Texas is terrifying. Hollywood has noticed.
From “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” to “Friday the 13th,” Texas is an ideal landscape to shock and delight audiences and ghost hunters. Full Story
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![Two life-size horror movie dummies sit in front of a movie prop drink vending machine at We Slaughter BBQ on Oct. 27, 2023 in Bastrop. The roadside rest stop and tourist attraction, now restored, is one of several Central Texas locations where the 1974 film Texas Chainsaw Massacre was filmed.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
One of Texas’ oldest towns needs $200 million for upgrades. It’s asking voters to approve $44 million this fall.
The East Texas town is one of 218 local governments asking voters to approve new debt for repairs and upgrades to city infrastructure. Local leaders say inflation isn’t helping them keep up with capital needs. Full Story
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![Downtown Nacogdoches on October 3, 2022 in Nacogdoches.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
These women want careers as truck drivers. They say they can’t get a job because of their gender.
The Dallas-based trucking company, Stevens Transport, said they do not discriminate against women and the complaint is based on a “misunderstanding.” Full Story
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![Ashli Streeter poses for a portrait on U.S. Route 190 in Killeen on Sept. 20, 2023.]()
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5,000 Texas GM auto workers join nationwide strike
The factory in North Texas is considered one of General Motors’ most profitable. Full Story
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![The new GM logo on the facade of the General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Michigan on March 16, 2021.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook -
Texas proposition lets voters decide whether to cut property taxes for homeowners and businesses
Proposition 4 could usher in a bevy of property tax changes. That includes using $12.7 billion from a record state budget surplus to lower school district taxes. Full Story
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![The Mueller neighborhood in East Austin on Oct. 7, 2023.]()
Credit: John Jordan/The Texas Tribune -
A shift in how we build commercial buildings could be a boon for East Texas
Globally, mass timber construction projects are expected to reach more than 24,000 by 2034. So far, at least 134 mass timber projects are in progress or completed in Texas. The first such project was a six-story office building in downtown San Antonio. Full Story
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![Stacked logs are carried through Jasper, on Jan. 3, 2023.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Texas economy slows as summers get hotter, Dallas Fed economists say
The summer heat may have cost the state’s economy $24 billion this year, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas economists, who add that Texas is twice as vulnerable to heat-related economic slowdowns than the rest of the country. Full Story
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![A Metro bus reads “Come in cool off!” as it drives south on Guadalupe Street in Austin on July 22, 2022.]()
Credit: Kylie Cooper/The Texas Tribune -
Texas needs water workers. Will high school students answer the call?
Nearly two-thirds of the state’s water and wastewater agencies say they need more workers. Full Story
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![Consolidated Water Supply Corporation employees patch a broken pipe on April 19, 2023 in Crockett.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
How Texas lawmakers are trying to deter illegal immigration and secure the border
Two Texas House members and an immigration lawyer sat down with Matthew Watkins, the Tribune’s managing editor of news and politics, to discuss the current state of Texas’ border and immigration bills that lawmakers are weighing during the special session. Full Story
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In trying to close its coal power plant, Austin encounters obstacles to going green
The city approved a plan in 2020 to shut the Fayette Power Project plant with the aim of eliminating carbon emissions. But political, economic and technological forces have gotten in the way. Full Story
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![The Fayette Power Project plant is a coal-fired power plant located near La Grange, in Fayette County. Jan. 16, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Looking for an economic rebound, an East Texas town looks to the arts — and is rebuffed by the state
A town of 34,000 people, Lufkin sits deep in the Piney Woods, a region dotted with rural towns. Local civic leaders hope a long list of efforts can revitialize the city’s downtown and reboot its economy. Full Story
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![A flag flies as cars drive downtown in Lufkin, Texas, U.S., on Friday, January 27, 2023. Public school officials in rural areas like Lufkin face budget challenges because of proposed school choice legislation, which provides taxpayer-funded alternatives to sending a child to a local public school.]()
Credit: Callaghan O'Hare for The Texas Tribune -
As Texans struggle with housing costs, cities look for new ways to spur more home construction
In cities dominated by single-family neighborhoods, local leaders across Texas want a broader variety of housing to combat the affordability crisis. Full Story
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![Homes under construction in the Mueller neighborhood in East Austin on Oct. 7, 2023.]()
Credit: John Jordan/The Texas Tribune -
Printing a place to live: In Central Texas, homes are being built with emerging 3D technology
Using robotic 3D printers that can build the concrete walls of a house, a pair of Texas startups say the technology could help alleviate two crises: the housing shortage and climate change. Full Story
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![Rows of 3D-printed homes sit in various states of construction in the Wolf Ranch neighborhood of Georgetown, Texas on Oct. 4, 2023. The Lennar Wolf Ranch development is the largest collection of 3D-printed homes worldwide.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
Texas will have an $18.6 billion surplus and avoid a recession, comptroller projects
The updated comptroller’s report raises the amount of revenue available to the state over the 2024-25 cycle to $194.6 billion. 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 -
A generation of Texas farmers are retiring. It’s not clear who will replace them.
After 70 years on the farm, Jimmy Drake retired from the cotton business. With no family stepping up to take over the farm, he turned to a young neighbor. Full Story
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![From left, Tanner Heffington talks to Jimmy Drake next to Drake’s truck outside of their shop. Drake passed on his farm and equipment to long time neighbor Heffington last year making this the first time in 71 years that a member of the Drake family didn’t harvest the land.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ unemployment rate is among the nation’s worst — but experts say it signals a growing economy
The state has yet to return to its pre-pandemic unemployment rate of about 3.5%, even as it leads the country in new jobs created. However, state economic experts say the unemployment rate is an indicator of Texas’s rapidly growing population and labor force. Full Story
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![A "now hiring" sign is seen in the window of Toro Ramen and Poke Barn April 10, 2020 in San Marcos.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas drought has deepened amid this year’s brutal heat
After a long summer of extreme heat, Texas has been battered by a lingering drought that’s damaging crops, drying up water supplies and causing wildfires. Full Story
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![A late summer thunderstorm forms over the remnants of the 2021 cotton crop on Aug. 29, 2022, in Terry County.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Congress averts government shutdown with last-minute scramble
Lawmakers avoided closing the government for now, but funding for Ukraine — and Kevin McCarthy’s speakership — face further hurdles. Full Story
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![House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in September.]()
Credit: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via REUTERS -
4 Texas Republicans join ultraconservatives to sink GOP attempt to keep federal government open
The funding bill was a long shot, but far-right U.S. representatives said it didn’t go far enough in promoting their priorities, including border security and defunding investigations into Donald Trump. Full Story
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![A general view of the U.S. Capitol, September 25, 2023 in Washington D.C..]()
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The 2023 Texas Tribune Festival in photos
Here’s a look back at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival through the eyes of Tribune photographers. Full Story
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![Evan Smith meets backstage with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, before the start of the closing keynote at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, TX on Sept. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune