The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer will take over as the military department’s new leader. He replaces Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, who was criticized for her handling of Operation Lone Star, as adjutant general of the Texas Military Department. Full Story
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A civil rights complaint prompted the state’s environmental agency to guarantee interpretation and translation services at public meetings for people who don’t speak English. But the rollout has been plagued by confusing procedures and little clarity on how interpreters will be selected. Full Story
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After 2021’s winter storm electric blackouts, Texas lawmakers worked to shore up the state’s electric grid. But they’re not finished, despite what you might hear from campaigning politicians. Full Story
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The Democratic nominee for governor slammed the Republican incumbent in harsh terms, presaging a bitter lead-up to an election nearly eight months away. Full Story
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Hospital administrators and doctors at GENECIS struggled to reconcile halting care with the knowledge that doing so could severely jeopardize patients’ mental health, recordings of internal meetings show. Full Story
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The Department of Family and Protective Services has been under federal court monitoring for over a decade for violating the civil rights of kids in foster care. Now, the short-staffed agency has to investigate parents who provide their children with gender-affirming care. Full Story
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District Judge Amy Clark Meachum said the governor’s directive for the state child welfare agency to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children was “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional.” The statewide injunction will remain in effect until the case is heard in July. Full Story
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The U.S. Supreme Court left abortion providers only the narrowest avenue to challenge the ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Friday’s Texas Supreme Court ruling has effectively ended that federal legal challenge. Full Story
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Lucky for them, Texas officials probably can’t be prosecuted for bullying under the state’s education laws. The gist of those laws, however, is crystal clear, and so is the effect of their actions and rhetoric about gender-affirming health care. Full Story
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The truckers arrived in Washington, D.C., recently after starting their journey in California last month. Full Story
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Merritt endorsed the top vote-getter, Rochelle Garza, who will face Joe Jaworski in the Democratic runoff for attorney general on May 24. Full Story
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Texas is worried it could lose over a billion dollars in federal funding over Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive requiring medical professionals to report gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse. Full Story
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The issue is no longer contained to just the party’s fringes — and it is unlikely to go away any time soon as the national fervor grows, Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive faces legal challenges and it factors prominently into a slew of GOP primary runoffs. Full Story
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Texas has loaded its election and voting laws with obstacles — and also has remarkably low voter turnout. Maybe those two things are connected. Full Story
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Amber Briggle had hoped inviting Paxton to dinner might soften his views about transgender children. Now, the family is under investigation after he issued an opinion equating gender-affirming medical care with child abuse. Full Story
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Land Commissioner George P. Bush is in the middle of a fierce runoff in the Republican primary for Texas attorney general against incumbent Ken Paxton. During the race, several of Bush’s opponents have criticized his office’s work in distributing Hurricane Harvey relief funds. Full Story
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Texas voters can get some guidance for sorting through the political noise of campaigns from an unlikely source — a comforting tale for children. Full Story
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Democrats in the region still had higher turnout, but Republicans celebrated the narrowing of the gap. Despite the improvement, nearly 87% of registered voters in the Rio Grande Valley did not vote in the primary, similar to the rate in 2018. Full Story
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Citing potential criminal penalties, Texas Children’s Hospital will no longer provide hormone therapy to transgender patients. Full Story
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In the Texas House, the biggest intraparty attack on Republican leadership came from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, led by former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford. Backed by hard-right donors like Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, West Texas oil tycoons, the group spent at least $5.2 million from January onward. Full Story
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