FBI, Texas authorities search for gunman who killed 5 neighbors in San Jacinto County
In the face of mass shootings in Texas, state leaders have made it easier to access guns. Full Story
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Sneha Dey
Reporter, Pathways from Education to Employment
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Sneha Dey is an education reporter for The Texas Tribune, working in partnership with Open Campus. She covers pathways from education to employment and the accessibility of postsecondary education in Texas, with an eye on college readiness, community colleges and career and technical training. Prior to joining the Tribune, she had stints at NPR’s Education Desk and Chalkbeat. Sneha is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She grew up in New York and is based in Austin.
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![In a still image from video, an aerial view of the wooded area where a search is being conducted for Francisco Oropeza, 38, who police say shot dead five neighbors in Cleveland on Saturday, April 29, 2023. The shooting took place the night before.]()
Credit: ABC affiliate KTRK via REUTERS -
Texas House passes bill that aims to keep sexually explicit materials out of school libraries
Legal experts, librarians and some parents say House Bill 900’s language is so vague and broad that it could ensnare books that are not inappropriate. Full Story
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![Demonstrators held a read-in in the capitol rotunda during the reading of HB 900, a bill aimed to prohibit inappropriate books in school libraries, on April 19, 2023. Protestors opposing the bill say the language is too vague to be effective.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Law enforcement says no explosives detected after bomb threat called in to state Capitol
The Texas Department of Public Safety did a sweep of Capitol grounds with K-9 dogs and found no explosive devices. Full Story
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![The Texas State Capitol on Mar. 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge says Texas’ use of psychotropic drugs puts foster kids at serious risk
Residential facilities did not refill medications in a timely manner, failed to follow psychiatric orders and, in several instances, violated state guidelines, court monitors documented after site inspections. The lawyer representing the foster kids said it could be “the tip of the iceberg.” Full Story
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![Heart Galleries, portraits of adoptable children, on display at the Child Protective Services office at Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate votes to close employment loophole after Refuge foster care scandal
The upper chamber unanimously passed Senate Bill 182 after The Texas Tribune reported that a state-licensed foster care facility hired a caretaker whom the Texas Juvenile Justice Department previously fired for having inappropriate relationships with children. Full Story
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![The Refuge in Bastrop on Apr. 12, 2022]()
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Texans who take custody of their relatives’ kids struggle to make ends meet — and to get more aid from the state
Relative caregivers, like grandparents who want to keep kids out of foster care, usually get half as much state assistance as strangers who take in children. Full Story
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![Beverly Morris says she was not aware that her six grandchildren were in foster care. When CPS called her, she decided to raise them herself but found that the foster care system pays grandparents much less than if she were an unrelated foster parent. Now a few years later, she is raising her six grandchildren at their home in Leander, Texas.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate scales back proposed restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender kids
Senate Bill 14 would now allow trans children who are already receiving some transition-related treatments to continue getting that care. The Senate gave initial approval to the reworked legislation Wednesday. Full Story
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![People chant during 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 -
In abrupt retirement letter, an investigations director decries Texas’ “untenable” child welfare agency
Sharon Fonvielle-Baughman said Texas Department of Family and Protective Services leadership has failed to support the special investigators division, a unit created in 2005 to handle the most high-risk cases. Full Story
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![Sharon Fonvielle-Baughman, director of special investigations at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, resigned on Thursday, March 23, 2023.]()
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Caseworkers hampered by ’90s-era foster care software that the state hasn’t replaced
Caseworkers and foster care providers often get incomplete and inaccurate information about foster kids in their care because of the state child welfare agency’s archaic technology system. 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 -
Texas executes Gary Green for 2009 murder of his wife and her 6-year-old daughter
Green’s appellate attorneys unsuccessfully argued that his intellectual impairments and mental health status made him ineligible for the death penalty. Full Story
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![The exterior of Huntsville Unit, a prison in Huntsville, on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune