Given Texas’ history, it would be unusual if, at the very least, some redistricting plans didn’t end up in federal court. Here’s how you can get involved in the redistricting process and help work toward fair and equal districts for your community.
Demographics
Explore population trends, diversity, and data shaping Texas communities, politics, and policy.
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Winter Storm 2021
Nurtured with faith, a community garden in San Antonio springs back from the devastating winter storm
The St. Phocas Garden in San Antonio’s historic West Side supplies a local food pantry with the only fresh vegetables many of its clients get, but it suffered major freeze damage during the winter storm.
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University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls
Texans support keeping “Dreamers” in the U.S., poll finds
Texas voters are divided about whether to deport immigrants illegally living in the U.S., but they are more welcoming to youths brought here as children and say they shouldn’t be deported, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
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Demographics
Texas’ oldest Black university was built on a former plantation. Its students still fight a legacy of voter suppression.
Jayla Allen was her family’s third generation to attend Prairie View A&M University. She inherited a battle for voting rights in Waller County extending before her grandfather’s time at the Southeast Texas college.
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Winter Storm 2021
Texans used mutual aid to help their communities through a devastating winter storm
Last week, an untold number of Texans who had lost power and heat, and in some cases water, took to social media platforms to ask for help — and be connected to those who could offer it.
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Winter Storm 2021
Texans blindsided by massive electric bills await details of Gov. Greg Abbott’s promised relief
Electric bills are likely to rise for everyone, experts and consumer advocates say, but some Texans on variable rate contracts have been hit with immediate, massive price spikes. Lawmakers and the governor have promised to help, but haven’t said how.
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Winter Storm 2021
Already hit hard by pandemic, Black and Hispanic communities suffer the blows of an unforgiving winter storm
Texans of color, disproportionately devastated by death and unemployment during the last year, tend to live in neighborhoods with older homes, more vulnerable pipes and fewer food options. That’s made it harder to withstand the cold temperatures and power outages.
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Winter Storm 2021
“We’re in it alone”: Power outages leave millions of Texans desperate for heat and safety
Texas residents said the storm — and ensuing partial collapse of the state’s power system — sapped what mental reserves they had left after eleven months of a global health crisis that has cost thousands of jobs and claimed more than 40,000 lives in the state.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Democratic lawmakers hope to enact statewide nondiscrimination law and ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ Texans
As the Biden administration works to expand federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, Texas advocates and lawmakers are pushing for similar legislation here.
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Demographics
Latest census delay will push Texas’ redrawing of political maps into the fall
The Census Bureau now says it will get detailed results of the national population count to states by Sept. 30. That means Gov. Greg Abbott will almost certainly need to call lawmakers back for overtime in the fall to craft new Congressional and legislative districts.