79 arrested amid second crackdown on UT-Austin campus
Authorities and protesters clashed during the latest pro-Palestinian demonstration at the university on Monday. Full Story
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William Melhado
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William Melhado was an Austin-based general assignment reporter until 2024. He originally joined the Tribune in 2022 as a Poynter-Koch fellow. Before his time at the Tribune, William worked as a staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, an alt-weekly newspaper in New Mexico, and he also worked as an educator for five years at a public high school in the Bronx, New York and at international schools in Tanzania and Nepal. A native of Boulder, Colorado, William graduated from Middlebury College with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and earned a master’s in secondary science education at CUNY Lehman College.
Past Contributions
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![Protestors chant “Off our campus” to law enforcement at the University of Texas on Apr. 29, 2024.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune -
Dozens more arrested at UT-Austin as police use pepper spray, flash bangs to break up protests
The arrests mark the second time in less than a week that police have broken up a pro-Palestinian demonstration. This time protesters tried to set up an encampment on campus. Full Story
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![Texas department of Public Safety troopers surround a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Monday, April 29, 2024.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune -
Appeals court considers whether West Texas A&M drag show was unconstitutionally banned
University President Walter Wendler canceled a drag performance last year, claiming such shows “denigrate and demean women.” Full Story
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![Clock tower on campus at West Texas A&M University on March 23, 2023.]()
Credit: David Bowser for The Texas Tribune -
After no contest plea, a Texas representative’s charges for impersonating a public servant are dismissed
In June 2022, state Rep. Frederick Frazier was indicted on two charges of impersonating a public servant. A Collin County district judge dismissed the misdemeanor charges as part of his deferred adjudication. Full Story
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![State Rep. Frederick Frazier, R-McKinney, yields for a round of hazing questions as his colleagues gather to support his first House bill during session on the House floor at the state Capitol in Austin on April 25, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Misdemeanor charges filed against photojournalist arrested at UT-Austin protest
The FOX 7 employee is accused of hitting a trooper with his camera, but the arrested man told reporters he was pushed and didn’t hit any officer. Full Story
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![Carlos, a FOX 7 Austin photojournalist, on the ground as he is arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune -
Watch: Trans man who aged out of Texas foster care says politicians are vilifying LGBTQ+ kids
As Kayden Asher tumbled through several foster placements, Texas leaders intensified their efforts to regulate the lives of LGBTQ+ people. Full Story
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![Kayden Asher poses for a potrait on Nov. 19, 2023. Asher was placed under the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services at 15, after coming out as a trans man. He says he was discriminated against during his time in DFPS. Before his 18th birthday, he asked to be moved to Austin, where he found an affirming placement and was able to start hormone therapy.]()
Credit: Greta Díaz González Vázquez/The Texas Tribune -
Faculty petition to hold no-confidence vote in UT-Austin president after protest response
President Jay Hartzell defended the response but faculty criticized the presence of armed state troopers. Fifty-seven people were arrested. Full Story
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![Protesters link arms on the campus of UT-Austin on April 24, 2024.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune -
Police arrest more than two dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators on UT-Austin campus amid tense standoff
Gov. Greg Abbott expressed support for the arrests, which come amid tensions on college campuses across the country over the Israel-Hamas war. Full Story
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Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
Texas politics leave transgender foster youth isolated — during and after life in state care
Support once afforded LGBTQ+ foster kids has vanished and a culture of silence has blanketed the agency tasked with raising children growing up in the system. Full Story
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![Isabella Morningstar asks Marcus Anthony, a case manager at Thrive Youth Center if they have received any updates on her new birth certificate. She looks over his shoulder as he navigates the shelter’s email for any information about Morningstar. She has had a difficult time updating her paperwork to her current legal name, since she left the foster care system.]()
Credit: Greta Díaz González Vázquez/The Texas Tribune -
Texas inmates are being ‘cooked to death’ in extreme heat, complaint alleges
With the threat of another hot summer ahead, advocates asked a federal judge to declare 100-degree-plus conditions in uncooled Texas facilities unconstitutional. Full Story
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![Telford prison on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, in New Boston.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune