State Rep. Chris Turner won’t run for House Democratic Caucus chair again
The Grand Prairie lawmaker has led the minority party’s House caucus since 2017. Full Story
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![State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, House Democratic Caucus Chairman, speaks at a press conference on the opening day of the 87th legislative special session at the Texas Capitol on July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
What did Greg Abbott’s border inspections turn up? Oil leaks, flat tires and zero drugs
The governor ordered troopers to thoroughly inspect every commercial truck coming from Mexico in what he described as an effort to stop illegal drugs and migrants from being smuggled into Texas. His order for increased state inspections led to snarling delays in trade between the two countries. Full Story
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![Mechanics fix trucks at the inspection station near the Pharr International Bridge. Pharr, TX. April 14, 2022.]()
Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune -
Texas hospitals prepare to pick up the tab for uninsured COVID-19 patients as federal funds dry up
Hospitals and other health care providers in Texas, which has the lowest rate of insurance coverage in the nation, have gotten some $1.8 billion in federal help for uninsured COVID-19 patients. Full Story
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Under Texas’ strict abortion law, McAllen clinic sees patients seeking medication across the border
The law went into effect in September, a week before Mexico’s Supreme Court dissolved a Coahuila state law that made abortion a crime. Now some Texans further along in their pregnancies are going there for abortion-inducing drugs. Full Story
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![Members of the McAllen Pregnancy Center pray outside Whole Woman's Health in McAllen on Aug. 21, 2012.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Gerrymandering has left Texas voters with few options
Texans who don’t vote in primaries and primary runoffs are missing a chance to choose who goes to Congress and the Texas Legislature. Thanks to the political maps drawn by lawmakers last year, only a handful of those contests will be competitive in November. Full Story
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![People wait in line to cast their votes in the primary election at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Dallas on March 1, 2022.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Former state Sen. Wendy Davis challenges Texas abortion law in court
Davis is best known for her 13-hour filibuster against another restrictive abortion law in 2013. Now, she’s suing to block enforcement of Texas’ current ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Full Story
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![Former State Senator Wendy Davis attends a rally hosted by abortion advocates in protest of abortion bans being proposed across the country. May 21, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Pushing for “school choice,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz splits with Gov. Greg Abbott in his endorsements for Texas House runoffs
Typically political allies, two of the state’s top Republicans have endorsed different candidates in six GOP primary runoff races. Full Story
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![Governor Greg Abbott shook hands with then-U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as Cruz's wife Heidi Cruz looked on at a campaign rally in Dallas on Feb. 29, 2016.]()
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Amid a teacher shortage, some Texas educators are losing their licenses for quitting during the school year
The policy sidelines educators, often for two school years, at a time when districts are already struggling to keep teachers in the classrooms. Full Story
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![Staci Crosswell, second grade teacher at Lakeshore Elementary School, sits at the desk from which she has been teaching online for two years in her Houston, Texas home on April 16, 2022. She recently submitted her resignation to Humble ISD and will be pursuing her master's degree and publishing a children's book.]()
Credit: Briana Vargas for The Texas Tribune -
Beto O’Rourke carefully threads needle on border policy as Democrats grapple with the issue
For Democrats, especially in Texas, tackling border issues is difficult on the campaign trail as the party is not in agreement about various policies. O’Rourke has had to distance himself from President Joe Biden’s border policies, while going after Gov. Greg Abbott’s. Full Story
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![Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke holds a press conference after holding a COVID-19 roundtable in Mission on Nov. 17, 2021.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas’ new standard is abortions for those who can afford to leave Texas
The Texas ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy effectively makes abortion illegal for most pregnant people — but not for those who can afford out-of-state travel. Full Story
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In McAllen, Gov. Greg Abbott’s border inspections meant late deliveries, rotten produce and lost business
The delays caused by the state’s inspections are the latest blow to farmers and produce businesses in the Rio Grande Valley recovering from the pandemic and losses from last year’s winter storm. Full Story
