After years of Trump’s dire warnings, a "crisis" has hit the border but generates little urgency
A political stalemate over the president’s border wall plan makes small-bore immigration fixes more remote. Full Story
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![Families from Guatemala and Honduras wait for their opportunity to apply for asylum. The said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on the American side of the bridge have not given them much information other than they need to wait here.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Justin Rodriguez leaving Texas House after being appointed Bexar County commissioner
The San Antonio Democrat was selected to replace Bexar County Commissioner Paul Elizondo, who died last week. Full Story
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![State Rep. Justin Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, during a hearing held by the Interim Committee on Higher Education Formula Funding in Austin on Feb. 21, 2018.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Rep. Ron Reynolds released from jail
The Missouri City Democrat has won re-election several times since his 2015 conviction on misdemeanor charges for illegally soliciting clients. Full Story
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![Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, during a House Environmental Regulations Committee meeting on April 16, 2013.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
8 file in special election to replace Carol Alvarado; 3 sign up for Joe Pickett's seat
There will be special elections on Jan. 29 in two Texas House districts to fill vacant seats, and the filing deadline was 5 p.m. Thursday. Full Story
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![State Sen. -elect Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, and outgoing state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Democratic states appeal ruling declaring Obamacare unconstitutional
A federal judge ruled last month that the sweeping health care law is unconstitutional in its entirety. Full Story
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![Obamacare sign in east Austin on Dec. 1, 2015.]()
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"You may all go to hell, I am going to Texas.” Nine Texas lawmakers bid goodbye to Congress
With nearly two centuries of Texas experience departing Congress this week, the lawmakers reflect on their tenures on Capitol Hill. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Ted Poe fondly recalls the time he was allowed to drive his Jeep directly onto the White House driveway while George W. Bush, a fellow Texan, was president. Photo courtesy of Congressman Ted Poe.]()
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There's a new Texas House speaker in town
In the latest installment of our mini-documentary series, "Under the Dome," we chronicle the path state Rep. Dennis Bonnen took to become the next likely speaker of the Texas House. Full Story
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Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Abbott-led board to consider removal of Confederate plaque from inside Texas Capitol
A meeting is scheduled for Jan 11. Full Story
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![The "Children of the Confederacy Creed" plaque has drawn controversy for its denial that preserving slavery was an underlying cause of the Civil War. Dec. 5, 2018.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune. -
Returning Texas Republicans in Congress preparing for a "whole different world" in 2019
As Congress prepares to begin a new term, most of the Texans returning to the U.S. House will by adjusting to a new reality – either as a member of the majority or the minority for the first time. Full Story
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![The U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C.]()
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Dennis Bonnen has spent half his life in the Texas House. Is he ready to run it?
Twenty-two years after joining the Texas House as its youngest member, state Rep. Dennis Bonnen is poised to replace Joe Straus as the chamber's speaker on Jan. 8. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Emily Albracht / Robert Daemmrich and Anneke Els Paterson for the Texas Tribune -
The Texas Tribune's most-read stories of 2018
No surprise: Our audience was drawn to our reporting on the U.S. Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke. And our most-read story of 2018 let readers know how they could help migrant children at the border. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso (left), and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera: O'Rourke/Robin Jerstad: Cruz -
How a new oil boom is transforming West Texas and altering climate change math
Our series on the global implications of a new golden age for Permian Basin oil began with a very local story: How towns large and small are trying to deal with an explosion in drilling activity, population, traffic and other effects of the new boom. Full Story
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![Pumpjacks at sunrise in the Permian Basin in West Texas.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune -
Can the Texas Legislature override local ordinances?
It can and it has. Last year, Texas lawmakers voted to override several local ordinances with new statewide measures — including relaxing regulations for ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. Full Story
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![Uber and Lyft, two San Francisco-based transportation networking companies, have launched services in several Texas cities.]()
Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
In fiery filing, Ken Paxton prosecutors ask Texas court to undo "patently absurd result" in pay case
The state's highest criminal court must reconsider a November decision to ensure its proceedings "appear fair to all who observe them," prosecutors argued. Full Story
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![Special prosecutors Brian Wice, left, and Kent Schaffer enter the Collin County Courthouse during a pre-trial motion hearing for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, in McKinney.]()
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Guatemalan boy who died in U.S. custody spent two days at El Paso Border Patrol station
The boy and his father were taken to the El Paso Border Patrol station, where they were held for two days, CBP said. They were later taken to the Alamogordo station. CBP said it was looking into options to relieve overcrowding in its facilities in the El Paso sector, which includes El Paso County and all of New Mexico. Full Story
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![CBP participates in "operational readiness exercises" to prepare for the caravan moving through Mexico and heading towards the border, according to a CBP agent, at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry on Friday, November 9, 2018, in El Paso, Texas.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Catch up on some of The Texas Tribune's top projects from 2018
The Texas Tribune produced several deep-dive investigations in 2018 that examined various issues that affect Texans across the state. Here's a look at some of those standout projects. Full Story
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Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera / Reynaldo Leal / Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Does Texas still have straight-ticket voting?
Most states have ended straight-ticket, or “one-punch,” voting, but Texas kept it going — as long as it helped the majority party. The state is getting rid of it starting in 2020. Full Story
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Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman -
ICE dumps hundreds of migrants at a bus station on eve of Christmas without warning shelters
Lawmakers and immigrant rights groups scramble after ICE releases hundreds of migrants without alerting local shelters. Full Story
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![Mariel Mendez, 28, sits with her son at a park in downtown El Paso on Christmas Eve 2018. The asylum seekers were part of a group of hundreds ICE released to a bus station.]()
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Watch videos of panels from the 2018 Texas Tribune Festival
Over 300 speakers — and thousands of attendees — descended on downtown Austin for the three-day Texas Tribune Festival examining politics and policy issues facing Texas and the United States. Here are some selected conversations on topics including immigration, gun violence and politics. Full Story
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Amid standoff over border wall funding, federal government to partly shutter at midnight
Members from both chambers left the U.S. Capitol Friday evening, kicking the negotiations into the weekend. Dozens of agencies will be impacted by the shut down, potentially leaving border patrol agents to work without pay. Full Story
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![U.S. President Donald Trump listens to questions from reporters about an impending U.S. Government shutdown during a bill signing ceremony for the “First Step Act” and the “Juvenile Justice Reform Act” in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts]()
Credit: REUTERS