Texas Tribune Brief

Texas Tribune

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Get the latest news on Texas politics and policy from The Texas Tribune now on Amazon Alexa. With reporters based in Austin, Dallas and Washington, D.C., and on the U.S.–Mexico border, we are your go-to source for news on statewide issues.

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1294 episodes

Legislators in the Texas Senate passes $16.5 billion package to lower property taxes

THE PROPOSALS TARGET THE TAXES HOMEOWNERS PAY BY REQUIRING SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO LOWER THEIR TAX RATES.

3m
Mar 23
West Texas A&M University president cancels student drag show, saying it degrades women

STUDENTS AND FIRST AMENDMENT LAWYERS SAY PRESIDENT WALTER WENDLER’S PORTRAYAL OF DRAG SHOWS IS OFF-BASE AND THE CANCELLATION VIOLATES FREE-SPEECH RIGHTS.

4m
Mar 22
Legislators in Texas advances bill that would hinder transgender kids’ access to puberty blockers and hormone therapies

SENATE BILL 14 WOULD BAN TEXAS DOCTORS FROM PROVIDING KIDS WITH TRANSITION-RELATED TREATMENTS THAT MEDICAL GROUPS RECOMMEND FOR CHILDREN WITH GENDER DYSPHORIA.

4m
Mar 21
“He has a battle rifle”: Police feared Uvalde gunman’s AR-15

In previously unreleased interviews, officers who responded to the Robb Elementary School shooting told investigators they were cowed by the shooter’s military-style rifle. This drove their decision to wait for a Border Patrol SWAT team to engage him, which took more than an hour due to their distance from the scene.

4m
Mar 20
This rancher doesn’t want a border wall on his land. He fears Texas will build it anyway.

ANTI-BORDER WALL ACTIVISTS ARE RACING TO FIND LANDOWNERS ALONG THE RIO GRANDE BEFORE THEY SIGN CONTRACTS WITH THE STATE.

5m
Mar 17
Ken Paxton’s campaign against election crimes ensnared a Texas justice of the peace three times before judges thwarted the efforts

MANY OF THE ILLEGAL VOTING CASES THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL HAS BOASTED ABOUT ARE UNRAVELING AFTER A KEY COURT RULING. BUT TOMAS RAMIREZ III SAID THE PURSUIT OF CHARGES AGAINST HIM HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL.

4m
Mar 16
Renters in Texas got unprecedented help during the pandemic. The Legislature is unlikely to extend it.

LAWMAKERS WILL DECIDE WHETHER TO KEEP PROTECTIONS THAT SHIELDED TENANTS FROM EVICTION — OR TO BAN THEM.

4m
Mar 15
Families in Texas would get $8,000 in tax dollars to send students to private school in a sweeping ‘parental rights’ bill backed by the Lt.

THE BILL, WHICH HAS THE BLESSING OF LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK, THE LEADER OF THE STATE SENATE, WILL CREATE NEW RULES ON HOW GENDER AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION IS TAUGHT. IT WILL FACE A TOUGHER TEST IN THE HOUSE.

4m
Mar 13
Lawmakers offer stark choices for ending the crisis in Texas’ youth prisons — shut them all down, or build more

PLAGUED BY DECADES OF SCANDALS OVER SEXUAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN, THE TEXAS JUVENILE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS AT A CROSSROADS.

5m
Mar 10
The Texas Senate passes first bill this session, a bipartisan effort to close teen gun loophole

IN ITS FIRST BILL PASSED THIS SESSION, THE TEXAS SENATE SOUGHT TO ENSURE JUVENILE MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITALIZATIONS ARE REPORTED TO THE FEDERAL FIREARM BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM.

4m
Mar 09
Women denied abortions sue Texas to clarify exceptions to the laws

FIVE WOMEN ANNOUNCED A NEW LAWSUIT TUESDAY, MARKING THE FIRST TIME PATIENTS DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY NEW ABORTION LAWS HAVE SOUGHT TO CHALLENGE THE RESTRICTIONS IN COURT.

3m
Mar 08
Republicans have filed nearly 100 bills affecting LGBTQ Texans

TEXAS LAWMAKERS THIS YEAR WILL DEBATE WHETHER TO BLOCK TRANSGENDER KIDS’ ACCESS TO TRANSITION-RELATED HEALTH CARE, CLASSIFY BUSINESSES THAT HOST DRAG SHOWS AS SEXUALLY-ORIENTED ESTABLISHMENTS AND LIMIT PUBLIC SCHOOL LESSONS ON SEXUALITY AND GENDER IDENTITY.

