A monthslong investigation revealed that Oportun Inc. routinely uses lawsuits to intimidate a vulnerable population into keeping up with high-interest loan payments — even amid COVID-19.
Demographics
Explore population trends, diversity, and data shaping Texas communities, politics, and policy.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Oportun Inc. has filed nearly 10,000 lawsuits this year against lower-income Texans. This is how we found out.
Justice of the peace courts, where a majority of debt claims are filed in Texas, aren’t required to report case-level information. Here’s how ProPublica and Texas Tribune reporters got around it to reveal one company’s aggressive tactics.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: Some Texas voters are still uncertain, but so are the issues
Voters who still haven’t decided which candidates to support in November might be uncertain for a good reason: The issues that would help them decide — pandemic, recession and all the rest — are shifting rapidly.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas officials want to cut funding for women’s health services while preserving an anti-abortion program
An August budget document shows funding for the anti-abortion program would be maintained, but reduced for doctors and clinics that provide reduced-cost contraception and health screenings.
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Coronavirus in Texas
A South Texas chaplain prayed with his hospice patients. Then the coronavirus came for him.
The hospital where he had previously ministered to terminally ill patients was full when Adolfo Alvarado Jr. neared death in his Mission home. He was finally admitted, and his daughter watched on her laptop as he died.
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Demographics
Harris County joins federal lawsuit trying to extend time for U.S. census count
After the Trump administration announced an abrupt change to the census deadline, the largest county in Texas is among those suing to keep the count going until October.
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Demographics
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blames the presence of Confederate monuments at the Texas Capitol on Democrats after being urged to remove them
Senate Democrats want the symbols taken down, but Patrick said that the party is not committed to a “sincere” or “serious conversation” about the future of the monuments.
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Texas 2020 Elections
Texas Democrats see a winning formula in Kamala Harris. Will she bring suburban women and Black voters to the polls?
State Democrats see her as someone who can excite key voting groups but who won’t alienate more moderate voters.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Local health authority resigns in Texas border county battered by coronavirus
Dr. Jose Vazquez resigned from his position as health authority after members of the commissioners court rejected increasing his pay from $500 a month to $10,000.
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Texas 2020 Elections
Inside the Trump campaign’s effort — and struggle — to win over Black voters in Texas
The Trump campaign has held events across the country to chip away at his broad unpopularity with Black voters and flip the narrative that he is hostile to people of color.