Early voting can start Oct. 13 as scheduled, Texas Supreme Court rules
The Texas Supreme Court ruled against several GOP officials who pushed to keep early voting to a two-week period during the pandemic. Full Story
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Jolie McCullough
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Jolie McCullough was a reporter at The Texas Tribune from 2015 to 2023. She began as a data visualization journalist and then reported on criminal justice policy, ranging from policing and courts to prisons and the death penalty. She joined the Tribune from the Albuquerque Journal, her hometown newspaper. She previously worked at the Arizona Republic and is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Past Contributions
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![People wait outside the Bexar County Elections Department in San Antonio to drop off their mail-in ballots, voter registration applications or to be trained as poll workers on Oct. 5, 2020.]()
Credit: Robin Jerstad for The Texas Tribune -
Texas politicians fueled criticism of “Cuties." Now, Netflix is facing criminal charges in a small East Texas county.
The district attorney in Tyler County, where the grand jury indicted Netflix, is the son of U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, who has labeled the movie child pornography. Full Story
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![Cuties on Netflix.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Democratic leaders in Congress urge Gov. Greg Abbott to lift limit on mail-in ballot drop-off locations
The House members, all chairs of prominent committees, called Abbott’s order an apparent “last-ditch effort to suppress Texans’ ability to vote.” Full Story
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![The Travis County Tax Office at 5501 Airport Boulevard is now the only drive-thru location open for hand delivery of mail ballots in the county.]()
Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune -
Texas police officer arrested on suspicion of murder in fatal shooting of Jonathan Price
The Texas Rangers’ preliminary investigation found that Wolfe City police officer Shaun Lucas’ use of deadly force against Price was not “objectively reasonable.” Full Story
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![Jonathan Price was killed by a policeman in Wolfe City on Oct. 3, 2020.]()
Credit: Social media -
Federal court orders Texas prison system to provide hand sanitizer for some geriatric inmates during pandemic
Texas has had more inmate deaths related to the coronavirus than any other prison system in the nation. Its death toll of at least 162 inmates outranks every other state as well as the federal prison system. Full Story
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![Telford prison in New Boston.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to raise the stakes for protesters during a divisive Texas election
Abbott's campaign event came after a majority of likely Texas voters in a recent poll said that law and order is a bigger issue than the pandemic. Yet they were also more likely to say that racism in the criminal justice system is a larger problem than riots in American cities. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott meets with local leaders in El Paso to discuss the coronavirus situation in the city and state on Aug. 13, 2020.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
As part of revived federal death penalty, Christopher Vialva executed for Texas double murder
Vialva was the seventh man executed in the federal execution chamber this year after a 17-year hiatus of the federal death penalty. Texas, meanwhile, is expected to have a comparatively low number of state executions this year because of the pandemic. Full Story
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![Interior of execution chamber.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Dallas City Council increases police budget overall, but reallocates $7 million from overtime budget
Much of the overtime cuts were reallocated for other purposes in the department, including more than $3.8 million to hire nearly 100 civilian workers. Other new spending will go toward addressing root causes of crime and improving street lighting. Full Story
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![Dallas police officers during a march against the death of George Floyd on May 29, 2020.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas court tosses death sentence in police killing due to intellectual disability
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals resentenced Juan Lizcano to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is at least the sixth death row inmate whose sentence was reduced after the U.S. Supreme Court slammed Texas' methods for determining intellectual disability. Full Story
![Telford prison in New Boston.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
How Gov. Greg Abbott made Austin’s police budget cuts a top campaign issue for candidates running in November
The Republican governor isn't on the November ballot. But he has come out hard against efforts to shift city money away from policing, echoing a national debate on policing and crime during a tumultuous election season. Full Story
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![Protesters clash with police in riot gear in downtown Austin on August 1, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune