Texas led nation in white supremacist propaganda in 2022, report finds
Incidents increased by 61% in Texas and 38% nationally last year, driven by what experts say is an increasing normalization of extremism in political discourse. Full Story
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![Members of Patriot Front arrive at a right-wing protest against a drag queen event on Sept. 24, 2022, in Houston.]()
Credit: Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via REUTERS -
At a Korean community center in Houston, the struggle immigrant Texans face with language barriers is clear
Texas largely conducts its state business in English and Spanish. It falls to interpreters like Terry Yun to help people scale the wall dividing them from crucial government services. Full Story
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![Terry S. Yun listens and provides translating services for a couple at the Korean Community Center in the Spring Branch district of Houston, TX, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
The Texas House has a record number of LGBTQ representatives as lawmakers face scores of bills focused on gender and sexuality
The Texas Legislature has nine lawmakers who are openly LGBTQ, all Democrats. At the same time, some Republican lawmakers are pushing a slate of bills aimed at drag queens, transgender children and how sexuality is discussed in schools. Full Story
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![Clockwise from top left: State Reps. Josey Garcia, D-San Antonio, Christian Manuel, D-Beaumont, Venton Jones, D-Dallas, and Jolanda Jones, D-Houston.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers pursued dozens of bills affecting LGBTQ people this year. Here’s what passed and what failed.
The Legislature banned puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans kids, restricted the college sports teams trans athletes can join and expanded the definition of sexual conduct to include some drag shows. But a “Don’t Say Gay” provision for schools missed key deadlines. Full Story
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![Members of Austin's LGBT community gather on the steps of the capitol to celebrate the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots on June 28, 2017.]()
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Debate over Texas drag shows intensifies
A lawmaker is accused of hypocrisy after it emerges that he once wore a dress. He says it wasn’t sexual. Full Story
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![State Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-HD93, gives a speech in recommendation of state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington for Speaker of the House on the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023. Tinderholt was defeated 145-3 to elect state Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, as Speaker of the House.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas senators, facing criticism, soften proposed ban on Chinese purchases of land
The measure, endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, originally would have banned citizens of China, Iran, Russia or North Korea from buying land in Texas. Under a new version considered Thursday, the ban wouldn’t apply to dual citizens or lawful permanent residents. Full Story
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![A ranch for sale about an hour west of Del Rio on Nov. 21, 2013.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
This rural Texas hospital has closed twice. Now reopened, it hopes a new partnership can save it for good.
Under a new federal law, the rural hospital will get higher Medicare payments for shedding inpatient services to instead staff a round-the-clock emergency department. Full Story
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![The nursery at the shuttered labor and delivery unit of Medical Arts Hospital in Lamesa on Dec. 9, 2017. The rocking chair pictured came from the original facility when the staff moved into the current facility in 2009.]()
Credit: Gary Rhodes for The Texas Tribune -
How Texas activists turned drag events into fodder for outrage
The Tribune analyzed more than two dozen anti-drag protests. Opponents frequently characterized the drag events as catering to children, even when businesses advertised them as adults-only or provided warnings about the potential for explicit material. Full Story
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![Kassandra Boehmer responds to anti-drag protesters on the crosswalk with her 7-year-old son Kaufman.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ shortage of mental health care professionals is getting worse
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already short supply of therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers. Full Story
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![AUSTIN, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 14, 2023: Communities in Schools staff members Christy Mitchell, Dorothy Garza and Amara Nitibhon (left to right) pose for a portrait at Langford Elementary School in Austin, Texas on February 14, 2023. (Photo by Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune -
Black and Hispanic Texans say they don’t trust the quality of their water
A survey was commissioned by the nonprofit organization Texas Water Trade and included responses from households in both rural border communities and in urban areas across Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Full Story
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![A portable water tank at a colonia at Las Pampas, on Oct. 21, 2014.]()
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune -
In an age of repeated crises, these Texans are creating mutual aid networks to help neighbors in need
Community organizations and individuals helped many Texans weather this month’s ice storm. Extreme weather heightens demand for their help — but it can also stress their resources. Full Story
