It’s the cat’s meow, a Texas lawmaker says.
Animal health care experts raised concern that telehealth would lead to misdiagnosis and erode what little care already exists in rural Texas. Full Story
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![Genna Deleon, 32, vet technician, holds Roco, an 11-year-old Silky Terrier, during a wellness visit at the Spay Neuter Network Crandall clinic in Crandall on Sept. 27, 2024.]()
Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Store, harvest, fix: How Texas can save its water supply
State lawmakers are poised to devote billions to save the state’s water supply. These are some of the ways the state could spend the money. Full Story
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![Treated water at the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Austin, TX. The treatment plant will undergo a billion dollar expansion starting this summer to meet the increasing demand due to the growth the city has faced. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ DEI debate centers on a disagreement about whether programs perpetuate or prevent discrimination
Supporters say diversity initiatives close educational and income gaps born from a history of prejudice. Republican officials say they prioritize identity over merit. Full Story
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![Illustrated posters reading “We Belong Here” litter the Capitol’s rotunda floor during Texas Students for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s protest of HB1 Rider No. 186, which would defund DEI initiatives at public universities, on Mar. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Republican lawmakers revive effort to give attorney general more power to prosecute election crimes
Critics fear increased election prosecutions could intimidate voters and local election officials. Attorney General Ken Paxton has long sought more autonomy over election cases. Full Story
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![Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, speaks to the media Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, during a press conference following arguments in the case “Free Speech Coalition, Inc., et al. v. Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas,” at the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C.]()
Credit: Luke Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
These are the proposals lawmakers hope will save Texas’ water supply. Track them here.
Most lawmakers — as well as Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — want to invest big in water. Here are the proposals that would do it. Full Story
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![Cotton fields near the High Plains town of Ralls, about 30 miles east of Lubbock, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Like much of Texas, the High Plains and Panhandle are facing drought conditions and extraordinary heat.]()
Credit: Trace Thomas for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers will debate saving the state’s water supply after key legislation is introduced
The state House and Senate have similar proposals to solve the state's water crisis, but there are stark differences on how to invest billions of dollars to resolve. Full Story
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![A water tower in Starr County near the Falcon Dam on Aug. 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Want to understand Texas’ water crisis? Start with the guide to water terms.
Water is complex. So are the terms used to describe it. Get to know the language as Texas debates how to save its water supply. Full Story
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![The secondary clarifier at the Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant expansion in El Paso on March 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
A Republican effort to set deadlines to plug orphan wells in Texas hits resistance
The bill would have set deadlines for the oil and gas industry to plug inactive wells, which can pose a danger to the environment. Full Story
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![A pump jack and a gas flare in the Eagle Ford oil patch south of San Antonio.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate majority unveils bill requiring voters to prove their citizenship
All 20 GOP senators signed on to Senate Bill 16, which would apply to currently registered voters, and restrict some to only congressional elections. Full Story
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![Jessika Morales, 33, assists Francisco Jubera, 63, who just moved into the county, to register to vote at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas on Sept. 11, 2024.]()
Credit: Gabriel V. Cárdenas for Votebeat