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Alejandra Martinez is a Fort Worth-based environmental reporter. She’s covered the impacts of petrochemical facilities on Black and brown communities, including investigating a chemical fire at an industrial complex and how the state's air monitoring system has failed Latino communities. Her work on climate change includes exploring the health effects of extreme heat and how extended droughts affect water resources. Before joining the Tribune in 2022, Alejandra was an accountability reporter at KERA, where she began as a Report for America Corps Member and then covered Dallas City Hall. She also has worked as an associate producer at WLRN in South Florida. A Houston native, Alejandra studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and speaks fluent Spanish.
Texas parks officials said they are taking “all necessary steps” to purchase the land and save Fairfield Lake State Park from being turned into a luxury gated community and golf course. Full Story
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The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement and increase penalties on repeat violators and increase public outreach. Still, environmental advocates say the effort was too “modest” in its reach. Full Story
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The Texas House paved the way for a billion-dollar investment in state parks, which one advocate said would create “a new golden age” for the park system. Texas now ranks 35th nationally in state park acreage per capita. Full Story
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A mass shooting at this suburb’s community hub — the outlet mall — has punctured the sense of security that drew many to Allen. “That could have been me and my boys,” one local woman said. Full Story
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In Deer Park near Houston, memories of the massive ITC fire are still fresh. Residents told state environmental regulators they should reject the company’s permit renewal, but officials said the fire won’t be part of the decision. Full Story
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An estimated 500,000 people live in thousands of colonias along the Texas-Mexico border. Largely built between the 1950s and 1980s, these communities have been promised water — but it has never come. Full Story
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Environmental groups claim the Federal Aviation Administration let SpaceX do its own environmental assessment before its rocket self-destructed above the Texas coast and debris rained down over a wide area. Full Story
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The Texas Tribune analyzed previously unreported air monitoring data and records from the 2019 ITC chemical disaster near Houston and found that high benzene levels lingered in the air for two weeks after public health measures were lifted. Experts say more shelter-in-place advisories should have been issued. Full Story
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The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement on repeat violators and increase public outreach. Full Story
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The bill would impose fines when residents make more than three complaints to the state environmental agency in a year if they don’t result in enforcement action. Critics warn the bill would discourage people from reporting pollution. Full Story
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