![Linda Jackson, Corey Roberson and Sasha Rose, an organizer with Austin Mutual Aid, all fold clothing at the Washatopia laundromat in Austin on Feb. 7, 2023. “We provided the blankets, but [the help] shouldn’t stop there. What we’re trying to do is fill in the gaps,” said Rose, explaining just giving people blankets without support for caring for their things just creates another problem.](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/3H29ZO2K-Qo8K2AwH1K5LmBofcQ=/850x570/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/8397b87ac07d6866f6cd66060d204d6f/0207%20Mutual%20Aid%20Laundry%20EL%2012%20REEDIT.jpg)
![Linda Jackson, Corey Roberson and Sasha Rose, an organizer with Austin Mutual Aid, all fold clothing at the Washatopia laundromat in Austin on Feb. 7, 2023. “We provided the blankets, but [the help] shouldn’t stop there. What we’re trying to do is fill in the gaps,” said Rose, explaining just giving people blankets without support for caring for their things just creates another problem.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott tells state agencies to stop considering diversity in hiring
In a memo written Monday and obtained by The Texas Tribune, Abbott’s chief of staff Gardner Pate told agency leaders that using diversity, equity and inclusion policies in hiring violates federal and state employment laws, and hiring cannot be based on factors “other than merit.” Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during the Texas Rally for Life event at the Capitol in Austin on Jan. 28, 2023.]()
Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune -
The Rio Grande Valley is at the epicenter of an Alzheimer’s spike among Latinos and is now the focus of new research efforts
Compared to other large states, fewer state dollars go to Alzheimer’s disease services in Texas. Now with more national attention on research here, could that change? Full Story
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![Photographs of her father, Tomas, decorate the home of Jessica Cantú. Cantú’s father received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2016.]()
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“Who ever thought I would be chief?” Texas’ Alabama-Coushatta tribe elects first female chief
Millie Thompson Williams was elected the tribe’s first female second chief, a lifetime appointment, last year. For the first time, her accession comes as women make up the majority of the tribe’s council. Full Story
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![Myra Battise helps newly elected second chief Millie Thompson Williams with her official regalia after a press conference on Monday, January 3, 2023. Battise nominated Williams for the leadership role. Williams is the first female elected as a chief in the tribe’s history.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn eyes the seemingly impossible: a bipartisan deal on immigration
Riding the success of his historic congressional session last year where he helped pass the first gun safety bill signed into law in a generation, Cornyn is hopeful that his ability to strike deals across the aisle will help Congress achieve another elusive legislative goal: an immigration deal. Full Story
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![U.S. Sens. John Cornyn, center, and James Lankford, R-Okla., were shown items displayed by a Border Patrol agent after two Chinese nationals were detained upon entering the U.S. in Sunland Park, New Mexico on on Jan. 9, 2023. The senators were on a night tour of the border led by the National Border Patrol Council.]()
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Oaths, M&Ms and a historic Quran: Texas’ freshman lawmakers begin their inaugural legislative session
New Texas House members were sworn into office Tuesday, including some who have already made history. Full Story
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![State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-HD92, speaks with Usama Malik, resident chaplain of Muslim Space, before participating in an interfaith ceremony the morning of the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
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Two Texas bills would restrict lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools
The legislation closely mirrors a Florida bill passed last year, dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which detractors say would further isolate LGBTQ students and open teachers and school districts to legal risks. Full Story
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![Pride flags, stickers and masks, pronoun buttons and other merch are handed out at the AISD "Pride Out!" Party in the Park event at Eastside Early College High School in Austin on March 26, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
“I want to fight”: LGBTQ Texans ready for legislative session as GOP lawmakers target them in dozens of bills
Republicans are backing legislation targeting gender-affirming care for children, classroom lessons about sexuality and drag shows. Full Story
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![Austin Pride Parade attendees wave rainbow flags as they pass the Capitol building, on Aug. 20, 2022.]()
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Texas is now home to 30 million people
Texas has joined California as the only other state in the nation with a population of more than 30 million, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Full Story
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![Crowds march through Austin in celebration of Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 20, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas GOP lawmaker hires Christian nationalist who called for drag show attendees to be executed
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, hired Jake Neidert, 22, last month as his office’s legislative director amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ violence and rhetoric and ahead of an impending legislative session that is expected to focus heavily on anti-trans bills. Full Story
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![Jake Neidert is legislative director for state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington.]()
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