Black and Latino students make up about two-thirds of Texas’ public schools. But they are vastly underrepresented at its top universities, and Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling will shake up an already complicated application process.
Demographics
Explore population trends, diversity, and data shaping Texas communities, politics, and policy.
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2023 Session Recap
Voting by mail in Texas will get a little easier with these legislative fixes
Two bipartisan bills passed this session will give voters more time and opportunities to fix mistakes when they request and return ballots by mail.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
LGBTQ+ community in Lubbock protests their city council’s failure to pass a Pride proclamation
In the conservative High Plains city, LGBTQ leaders and activists say they feel unseen and unsupported by their elected officials.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Twenty years after a breakthrough Texas case launched a new era of gay rights, trans people are still in the fight
The U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for major civil rights victories for queer Americans in the 2003 decision that decriminalized homosexuality. But progress for LGBTQ+ people has been uneven.
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Criminal Justice
State troopers will resume patrolling Austin streets in July, with some changes in response to criticism
Texas Department of Public Safety officers were criticized for the disparate number of Latino and Black residents arrested during the first iteration of a partnership to help Austin with policing duties.
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Demographics
Hispanics officially make up the biggest share of Texas’ population, new census numbers show
White people had been the state’s largest population group since at least 1850. Sometime in 2022, the Hispanic population surpassed them, new data shows.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
LGBTQ+ Texans move forward with Pride plans despite tense political environment and fears of violence
Organizers across Texas are balancing a focus on security and a celebration of community after state lawmakers pushed scores of bills that threatened to upend the lives of LGBTQ+ Texans.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas lawmakers find consensus on bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill on June 14, making Texas the second state in the country, after Florida, to ban DEI offices at public universities.
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Redistricting Texas
Where Texas redistricting lawsuits stand after U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Alabama case
The high court left intact a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act in a case many feared would go the other way. The decision’s importance in ongoing litigation over Texas’ political maps will largely be felt in what didn’t happen.
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Demographics
At the fringes of Houston’s prosperity, the city’s eviction machine is running full throttle
Houston has seen eviction rates soar since pandemic protections for renters lapsed. At one apartment complex, ejecting people from their homes is a ritual part of the business model.
