After the bodies of 10 immigrants were pulled from a trailer in San Antonio, U.S. Border Patrol agents launched Operation Big Rig to combat immigrant smuggling by truck drivers.
Transportation
Reporting on roads, transit, infrastructure, and policy shaping travel and mobility across the state, from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
To pay for trauma centers, state program sinks thousands of Texas drivers into deep debt
In Texas, people with unpaid traffic tickets can lose their driver’s licenses and even go to jail because of the Driver Responsibility Program. Though lawmakers acknowledge the policy disproportionately hurts the poor, they’ve struggled to eliminate it.
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Transportation
Austin officials backing away from controversial rewrite of land-use regulations
Amid a fierce battle over the city’s attempts to improve traffic and combat housing unaffordability, Austin leaders are looking to drop CodeNEXT and start a new process.
Posted in
Demographics
Texas cities want millennials living downtown. So why does the state keep building highways to the suburbs?
As young, educated professionals push away old ideas about how to move around Texas cities, transportation planners’ vision for the future is still largely influenced by the past.
Posted in
State Government
How a federal lawsuit could open the door to online voter registration in Texas
Texas is one of just a handful of states that doesn’t offer online voter registration. Advocates are hoping a recent ruling from a federal judge could change that.
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Transportation
Driverless car service set to begin in North Texas this summer
A suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is reportedly set to get the nation’s first self-driving car service.
Posted in
State Government
A flock of electric scooters suddenly descended on Austin. Now the city is scrambling to regulate them.
Two electric scooter operators — Bird Rides and LimeBike — launched in Austin before the city could roll out a permitting process. The scooters vanished from city streets after the city council cracked down on the companies.
Posted in
Energy
Texas is making billions from oil and gas drilling, but counties say rural roads are being destroyed
Damage from heavy trucks has battered local roads in and around the state’s oil fields, and many counties want the state to help pay for repairs and maintenance. Will lawmakers take action?
Posted in
Politics
Problems reported with Texas’ STAAR exam — again
Two years after software problems rendered results on the statewide STAAR exam unusable, students taking the test Tuesday reported more technical problems.
Posted in
Politics
Federal judge: Texas is violating national voter registration law
A federal judge has ruled that Texas violated the federal National Voter Registration Act. The fix he orders could introduce the state’s first online voter registration system.