Texas cities, counties may face new limits on raising property taxes
Republican state lawmakers want to curb property tax bills by further limiting how much can be collected by cities and counties. Full Story
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![Cars drive on Intersate 35 East with the downtown Dallas skyline looming in the distance on Sunday, July 27, 2025.]()
Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate approves bill to protect Texans from real estate fraudsters
Senate Bill 15 seeks to prevent the use of fraudulent deeds to sell someone else’s property or take out loans. It now heads to the House, where its fate is uncertain. Full Story
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![A San Antonio neighborhood on Saturday, May 25, 2024.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
August increase in Mexico tariffs could strain Texas economy
A vast majority of trade between Mexico and the U.S. has been exempt from tariffs for months. That could change on Monday. Full Story
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![Trucks queue at the Zaragoza-Ysleta border bridge to cross the border between Mexico and the United States in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on April 2, 2025.]()
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Texans will pay higher power bills as clean energy development slows because of tax credit cuts, economists say
The One Big Beautiful Bill drastically shortens the timeline for wind and solar projects to qualify for tax credits. This will impact even Texas, where wind and solar power have boomed and power demand is rising. Full Story
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![A solar project on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in Ector County.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
Struggling Texas cotton industry emphasizing the hazards of fast fashion
A group representing High Plains region farmers has launched a campaign to make buyers aware of synthetic fibers’ impact on the environment and health. Full Story
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![Walt Hagood leans on his truck on his cotton farm in Wolfforth on May 12, 2025. .]()
Credit: Annie Rice for The Texas Tribune -
Meet the Californian who pushed Texas lawmakers to help fix the state’s housing crisis
A bipartisan coalition, organized by Nicole Nosek, played a role in getting the Legislature to pass laws tackling the state’s housing affordability woes. Full Story
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![Nicole Nosek, chair of the housing advocacy group Texans for Reasonable Solutions, at the Texas in Austin on June 25, 2025. Nosek has spent the past four years advocating for laws to control Texas' rising housing costs.]()
Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune -
See what each Texas state employee is paid: Search our updated database.
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of July 1. Full Story
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![Government Salaries Explorer]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Ben Hasson / Texas Tribune -
A guide to Texas’ special legislative session
Texas lawmakers start a 30-day special session July 21. They will tackle consumable THC, flood dangers, new congressional districts, abortion pills and other conservative priorities. Full Story
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![An empty House chamber, prior the start of the special session on Thursday, July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Federal DEI funding cuts threaten the work of the few remaining Black farmers in East Texas
Trump’s rollback is another example of the federal government’s lackluster efforts at giving Black farmers a boost in recent years. Full Story
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![Roy Mills speaks about growing hay at J&R Mills Family Farms, on Wednesday February 26, 2025, in Nacogdoches County.]()
Credit: Michael Cavazos for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmaker proposes beefing up temporary worker program to ease farm labor shortages
The South Texas Republican’s “Bracero 2.0” legislation — named after a 1940s temporary labor program — comes as the Trump administration has increasingly cracked down on undocumented farmworkers. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, speaks at a press conference in Washington on Feb. 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Mattie Neretin/CNP/ABACAPRESS.COM via REUTERS -
What are your current views on AI in journalism?
Artificial intelligence develops at a rapid pace. We are inviting you to share your thoughts in our second AI reader survey. Full Story
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![The Texas Tribune office seen on Tuesday July 1 at Capitol Center in Austin, Texas.]()
Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers urge Trump to extend tomato trade agreement with Mexico
The 1996 agreement is set to expire Monday, which could raise the price of Mexican tomatoes and threaten thousands of Texas jobs. Full Story
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![Employees at Anavale Produce in Pharr sort tomatoes for shipment in 2012. The produce comes from the Comarca Lagunera region of Mexico.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
In West Texas, an independent publisher’s arrest sparks First Amendment questions
Publisher David Flash has been documenting the happenings in Jeff Davis County since 2020. Last year, he was banned from county buildings over allegations of harassment. Full Story
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![David Flash, independent publisher of the Big Bend Times, is forcibly removed from a Jeff Davis County commissioners' meeting, seen during a Facebook livestream, on June 27, 2025.]()
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SpaceX wins OK to build plant that creates liquid oxygen for rockets near South Texas beach
Cameron County commissioners approved the request this week over the objection of some residents and SpaceX critics. Full Story
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![A SpaceX platform behind a dune at Boca Chica beach on Aug. 8, 2024.]()
Credit: Ben Lowy for The Texas Tribune -
“Disasters are a human choice”: Texas counties have little power to stop building in flood-prone areas
Experts suggested that more data and education are needed as Texas and the rest of the country build in known flood plains. Full Story
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![Damage from the flood around a bridge on Highway 39 in Hunt on July 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune -
Here’s what’s in Trump’s GOP megabill and how it will affect Texans
The wide-ranging bill is the vehicle for much of Trump’s domestic policy agenda, containing key changes that will affect daily life for millions of Texans. Full Story
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![House Speaker Mike Johnson with Republican leaders signs the Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 3, 2025.]()
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Wealthy families are buying homes to get in-state tuition at Texas universities
A niche but growing industry specializes in helping students buy Texas homes to save tens of thousands of dollars in tuition at public universities. Full Story
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![Texas allows out-of-state families to buy property to get in-state tuition.]()
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Texas coastal town in “David and Goliath” fight against planned ammonia plant
Ingleside residents are resisting a “charm offensive” as Europe’s largest gas user plans a new facility in their small community across the bay from Corpus Christi. Full Story
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![The Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center, the largest crude oil storage and export terminal by volume in the United States, in Ingleside, Texas.]()
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Inside Elon Musk’s stellar year at the Texas Capitol
While Elon Musk took Washington, D.C., by storm, his company representatives and lobbyists were also notching up big political wins in Texas. Full Story
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![An illustration of Elon Musk standing in front of machines related to his businesses and the Texas Capitol in Austin.]()
Credit: Glenn Harvey for The Texas Tribune and ProPublica -
Texas lawmakers have gotten used to state budget surpluses. That era may be ending.
As federal pandemic aid ends and sales tax revenues cool, analysts say it could constrain the Texas Legislature in coming years. But they don’t see an immediate budget crisis on the horizon. Full Story
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![Dense fog blankets the dome of the Capitol in Austin on March 12, 2019.]()
Credit: Emree Weaver/The Texas Tribune