T-Squared: Save the date! The Texas Tribune Festival is Sept. 22-24 — in person, in Austin, just as you remember it
We cannot wait to see you there. With elections looming and issues aboil, we have our best-ever program planned. Full Story
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Child welfare monitors say there’s “ample evidence” kids were abused at Bastrop foster care facility, disputing Texas Rangers
Watchdogs appointed by a federal court found there is evidence of abuse and exploitation after reviewing thousands of documents and recordings. Full Story
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![Buildings located at The Refuge Ranch in Bastrop. The Texas-contracted facility is meant to provide residential treatment for child sex trafficking survivors but was discovered to be trafficking the same children, according to a federal judge.]()
Credit: Via The Refuge website -
Analysis: Rural Texas hospitals still searching for a remedy
The good news is that no rural hospitals in Texas have closed in the last two years. The bad news? They’re still in crisis mode, and the state government is still struggling to find a remedy. Full Story
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![Dr. William Simpson, a surgeon with Eastland Memorial Hospital, visits with a patient pre-surgery on March 10, 2019.]()
Credit: Gary Rhodes for the Texas Tribune -
Analysis: The political value of an interruption
Nobody wants storms or fires. But for Texas politicians, responding to disasters can be a welcome change of subject from political fights in an election year. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton hosted 12 attorneys general from around the U.S. for a border security briefing at Texas DPS regional headquarters in Weslaco on Jan. 27, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Targeting trans Texans again, Ken Paxton investigating pharmaceuticals over puberty blockers
Paxton’s claims that the companies engaged in deceptive marketing practices are part of his ongoing effort to limit access to gender-affirming health care for transgender teens. Full Story
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![Ken Paxton poses for a photo with guests at his primary election results watch party in McKinney, TX on March 1, 2022.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Abortion funds bring new legal challenges to overturn Texas ban
The Texas law has proven largely impervious to judicial review. But lawyers representing abortion advocacy groups believe opponents may have given them an opening to challenge the law in a more friendly federal court. Full Story
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![Abortion rights supporters hold signs that read, “Bans off our bodies” outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas government’s favorite local tax
State lawmakers will tell you they hate property taxes as much as anyone. But the state itself doesn’t levy the tax — local governments do. And lowering it in a meaningful way would require state officials to raise taxes or cut programs. For them, talking about it is easier than doing something. Full Story
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![An Aerial image of a suburban neighborhood in San Marcos on October 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Founder of state-contracted child abuse shelter hopes to reopen after employee was accused of exploiting two girls
Brooke Crowder said The Refuge is working to incorporate a deeper employee screening process with the help of a company recommended by the governor’s and attorney general’s offices. Full Story
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![Col. Steven C. McGraw, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, testifies during a House Human Services Committee hearing at the Capitol on March 21, 2022. The committee is investigating reported allegations of sexual exploitation at a facility in Bastrop.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Attorney General Ken Paxton asks Texas Supreme Court to let investigations into transgender families continue
The temporary injunction was issued as part of a lawsuit brought on behalf of parents being investigated by child welfare workers for letting their transgender teenager access gender-affirming health care. Full Story
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![Transgender, pride progress and nonbinary flags are passed out during the Trans Kids Cry for HELP! rally in front of the Governor's Mansion in Austin on March 13, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
Texas child welfare official resigns, saying top agency leaders scapegoated employees
The former child care investigations director said there are agency-wide communication issues that led to a breakdown in relaying key information, but two of his staff members are the ones who suffered the consequences. Full Story
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![A Texas Department of Family and Protective Services employee’s desk at the agency's Austin office on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Help us investigate Texas border security initiatives
We’re looking into Texas’ border security initiatives, including what has worked, what hasn’t and how they affect residents. If you have experience on the border, we’d like to hear from you. Full Story
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![A member of the Texas Army National Guard holds a flashlight as migrants crawl over rocks after wading across the Rio Grande into the United States from Mexico, in Roma, on March 4, 2022.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif -
Gov. Greg Abbott brags about his border initiative. The evidence doesn’t back him up.
Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. The data that Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star raise more questions than answers. Full Story
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![A photo collage a map of the Texas-Mexico border, images of the border fence, a handcuffed pair of hands and Operation Lone Star paperwork.]()
Credit: Photo illustration by John Whitlock -
Analysis: A health care problem too big for the Texas Legislature
Texas, unlike all but 11 other states, hasn’t expanded its Medicaid program. And it also hasn’t addressed the problem that’s supposed to help solve: The state’s worst-in-the-nation ranking for people without health insurance. Full Story
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![Nurse Practitioner Barber Anika with a patient at the Legacy Community Health Center in Houston on Aug. 2, 2013.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Operation Lone Star and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week
Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial border mission was subject to a slew of bad news this week, including a major shakeup at the Texas Military Department, whose top leader Abbott replaced. Full Story
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![A National Guard vehicle is stationed near the U.S. and Mexico border in Del Rio on July 22, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
After accepting her trans son’s hard-fought identity, a Texas mother is being investigated for child abuse
It took him three years to come out to his mother as trans. Now, under a new directive from the governor, the state is investigating whether she pressured him to transition. Full Story
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![People gather for the Trans Kids Call for HELP! rally in front of the Governor's Mansion in Austin on March 13, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: When 1 in 8 Texas mail ballots gets trashed, that’s vote suppression
Nearly 23,000 Texans voted in this month’s party primaries and saw their mail ballots rejected by election officials, evidently an aftershock from new state laws that were supposed to make voting easier and more secure. Full Story
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![Harris County Elections Staff members carry in and sort ballot bags at the Elections Technology Center in northwest Houston on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Texas CPS department’s culture kept worries about now-shuttered foster care facility from being addressed, official says
It was also revealed at a special Texas Senate committee meeting that the Texas foster care worker who allegedly sold nude pictures of girls is also accused of dating a child trafficker. Full Story
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![Buildings located at Refuge Ranch in Bastrop. The Texas-contracted facility is meant to provide residential treatment for child sex trafficking survivors, but was discovered to be trafficking the same children, according to a federal judge.]()
Credit: Via Refuge Ranch website -
Shakeup of Texas border mission leadership continues as pair of two-star generals departs
The departure of three top officials in a week signals that officials may be looking to make changes to the heavily criticized mission. A soldier leading a unionization effort welcomed the moves. Full Story
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![A sign with the Texas Military Department Seal outside Camp Mabry in Austin on Jan. 24, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
Texas warns firms they could lose state contracts for divesting from fossil fuels
A new law prohibits the state from contracting with or investing in companies that divest from oil, natural gas and coal companies. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol in Austin on Aug. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Rangers confirm investigation into nude photos of children at Bastrop shelter but find “no evidence” of sex abuse
An attorney representing foster care children in a suit against Texas said Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw’s conclusion that there was no evidence of sexual abuse despite the investigation into the photos was “both surprising and extremely troubling.” Full Story
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![A chapel and buildings located at Refuge Ranch in Bastrop. The Texas-contracted facility is meant to provide residential treatment for child sex trafficking survivors, but was discovered to be trafficking the same children, according to a federal judge.]()
Credit: Via Refuge Ranch website