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![Eladio Corder sorts through mixed quality jalapenos at Trinidad Produce at the McAllen Produce Terminal Market. McAllen, TX. April 14, 2022.]()
Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune -
Abbott ends inspections that clogged commercial traffic at U.S.-Mexico border for more than a week
The deals Abbott made with three of the four Mexican border governors don’t include any new security measures south of the border. Abbott threatened to restart the inspections if Mexican states don’t slow migration to Texas. Full Story
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![Hundreds of semi trucks headed southbound into Mexico are seen at a standstill at the Ysleta Port of Entry, Tuesday, April 12, 2022, in Juarez, Mexico. Truck drivers are protesting Greg Abbott's decision to have state troopers inspect northbound commercial vehicles one at a time. At this port, trucks are not flowing into Mexico to pickup more products and also not flowing into the U.S. to deliver those products. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Eviction filings in Texas’ major cities reach new highs since pandemic began
Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin all ranked among the top 10 cities for new eviction filings in early April, among the 31 cities tracked by Eviction Lab. Full Story
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![An East Austin neighborhood.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texans without high-speed internet are getting closer, slowly
Like other states, Texas found out during the pandemic how critical high-speed broadband is for school, work and medicine. And the state is working to expand it — but it’s going to be at least a year before Texans start to see results. Full Story
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![Sophomore Alexis Phan does her Algebra 2 homework remotely, from her home in Pflugerville on Nov. 16, 2020.]()
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Gov. Greg Abbott announces deals with two more Mexican governors to halt Texas’ vehicle inspections at the border
The announcements come a day after Abbott reached a similar deal with Nuevo León’s governor, who agreed to add security at a major border bridge in exchange for an end to increased vehicle inspections by Texas troopers. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott and Chihuahua Gov. María Eugenia Campos Galván announced an agreement, on April 14, 2022, aimed at halting long delays at border bridges caused by increased commercial vehicle inspections that Abbott ordered last week. It’s the second such agreement between Abbott and a Mexican border governor this week.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
San Antonio lawmakers debate whether bipartisan solutions can fix Texas’ restrictive voting law
Republican and Democratic state legislators joined Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith in a panel at the University of Texas at San Antonio on Wednesday. Full Story
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Texas National Guard replaces commander overseeing Gov. Greg Abbott’s troubled border mission
The brigadier general steps down from commanding Operation Lone Star’s military efforts after five months. Full Story
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![Asylum seekers who have just crossed the border are led by a National Guard troop to be apprehended by Customs and Border Protection in Roma on Aug. 3, 2021.]()
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Gov. Greg Abbott eases state inspections at one commercial bridge, as trade remains snarled across the border
The move provides little relief as trade between Texas and Mexico is hampered along the border because of Abbott’s order. The Colombia bridge is just one of 13 commercial crossings between the two countries and the only one connected to Nuevo León. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a press conference with Nuevo León Gov. Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda on April 13, 2022.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
T-Squared: The Tribune is expanding to cover more of Texas
We’re hiring reporters to cover the Panhandle/South Plains and East Texas, along with a regional editor. We hope to also place staff in the Rio Grande Valley and the Permian Basin. Full Story
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![Clockwise from top left: Spectators at the McAllen Holiday Parade, in South Texas; workers at a fracking rig on the Hasken Oil and Ranch site in Midland, in the Permian Basin; Kambry Cox and her daughter at a park in Tatum, in East Texas; fans at Texas Tech’s homecoming game against West Virginia in Lubbock, in the South Plains.]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas, Jerod Foster, Eddie Gaspar and Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Biden administration, Mexican governors urge Abbott to end inspections that have bogged down border trade
Gov. Greg Abbott is slated to have a meeting and press event with Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda — the Mexican governor of Nuevo León, the state that includes a section of the border near Laredo — later Wednesday afternoon. Full Story
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![A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper inspects a commercial truck at an inspection station Brownsville on April 12, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
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