4m
Mar 07
Texas Education Agency would have new power to enforce school safety plans under Senate bill

THE BILL, INTRODUCED MONTHS AFTER THE UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING, ALSO ALLOCATES MORE FUNDS TO THE STATE’S SCHOOL SAFETY ALLOTMENT, WHICH IS MONEY GIVEN TO DISTRICTS TO IMPROVE CAMPUS SECURITY.

3m
Mar 06
Republican Texas lawmakers rally around bill restricting transgender athletes from joining certain college sports teams

SEVENTY-SEVEN REPUBLICANS SIGNED ON AS CO-AUTHORS TO REP. VALOREE SWANSON’S BILL EXTENDING RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES TO COLLEGE SPORTS. GOV. GREG ABBOTT HAS EXPRESSED SUPPORT FOR THE LEGISLATION, WHICH IS ALSO A PRIORITY OF LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK.

3m
Mar 02
Lawmakers take first step to restoring felony penalty for illegal voting

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS — BACKED BY LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK — ARE WORKING TO REVERSE A CHANGE TO STATE LAW THEY APPROVED TWO YEARS AGO AS PART OF A SWEEPING OVERHAUL TO TEXAS ELECTION LAW THAT INCLUDED DOWNGRADING ILLEGAL VOTING TO A MISDEMEANOR.

3m
Mar 02
DPS sent at least 3,000 driver’s licenses to organized crime group targeting Asian Texans

A CHINESE CRIME OPERATION BYPASSED THE PASSWORD CLUES OF TEXAS.GOV BY USING STOLEN IDENTITY INFORMATION TO FRAUDULENTLY OBTAIN REPLACEMENT DRIVER’S LICENSES.

3m
Feb 28
Teachers in Texas need raises, more training and better working conditions to fix shortages, state task force finds

THE YEARLONG REVIEW ALSO RECOMMENDS INCREASING THE FUNDS SCHOOLS GET PER STUDENT, A MEASURE ALREADY FAVORED BY LAWMAKERS LOOKING HOW TO SPEND A HISTORIC STATE BUDGET SURPLUS.

3m
Feb 27
Gov. Greg Abbott says most gun crimes involve illegally-owned weapons. That’s not true in mass shootings.

MOST OF THE STATE’S 19 MASS SHOOTINGS OVER THE PAST SIX DECADES WERE CARRIED OUT BY MEN WHO LEGALLY POSSESSED FIREARMS, AN INVESTIGATION BY PROPUBLICA AND THE TEXAS TRIBUNE FOUND.

5m
Feb 24
University of Texas System pauses new diversity, equity and inclusion policies

The UT system leaders’ decision comes weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to stop considering diversity in hiring. Texas A&M University also recently changed its hiring practices.

3m
Feb 23
Gov. Greg Abbott promises to be “heavily involved” in push for education savings accounts

In an interview with the Tribune, the governor also backed criminalizing some health care treatments for transgender kids and shrugged off the idea that he’s in a conservative policy rivalry with Ron DeSantis.

3m
Feb 22
Republican accuses GOP of using immigration crisis for politics

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales said in an interview with the Washington Examiner that his fellow Republicans benefit politically from a sustained border crisis. The attack indirectly alluded to U.S. Rep. Chip Roy’s contentious border security bill.

3m
Feb 21
Uvalde’s state lawmakers face an uphill battle raising the age limit for semi-automatic guns. They’re trying anyway.

Many relatives of Uvalde victims back bills that state Rep. Tracy King and Sen. Roland Gutierrez are pushing in the Legislature. But limits on gun access don’t fare well at the Capitol.

5m
Feb 15
Gov. Greg Abbott says he supports legislation banning transgender athletes from competing in college sports

In 2021, Texas passed a law barring transgender student athletes from playing on K-12 school sports teams that align with their gender identity.

2m
Feb 13
Federal appeals court ruling says alleged domestic abusers have a constitutional right to keep their guns

Advocates for domestic violence victims were stunned by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that continued a string of court decisions citing the Second Amendment to push back against gun restrictions.

3m
Feb 10
Gov. Greg Abbott tells state agencies to stop considering diversity in hiring

In a memo written Monday and obtained by The Texas Tribune, Abbott’s chief of staff Gardner Pate told agency leaders that using diversity, equity and inclusion policies in hiring violates federal and state employment laws, and hiring cannot be based on factors “other than merit.”

4m
Feb 09