Bills aimed at adding more natural gas power to Texas grid clear Senate
Critics say the bills could lead to untold billions in added costs to customers and minimal benefits while ignoring needed efforts to reduce electricity demand. Full Story
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![Vistra Corp.’s Midlothian Power Plant opened its doors to media on October 15, 2021 to show the plant’s weatherization process. Energy providers like Vistra are preparing their plants for extreme weather conditions following the February winter storm Uri, which disrupted the Texas electric grid and led to the deaths of more than 200 people.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate votes to defund libraries where drag queens read to kids as it tries to limit the performances kids can attend
The Senate expanded the bill targeting drag queen story hours to target all public funding for libraries. The upper chamber also approved a bill limiting other drag performances kids can see. Full Story
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![Drag queen Nadine Hughes performs in the Capitol Rotunda during the Youth Capitol Takeover on Mar. 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court chief justice calls for higher judicial salaries, business courts
In his biennial state of the judiciary, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht also warned against politics’ encroachment into the third branch of government. Full Story
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![Chief Justice Nathan Hecht delivers the State of the Judiciary speech at the Texas Supreme Court building in Austin on April 5, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Bill intended to force Texas prosecutors to pursue abortion, election cases passes Senate
The bill, a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is part of a larger effort to limit the power of elected prosecutors, especially in Texas’ largest, left-leaning counties. Full Story
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![The Travis County Justice Complex on July 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Kylie Cooper/The Texas Tribune -
Texas House passes bill barring the death penalty for some mentally ill defendants
The chamber has repeatedly passed legislation in recent sessions eliminating the death penalty in cases of severe mental illness, but this year the measure faced increased pushback from conservative lawmakers. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber by Texas Department of Criminal Justice.]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Staff of Houston state Rep. Jolanda Jones resigns, citing hostile work environment
Jones said in a new statement that she was outraged at the allegations the former employees made about her son, who works in the office, which she said are false. Full Story
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![State Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, speaks at a rally at the Texas State Capitol demanding lawmakers address the state’s overdose crisis in Austin on Feb. 15, 2023. Jones and other representatives from six Texas cities–– El Paso, Laredo, West Texas, San Antonio, Austin and Houston–– gave speeches to call for increased harm reduction in response to a spike in fentanyl deaths statewide.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate approves bill that would create mandatory prison or probation terms for some gun crimes
Sen. Joan Huffman said the bill was in response to increased violent crime since 2019. Legislative researchers could not determine how the bill would affect the state’s prison population. Full Story
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![A handgun with a magazine which holds 17 rounds is displayed by an employee of McBride’s Guns in Central Austin on April 20, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
State retirees struggle through inflation while budget plans leave them out
Budget proposals in the Texas Legislature include billions in raises for current and retired teachers, as well as current state employees. So far, retired state employees are not mentioned in the budget plans. The state’s former public servants haven’t had a pension raise in 20 years. Full Story
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![Valentina Belmares, 73, left, and Gloria García, 68, pose for a photo at Belmares’ home in Alamo, Texas on Monday, April 3, 2023. García says, “If you don’t get a pension raise in 20 years like how social security gives raises, how are the middle class people supposed to make it with inflation?”]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
Sutherland Springs shooting victims reach tentative $144.5 million settlement with U.S. government
The U.S. Department of Justice also agreed to drop its appeal of a lawsuit in which a judge found the military mostly at fault for the 2017 mass shooting at a church. Full Story
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![The Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, where 26 churchgoers were killed in a mass shooting on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Quran taken from Texas Capitol chapel recovered by state police. They aren’t saying who removed it.
Days after it went missing, DPS identified the person who removed a family Quran Rep. Salman Bhojani had placed in the chapel. The state has since provided its own copy. Full Story
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![State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-HD92, swears in on a copy of the Quran the on the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas has the fifth-highest percentage of water pipes made of lead
In a first-of-its-kind survey of public water utilities, the EPA estimates that 7% of water lines in Texas, more than 647,000, are lead based. It’s the fifth-highest proportion of lead-based water lines in the country. Full Story
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![A dripping faucet on Feb. 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
GOP Texas senators pull their support for allowing some transgender kids to keep receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy
The Senate approved Senate Bill 14, which would ban transition-related care for transgender kids. Republicans had previously voted to allow kids currently receiving such care to continue doing so. Full Story
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![State Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, speaks on the Senate floor at the state Capitol in Austin on March 14, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott is turning up the pressure on passing school choice. Will it pay off?
Passage of a school choice measure is anything but a sure bet, as there is little evidence that the governor has been able to convince rural Republicans in the Texas House — who have for years been a reliable firewall — to drop their opposition. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at Parent Empowerment Night at Annapolis Christian Academy in Corpus Christi on Jan. 31, 2023 to discuss parent empowerment and choice in their child's education.]()
Credit: Blaine Young for The Texas Tribune -
Family of dead National Guardsman urges Legislature to make death benefits bill named for him retroactive
While the state guarantees law enforcement officers, like Department of Public Safety troopers, a $500,000 death benefit for their families if they die on duty, National Guard troops who stand shoulder to shoulder with those DPS officers on Operation Lone Star don’t have the same benefit. Full Story
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![Jo Ann Johnson sits for a portrait with a photo of her grandson, Bishop Evans, in her home in Arlington, TX on Dec. 7, 2022. 22-year-old Bishop Evans, who was serving on the Texas Army National Guard and assigned to work on Operation Lone Star, died after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two migrants. “When they told me why, I understood, because he saw someone who needed help. That was who he was — he helped people.”]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas drops effort to punish Harris County over its law enforcement spending
The fight is the latest skirmish between Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar and Harris County leaders over whether they “defunded” law enforcement. Full Story
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![Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar discusses the biennial revenue estimate with audience members at Texas Tribune’s Studio 919 in Austin on Jan. 9, 2023.]()
Credit: Pu Ying Huang/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate moves to set aside billions for future water needs
The Senate on Monday passed a bill that would create a new state fund tailored for large or long-shot water supply projects, including marine desalination. The bill will advance to the House. Full Story
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![A large crack runs the length of a broken water main pipe after City of Odessa Water Distribution employees work to repair the broken line Tuesday, June 14, 2022 in Odessa. According to Mayor of Odessa Javier Joven, the line has been fixed since around 3:45 a.m. and the system is beginning to pressurize slowly.]()
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Bills to expand gambling access in Texas clear House committee
Gaming advocates are pushing to legalize casinos and sports betting in Texas. The committee votes represent more progress than the proposals made last legislative session, when they got hearings in committee but were never voted out. Full Story
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![Gene Koonce plays on a craps table fitted with protective plexiglass panels during the reopening of Bellagio hotel-casino, closed since March because of COVID-19. Las Vegas, Nevada on June 4, 2020.]()
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To be safe, Texas Senate again approves political district maps
The vote ensured the Senate met its constitutional requirement to redraw districts in the first regular session after publication of the 2020 census results. Full Story
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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]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
National Democrats will invest to retake South Texas congressional district in 2024
The U.S. House Democratic campaign arm will target the 15th Congressional District in next year’s elections, hoping to reclaim the seat from Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, the first Republican ever to represent the district. Full Story
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![Monica De La Cruz, U.S. Representative District 15 Republican Candidate, poses for a photo after a Futuro RGV candidate forum in McAllen on Jan. 20, 2022.]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune
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