Texas has a housing affordability crisis. Here’s how state lawmakers may tackle it in 2025.
A likely fight over how much power to take away from local governments may dominate the debate. Full Story
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![The Celina water tower among newer housing developments in Celina on November 13, 2024.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Mental health advocates ask Texas lawmakers to replace expiring COVID-19 relief funding
Texas received $203.4 million in 2021 to help build community mental health programs at libraries and churches, among other efforts. Those funds expire Dec. 31. Full Story
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![Mental Health pamphlets at an office complex in Round Rock on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas man identified as suspect in deadly New Orleans truck attack
FBI officials said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran, drove the pickup truck that fatally rammed into a crowd on Bourbon Street. Full Story
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![A view down Bourbon Street in New Orleans showing a crashed white pickup truck (R) after an apparent attack during New Year's Eve celebrations in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025.]()
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Texas Supreme Court dismisses State Bar lawsuit against assistant attorney general
The state bar sought to take away the law license of Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster over a Texas lawsuit challenging 2020 presidential election results. Full Story
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![First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster speaks during a press conference in the William Clements Building in Austin on June 9, 2022.]()
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Texas driver license offices reopen after systemwide outage
The outage appeared only to affect the Texas public safety department. Driver license offices reopened after the New Year’s Day holiday. Full Story
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![The Nortwest Austin DPS office on Jan. 24, 2019.]()
Credit: Emree Weaver/The Texas Tribune -
Texas 2024: The stories that most resonated with our readers
Voter guides, election results and a new law that does away with vehicle inspections were among the journalism that Texas Tribune readers engaged with the most. Full Story
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![A view of the Capitol Building from downtown Austin on June 24, 2024.]()
Credit: Olivia Anderson for The Texas Tribune -
Nathan Hecht, Texas’ most tenured Supreme Court justice, prepares to retire
Over 35 years, Hecht modernized the court, increased access to justice for the poor and saw his conservative views come to dominate the bench. Full Story
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![Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht delivers his State of the Judiciary speech at the Supreme Court in Austin on Apr. 5, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmaker files bill to reduce “forever chemicals” in sewage-based fertilizer
The bill would require companies to test fertilizer made from sewage sludge for PFAS and meet limits before selling them to Texas farmers and ranchers. Full Story
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![Biosolids are collected at the SAWS’ Steven M. Clouse Water Recycling Center in San Antonio, Texas, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Why were border wall materials put up for auction? Here's what you should know.
Some Texas lawmakers including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed the Biden administration over the auction of wall materials. But the sale was directed by Congress — and Texas has already bought some of it. Full Story
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![Building supplies and construction equipment sit along a section of state border wall Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, outside of Del Rio.]()
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Texas House panel may never hear Robert Roberson’s testimony after new legal move
Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to delay legal proceedings until Jan. 13 — the day before the committee disbands — even as lawmakers vowed to continue fighting to hear from Roberson. Full Story
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![Robert Roberson photographed through plexiglass at TDCJ Polunsky Unit in Livingston on Dec. 19, 2023. Texas death row prisoners are housed in Livingston but executed at the state prison in Huntsville, about 43 miles away.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Innocence Project -
Cartels turn to social media to lure Americans into human smuggling as Texas enforces stricter laws
Thousands of people have been arrested under Texas’ human smuggling law. Now they face at least a decade in prison under sentencing guidelines that took effect this year. Full Story
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Credit: Tara Anand for The Texas Tribune -
Attorney General Ken Paxton files motion to block death row inmate Robert Roberson from testifying
The motion escalates a tense standoff between Paxton and a bipartisan Texas House committee, which had subpoenaed Roberson to testify at the Capitol on Friday. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Texas GOP Convention Thursday, May 23, 2024 in San Antonio.]()
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Texas’ latest effort to deter migrants is a billboard campaign in Mexico, Central America
Gov. Greg Abbott announced the new strategy, which will cost an estimated $100,000, during a press conference in Eagle Pass. Full Story
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![Gov. Abbott speaks at a press conference in Eagle Pass where he unveiled state-sponsored billboards being placed in Central and South America to deter migrants from coming to the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 19, 2024.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Texas regulators shelve an electricity market reform proposal they say does too little to shore up grid
The Public Utility Commission found that the performance credit mechanism, a financial tool the Legislature capped at $1 billion, would only marginally improve reliability of the state power grid. Full Story
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![Public Utilities Commission Chairman Thomas Gleeson speaks during a meeting on Thursday, July 11, 2024.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ citrus industry — once an agricultural powerhouse — is on the brink of disaster
A hurricane and winter freeze devastated the South Texas industry. A lack of water is preventing a full recovery. Full Story
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![Grapefruit trees at Lone Star Citrus Growers groves in Mission on Dec. 16, 2024.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. House members want answers on Texas’ decision to not review maternal deaths after near-total abortion ban
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas led a letter calling for a briefing on why the state won’t review 2022 and 2023 deaths. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, speaks with Errin Haines, editor at large at The 19th*, at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 7, 2024.]()
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As landowners resist, Texas’ border wall is fragmented and built in remote areas
At least a third of landowners approached by state officials have refused to let wall be built on their properties. That’s forced the state to largely build on ranchland in remote areas, or erect sections that are full of gaps. Full Story
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Credit: Ben Lowy for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Republicans want voters to provide proof of citizenship. Arizona’s law holds lessons.
A Votebeat analysis shows how such requirements risk disenfranchising key voter groups, including Native Americans and college students. Full Story
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![DALLAS, TX - SEPTEMBER 20, 2024: ExpressVote voting machines at a public verification test of the voting system at the Dallas County Elections Department building in Dallas, Texas on Friday, September 20, 2024. The test allows participants to validate the voting process by using ballots containing the same races and proportions as the upcoming elections in November. CREDIT: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
South Texas groups sue TCEQ for temporarily allowing SpaceX to discharge industrial water without a permit
In the lawsuit, the groups accuse TCEQ of exceeding its authority by allowing the discharges. Full Story
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![SpaceX's Starship lifts off from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight before exploding, near Brownsville on April 20, 2023.]()
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An emerging Texas megadonor just pledged $20 million to “expand a true Republican majority”
Alex Fairly is an Amarillo businessman and father of a state House member who has previously given millions to West Texas A&M University, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Full Story
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![Amarillo businessman Alex Fairly speaks to the crowd Saturday night after his endorsed candidate Cole Stanley won the Amarillo mayoral election in downtown Amarillo.]()
Credit: Michael Cuviello/Amarillo Globe-News via REUTERS