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 -
Texas Education Agency would have new power to enforce school safety plans under Senate bill
The bill, introduced months after the Uvalde school shooting, also allocates more funds to the state’s school safety allotment, which is money given to districts to improve campus security. Full Story
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![A police officer monitors Maplewood Elementary School in Austin the Monday morning following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.]()
Credit: Tamir Kalifa for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers take first step to restoring felony penalty for illegal voting
Republican lawmakers — backed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — are working to reverse a change to state law they approved two years ago as part of a sweeping overhaul to Texas election law that included downgrading illegal voting to a misdemeanor. Full Story
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![Voters cast their ballots at the Lochwood Branch Library in Dallas on Feb. 25, 2022, the last day of early voting in the Texas primary. Dallas County voting centers’ hours were extended till 10 P.M. on the last day of early voting to make up for early closures due to icy weather.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
DPS sent at least 3,000 driver’s licenses to organized crime group targeting Asian Texans
A Chinese crime operation bypassed the password clues of Texas.gov by using stolen identity information to fraudulently obtain replacement driver’s licenses. Full Story
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![Steve McCraw, Department of Public Safety Director, speaks at a press conference with Gov. Greg Abbott and nine other governors regarding the southern border at Anzalduas Park in Mission on Oct. 6, 2021.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott starts state task force on street takeovers
During a recent street racing incident, Austin residents faced long 911 wait times. City officials say they need to increase staffing for 911 call takers, but state license and background check requirements make it difficult to fill positions. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during the Texas Rally for Life event at the Capitol in Austin on Jan. 28, 2023. Montinique Monroe for the Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate revives effort to make illegal voting a felony
Lawmakers lowered the penalty to a misdemeanor in 2021, but then almost immediately began discussing raising it back. Full Story
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![Voters check in to vote at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center in Houston, Tuesday Nov. 8, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott says most gun crimes involve illegally owned weapons. That’s not true in mass shootings.
Most of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a presser at Uvalde High School on May 27, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
In a Central Texas county, high schoolers are jailed on felony charges for vaping what could be legal hemp
Police often can’t tell if a cannabis vape pen is derived from marijuana or legal hemp, like the delta-8 products on display in gas stations across Texas. That doesn’t stop them from making felony arrests in high schools. Full Story
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![Miles Leon poses for a portrait inside his home on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022 near Bulverde, TX. Leon was caught using a vape pen police say had THC but Leon claims had Delta-8. Leon could be charged with a felony for possession if tests show it was THC as a 17 year old in Texas Leon would be charged as an adult.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Despite decades of mass shootings in Texas, legislators have failed to pass meaningful gun control laws
State lawmakers have rejected dozens of bills that would have prevented people from legally obtaining weapons used in many mass shootings. Instead, they’ve made it easier for residents to get guns and harder for local governments to regulate them. Full Story
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![A group of men embrace during a vigil a day after a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 4, 2019. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC1E05433300]()
Credit: Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters -
Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas’ attorneys apply for clemency, citing mental illness
At issue is whether Thomas, who gouged out his eyes after confessing to the 2004 murders of his estranged wife, their son and her daughter, is competent to be executed in April. Full Story
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![The view of Texas' execution chamber from a witness viewing room.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Uvalde’s state lawmakers face an uphill battle raising the age limit for semi-automatic guns. They’re trying anyway.
Many relatives of Uvalde victims back bills that state Rep. Tracy King and Sen. Roland Gutierrez are pushing in the Legislature. But limits on gun access don’t fare well at the Capitol. Full Story
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![The truck and weapons of Salvador Rolando Ramos remains crashed in a ditch near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where he entered and killed 19 students and two teachers on May 24, 2022.]()
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FBI announces investigations into deaths at Harris County Jail
Since Jacoby Pillow’s death last month, at least three others have died at Harris County Jail. And the year before, the jail hit a record high of 27 in-custody deaths. Full Story
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![The Harris County Jail in Houston on Wednesday, April 1, 2020.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Judge rejects bid by families of plane crash victims to throw out deal letting Boeing avoid prosecution
The families say they were shut out of discussions over the deal between the federal government and Boeing. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said courts don’t have authority to override it. Full Story
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![A Boeing 737 Max aircraft during a display at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 20, 2022.]()
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Military justice reforms still leave some criminal cases to commanders with no legal expertise
The military resisted reforming its justice system for decades. Major congressional changes passed in 2021 promised to overhaul that system — but experts say they may have just made it more complicated. Full Story
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![A mural in honor of Army Spc. Vanessa GuillÈn in the Dove Springs neighborhood of South Austin. July 6, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas DPS scraps plan for $1.2 billion active-shooter training facility
The Texas Department of Public Safety is instead asking lawmakers for $381.5 million to upgrade its current facilities with better technology, dormitories and cafeteria for trainees from across the state. Full Story
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![Numerous Texas Department of Public Safety vehicles are parked at a Best Western hotel in Del Rio on July 23, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas DPS won’t discipline any more officers for Uvalde shooting response
The Department of Public Safety has finished its investigation into how officers responded to Texas’ deadliest school shooting. The agency has fired one officer and is in the process of firing another. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety officers guard the scene at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Marco Bello -
Texans with mental illnesses are dying in Houston-area jails
A Houston Landing investigation found that nearly 180 people in Texas had been flagged as potentially mentally ill but died in jail instead of getting the care they needed. Full Story
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![Rowena Ward replaces flowers on the gravestone belonging to her son, Rory, last month at Klein Memorial Park Cemetery in Houston on Jan. 7, 2023. Rory died in 2021 after being beaten by a fellow inmate at the Harris County Jail — one of 52 people who died of unnatural causes in the custody of Houston area jails and had exhibited mental health concerns over the past decade.]()
Credit: Marie D. De Jesús/Houston Landing -
Appeals court ruling says alleged domestic abusers have a constitutional right to keep their guns
Advocates for domestic violence victims were stunned by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which continued a string of court decisions citing the Second Amendment to erase gun restrictions. Full Story
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![People hold signs in support of ending gun violence during a March for Our Lives event at the state Capitol in Austin on March 24, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Man who killed 23 at El Paso Walmart pleads guilty to hate crimes
The gunman was mirroring rhetoric that continues to be used by some conservative political and media figures, saying that large-scale migration from south of the border is an “invasion” and part of a “great replacement” of white people by people of color. Full Story
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![A lone policeman outside the WalMart in El Paso where a mass shooting took place on Saturday, August 3, 2019.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes John Balentine for killing three teens in Amarillo
Though he confessed to the murders, Balentine’s lawyers argued he might have been spared a death sentence if not for pervasive racial bias at his trial. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice