Sheriff says U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson cursed at officers, threatened his job in rodeo altercation
The Amarillo Republican was briefly detained in the incident as he was trying to help a teenager suffering from a seizure. 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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![U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, listens to speakers during a press conference on border security with other House Republicans, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2023.]()
Credit: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via REUTERS -
Child dies while en route to Chicago as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing program
After a 3-year-old began showing signs of distress, the bus of asylum-seekers traveling from Brownsville to Chicago pulled over and an ambulance was called. The child later died at a hospital in Illinois. Full Story
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![A group of migrants boards a CTA bus at Chicago's Union Station to be taken to a Salvation Army shelter after arriving from Texas on Aug. 31, 2022.]()
Credit: Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via REUTERS -
Texas AG appeals judge’s order that allows women with complicated pregnancies to get abortions
State District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum on Friday issued a temporary exemption to Texas’ abortion ban. Hours later, the attorney general’s office filed an appeal, which blocked the order. Full Story
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![Amanda Zurawski, Molly Duane and Ashley Brandt look on as Samantha Casiano addresses the press following the first day of testimony for Zurawski v. State of Texas outside the Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility in Austin on July 19, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Body found stuck in buoys Texas installed in the Rio Grande
Texas authorities believe the person drowned upstream and floated into the buoys near Eagle Pass. Mexico criticized Texas’ placement of the buoys along the river. Full Story
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![A group of migrants walks around a string of buoys which was deployed to prevent migrants from swimming across the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass on July 14, 2023.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
LGBTQ+ advocates sue to block Texas’ new law that could criminalize some drag performances
State officials backing Senate Bill 12 have said they want to protect children from seeing sexually explicit performances. But new legal challenges say the law is so broad and vague that it criminalizes constitutionally protected expression. Full Story
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![Drag artist Brigitte Bandit and other attendees wait to give witness testimony for the Senate’s discussion of SB12 in the Capitol rotunda on Mar. 23, 2023. The bill defines drag shows as sexually oriented performances and would fine businesses who host them in front of children.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Amid extreme temperatures, Texas state parks can be a respite — or a heated hindrance all their own
More than 1 million people visited Texas’ 89 state parks in June. In locations without bodies of water, park officials warn attendees not to overdo it as three-digit temperatures persist. Full Story
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![Pablo Zapato, 14, of Mission, shakes water off his head after jumping into the creek at Upper McKinney Falls at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin on July 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas A&M regents could offer a settlement to the journalism professor at center of hiring controversy
The system’s board also plans to formally appoint an interim president after Katherine Banks resigned last week following news that the school changed its job offer to Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor, after outcries from conservative groups. Full Story
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![The Academic Building on the Texas A&M University campus on March 26, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
For Black Aggies, questions over professor’s botched hiring persist after president’s departure
In the fallout from A&M’s failure to hire Kathleen McElroy, students and alumni lament the missed opportunity to revive the university’s journalism program and provide students with mentorship. Full Story
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![Texas A&M University in College Station.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Texas A&M president says she didn’t know about job offer changes that led to professor’s botched hiring
M. Katherine Banks told faculty she was unaware of successive, diminished offers to Kathleen O. McElroy, who was recruited to revive a journalism program. Professors demanded an investigation. Full Story
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![Kathleen McElroy, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism and a graduate of Texas A&M, outside her apartment in Austin on July 11, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas A&M interim dean resigns after university backtracks on hiring professor to revive journalism program
José Luis Bermúdez, who led the school’s College of Arts and Sciences, will leave his position after a deal to hire respected journalist Kathleen O. McElroy fell apart amid conservative pushback. Full Story
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![Kathleen McElroy signs her appointment letter during a ceremony at Texas A&M University, on June 13, 2023.]()
Credit: Chris Jarvis, Texas A&M University College of Arts & Sciences