Texas GOP censures U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales over party-splitting votes in Congress
In rare rebuke, party leaders cite support for gun law, same-sex marriage proposal by San Antonio Republican. Full Story
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![District 23 Rep. Tony Gonzales speaks with a reporter at a Starbucks in San Antonio on Aug. 24, 2022.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
Ron DeSantis proclaims Texas, Florida partners against “woke” left in Houston speech
Where others see a budding rivalry between GOP states, the likely presidential candidate focused on similarities with Gov. Greg Abbott’s Texas. Full Story
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![Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, flanked by public officials and boat captains from Naples and Jensen Beach, holds a press conference in West Palm Beach at the Cox Science Center and Aquarium on June 8, 2022.]()
Credit: Damon Higgins/The Palm Beach Post via REUTERS -
Houston ISD braces for possible state takeover
Parents, teachers and retired HISD employees were among the many rallying Friday against an imminent midsemester district takeover by the Texas Education Agency. Full Story
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![Laurel Hays holds a poster against the Texas Education Agency (TEA) takeover of Houston Independent School District (HISD) during a press conference regarding HISD's imminent state takeover in Houston, on Friday, March 3, 2023.]()
Credit: Joseph Bui for The Texas Tribune -
Debate over Texas drag shows intensifies
A lawmaker is accused of hypocrisy after it emerges that he once wore a dress. He says it wasn’t sexual. Full Story
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![State Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, gives a speech in recommendation of state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington for Speaker of the House on the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023. Tinderholt was defeated 145-3 to elect state Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, as Speaker of the House.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/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 -
Lawmakers could no longer “double dip” into pension funds under newly filed bill
State Sen. Joan Huffman filed a bill that would repeal a provision that allowed longtime lawmakers to increase their yearly take-home income by $140,000 by collecting pension payments without retiring. Full Story
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![State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, speaks to state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, on his resolution to declare an emergency on the Texas-Mexico border on April 2, 2019.]()
Credit: Emree Weaver/The Texas Tribune -
T-Squared: Matt Ewalt is The Texas Tribune’s new director of events and live journalism
He is currently the vice president for education at the Chautauqua Institution, where he curates and produces programming for one of the oldest and most respected lecture series in the country. Full Story
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![Matt Ewalt.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Matt Ewalt -
Texas legislative leaders — Dan Patrick, Dade Phelan — jab each other’s priorities in dueling speeches
During dueling speeches to a conservative think tank in Austin, state House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who have a history of animus, split over property tax relief, criminal justice reform and school choice. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan, left, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.]()
Credit: The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales defiant as he faces censure for breaking with Republican Party
The censure resolution cites Gonzales’ rejection of a border security proposal by fellow Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, and his support of a bill for same-sex marriage protections and a bipartisan gun safety law. Full Story
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![US Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 24, 2022.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas senators, facing criticism, soften proposed ban on Chinese purchases of land
The measure, endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, originally would have banned citizens of China, Iran, Russia or North Korea from buying land in Texas. Under a new version considered Thursday, the ban wouldn’t apply to dual citizens or lawful permanent residents. Full Story
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![A ranch for sale about an hour west of Del Rio on Nov. 21, 2013.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Ted Cruz continues to take aim at AG Merrick Garland at CPAC
At the conservative political convention, the Texas senator also criticized President Joe Biden for his response to the Ohio train derailment and Dr. Anthony Fauci for his role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland on March 2, 2023.]()
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Texas House’s property tax bill calls for $17 billion in cuts, tighter appraisal cap
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan’s proposal reveals the different roads the Texas House and Senate want to take on property taxes — and the fight that might emerge between the two chambers this session. Full Story
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![Construction workers build houses in the new Teravista neighborhood in Georgetown on May 18, 2016.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Plurality of Texas voters say they support school voucher-like program
The poll from the University of Texas at Austin, released Thursday, found a plurality of voters support redirecting tax revenue to help parents pay to school their kids outside the traditional public education system. Full Story
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![Esperanza Alejo, Cardenas' TA, has her students present their drawings to Cardenas' class using a projector on Apr. 21, 2022. After Cardenas' class split into two different rooms, one managed by Cardenas and her substitute, Nancy Lopez, and the other by her TA, Esperanza Alejo, Cardenas still planned all the curriculum. The students do the same activities and have the same lessons in both classrooms. Some of the lessons, like the drawing vocabulary activity (NEED CLARIFICATION ON THIS ACTIVITY), are done at the same time with a Google Meets video call bridging the classrooms. "I didn't want them to feel like they were pushed out of my classroom - that they were still just an extension of my classroom," Cardenas said.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott vows to exclude renewable energy from any revived economic incentive program
In 2021, the Texas Senate declined to consider a bill extending the program, which discounted local property taxes to lure big companies to the state. It had become plagued with bipartisan accusations of “corporate welfare.” Full Story
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![Wind turbines spin in Central Texas on March 25, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Republican Texas lawmakers rally around bill restricting the college sports teams transgender athletes can join
Seventy-seven Texas House Republicans signed on as co-authors to state Rep. Valoree Swanson’s bill extending restrictions on transgender athletes to college sports. Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed support for the legislation, which is also a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Full Story
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![Track athletes at a school track meet.]()
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Business and legislative leaders push to replace expired tax break with a new one
Business groups warned lawmakers that Texas could lose business to other states without something to replace the so-called Chapter 313 tax break, which gave some companies big breaks on school taxes. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol in Austin on Oct. 19, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Wendy Davis to lead Planned Parenthood’s political advocacy arm
Davis, who is best known for her 13-hour filibuster to block a 2013 abortion bill, joins the group at a low point for reproductive rights in Texas. Full Story
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![Wendy Davis speaks at an event held by the Dallas Democratic Forum concerning the overturn of Roe v. Wade at the Arts District Mansion in Dallas on June 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
As 2024 nears, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looms large over Gov. Greg Abbott
DeSantis and Abbott often appear to be locked in an unspoken ideological arms race as they take turns leading and then following one another, enacting policies and backing bills that push both states further to the right. Full Story
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![From left: Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.]()
Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune|REUTERS/Octavio Jones -
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 -
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro had surgery to remove cancerous tumors
The 48-year-old Texas Democrat had tumors removed from his gastrointestinal tract at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, speaks about a new federal report on the underrepresentation of Latinos in the media industry at the National Press Club in Washington on Oct. 05, 2022.]()
Credit: Lenin Nolly/Sipa USA via Reuters