“It does not get easier”: Texas ranchers lose cattle and land in historic wildfires
As ranchers recover from the Smokehouse Creek fire, they face the agonizing choice of what to do with an unknown number of injured cattle. Full Story
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![Cattle stand in the burn scar from the Smokehouse Creek fire Sunday, March. 3, 2024, in Hemphill County, Texas.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
New EPA rule to slash cancer-causing emissions from sterilization facilities
Laredo residents who live near a sterilization plant say the new federal limits on the pollutant will improve air quality and reduce their city’s high cancer risk. Full Story
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![The Midwest Sterilization Corporation in Laredo on May 13, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Performers, speakers pull out of SXSW over U.S. Army sponsorship
More than 80 musicians and panelists say they will no longer appear at the nine-day festival, citing the U.S. Army’s support for Israel amid war with Hamas. Full Story
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![From left: Fernando Antunes and Bruno Stefani, both of Sao Paolo, Brazil, video record themselves on the escalator at SXSW at the Austin Convention Center on March 8, 2024.]()
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Texas legislative committee to investigate cause of Panhandle wildfires
The panel of three lawmakers and two residents will also look at disaster preparedness. Full Story
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![Charred ground left by the Smokehouse Creek fire after the fire burned through Currie Smith’s ranch Sunday, March. 3, 2024, in Hemphill County, Texas.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
As their neighbors fled, these Texas volunteer firefighters raced toward the flames
The wildfires offers a reminder that most of rural Texas is protected by volunteers. And there aren’t many of them. Full Story
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![Local firefighters work to contain a wildfire after it was whipped up by high winds in Pampa on March 2, 2024.]()
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Panelists at Tribune event discuss how to keep downtowns vibrant post-pandemic
The Texas Tribune partnered with the LBJ School of Public Affairs Urban Lab for a panel conversation on the challenges and opportunities facing Texas downtowns. Full Story
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Facing staggering losses from wildfires, Panhandle ranchers and farmers seek aid to rebuild
Ranchers have likely lost thousands of cattle in the wildfires, according to some preliminary estimates. Full Story
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![Christy Oats, left, talks to the farmers and ranchers attending a USDA informational meeting at the Hemphill County Exhibition center in Canadian on March 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
Many homes burned in the Texas wildfires weren’t insured, creating a steep path to recovery
Rural Texans are more than twice as likely to go without homeowners insurance than their urban peers. Full Story
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![A burned truck sits on lot in Fritch where the fire went through while areas behind appear to be untouched Friday, March. 1, 2024.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Panhandle wildfires: What you need to know about the blazes, damage and recovery
The full scope of damage still isn’t known, but some Panhandle residents have returned home. Firefighters continue battling the infernos. Full Story
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![Trees stand burned from the Smokehouse Creek fire on Sunday, March. 3, 2024, in Hemphill Co.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Panhandle residents begin rebuilding, even as fight to contain fires continues
The fire that engulfed their town was only 15% contained over the weekend, but Canadian residents were back to selling flowers and preparing for an election. Full Story
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![Martin Ocasio loads pallets of cattle cubes onto a trailer to be delivered to a rancher, in the Hemphill County Extension building in Canadian on Sunday, March. 3, 2024.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Wildfires ravage cattle country, threatening Texas’ agriculture economy
Texas wildfires have consumed acres of agricultural land, killing thousands of livestock, destroying crops and exacerbating challenges lingering from last year’s drought. Full Story
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![Don Gourd watches hay be loaded onto his trailer to take to neighbors affected by the Smokehouse Fire Friday, March. 1, 2024, in Borger, Texas.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
As Biden and Trump visit the border, many Texas residents feel ignored
When the two presidents used the Texas-Mexico boundary as a backdrop for the national immigration fight, residents felt they were left out of the conversation. Full Story
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![Pedestrians walk through downtown Brownsville early Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. President Joe Biden visited Brownsville on Thursday, receiving briefings from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, USCIS, and ICE along the border before giving remarks at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
An East Texas town has put strict limits on mobile homes — again
The Huntington City Council has flip flopped twice on a mobile home ordinance since 2020. Full Story
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![Rita Kromer, a longtime resident of Huntington, Texas, lives in a mobile home after losing her traditional brick house in a fire.]()
Credit: Joel Andrews for The Texas Tribune -
Years before Texas conservatives painted them as criminals, Colony Ridge residents sought help from state agencies
Texas has little to show for conservative leaders’ uproar — or previously unreported complaints about the community developer. Full Story
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![An overhead view of the Colony Ridge development on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in New Caney, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Texas launches new property tax incentive program to lure new businesses
The Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation program cuts property taxes for new manufacturing, research and development facilities. It replaces a shuttered program criticized for its impact on school finance. Full Story
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![Construction workers work on an office building on the corner or Metric and Parmer in Austin on June 18, 2020.]()
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In El Paso, panelists stress area’s collaboration, slam false portrayals
During a Texas Tribune symposium, speakers discussed how the region’s mind-set of working together to solve problems can benefit other parts of the state. Panelists also said inaccurate narratives around immigration and border security only hurt progress. Full Story
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Amid high rents, eviction filings in major Texas cities soar above pre-pandemic levels
Legal aid groups and housing advocates say there simply aren’t enough lawyers to keep up with the sheer volume of eviction filings. Full Story
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![A writ of possession is taped to the door of an apartment at the Life at Jackson Square apartments on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, in Houston, TX.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
These three “bandidas” are changing the face of Texas barbecue
With menu items like birria brisket ramen, the Bar-B-Que Bandidas in Lubbock are challenging the norm of Texas barbecue and a male dominated industry. Full Story
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![Raquel Lopez, left, Simone See, center, and Jewel Hill, right, season ribs before putting them on the smoker at Hill Barbecue Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, in Lubbock, Texas. (Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Rural Texans, internet providers worry that feds’ broadband expansion plan will have a painfully slow rollout
A historic $3.3 billion federal investment in broadband could connect millions of Texans to the internet. But getting the money to the right hands could be a challenge. Full Story
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![An aerial view of Groveton March 20, 2023, in Groveton, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Texas poised for slower job growth this year, Dallas Fed projects
Falling consumer activity and uncertainty around the 2024 presidential election could complicate the state’s job growth, a Dallas Fed economist said. Full Story
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![A view of Woodall Rodgers Freeway from The Tower Club on the 48th floor of the Santander Tower in downtown Dallas on Nov. 07, 2023.]()
Credit: Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune