Five news organizations join Texas Tribune and ProPublica investigative initiative
El Paso Matters, Fort Worth Report, Houston Chronicle, The Texas Newsroom and WFAA will join us to support accountability journalism in Texas. Full Story
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These soldiers risked their lives serving in Afghanistan. Now they plead with Trump to bring their sister to the U.S.
Trump’s executive orders have blocked entrance to the country for thousands of Afghans, including those who worked with the U.S. military and their relatives. Two brothers hope permission comes quickly for their sister and her husband, who they say are in danger. Full Story
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![A man in camo uniform looks down and pulls the brim of his hat low. His face is out of focus.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune -
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 -
What could happen to Texas’ Medicaid program under Trump
State leaders have shown a decadeslong antipathy toward the health insurance program. If Trump makes severe reductions, it’s unlikely leaders would have the political will to make up any lost federal funds with state money, experts say. Full Story
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Credit: Maria Crane for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott boasted that Texas removed 6,500 noncitizens from its voter rolls. That number was likely inflated.
An investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat found that U.S. citizens were incorrectly labeled as noncitizens or removed from the rolls because they did not respond to letters about their citizenship. Full Story
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![Gov. Gregg Abbott speaks at a podium in a photo collage that also includes a sign for a polling location.]()
Credit: Photo illustration by Tiffany Herring/ProPublica. Source images: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune, Montinique Monroe/The Texas Tribune. -
Despite warnings, Texas rushed to remove millions from Medicaid. Eligible residents lost care.
Texas officials acknowledged some errors after they stripped Medicaid coverage from more than 2 million people, most of them children. A ProPublica and Texas Tribune review of records shows that these mistakes and others were preventable. Full Story
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![Micaela Hoops with her children at their home in Sherman, Texas. Hoops’ three sons lost insurance after she misunderstood the state’s deadline and failed to submit their renewal for the first time in three years. When the North Texas mother discovered her error, she frantically reapplied, putting her children at the back of an ever-lengthening waitlist.]()
Credit: Danielle Villasana for ProPublica and the Texas Tribune -
Here are the organizations that Ken Paxton targeted using consumer protection laws
Attorneys general have increasingly used their power to pursue investigations targeting organizations whose work conflicts with their political views. Paxton is among the most aggressive. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, has been using consumer protection laws to target organizations like Annunciation House, run by Ruben Garcia, right, whose work conflicts with Paxton’s political views. El Paso-based Annunciation House serves immigrants and refugees seeking shelter.]()
Credit: Photo illustration by ProPublica. Source photos: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune, Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
How Ken Paxton is stretching the boundaries of consumer protection laws to pursue political targets
The attorney general repeatedly uses laws meant to protect against fraudulent or deceptive practices to target hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and LGBTQ+ groups. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, right, is using consumer protection laws to target organizations like Annunciation House, run by Ruben Garcia, left, whose work conflicts with Paxton’s political views.]()
Credit: Photo illustration by ProPublica. Source photos: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune, Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Neglected and exposed: Toxic air lingers in a Texas Latino community, revealing failures in state’s air monitoring system
Public data from a network of state air monitors around the Houston Ship Channel is hard to interpret and is often inadequate, leaving Latino-majority neighborhoods like Cloverleaf unaware of whether the air they breathe is safe. Full Story
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![Cristina Lazo starts the daily routine of washing her daughter Alina’s hands, changing clothes and rubbing an ointment on her irritated eyes after coming home from the outside. Lazo believes the fumes from the nearby industrial sector are contributing to her 7-year-old daughter’s symptoms.
Al llegar a su casa desde el exterior, Cristina Lazo inicia la rutina diaria de lavarle las manos a su hija Alina, cambiarla de ropa y aplicarle una pomada en los ojos irritados. Lazo cree que la fuga de gases del complejo industrial cercano están contribuyendo a los síntomas de su hija de 7 años.
On November 10, 2023, Cristina Lazo helps her six-year-old daughter Alina wash her hands at their home in Cloverleaf, Texas.]()
Credit: Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune -
Active shooter training: State-specific requirements for schools and law enforcement
No states mandate annual active shooter training for police officers, according to an analysis by The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and FRONTLINE. In comparison, at least 37 states require such training in schools, typically on a yearly basis. Full Story
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![A man writes a message on a cross at a makeshift memorial left in memory of the victims killed in a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, on May 21, 2018.]()
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Under Ken Paxton, Texas’ civil Medicaid fraud unit is falling apart
After the chief of the attorney general’s Civil Medicaid Fraud Division was forced out last year, two-thirds of attorneys have quit the unit, leaving it at its smallest size since Paxton took office. Full Story
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![Nearly two-thirds of the lawyers for Texas’ Civil Medicaid Fraud Division have quit under Attorney General Ken Paxton, which former staffers say will leave the elite unit less equipped to weed out fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Why we’re publishing never-reported details of the Uvalde school shooting before state investigators
Over a year after the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, the community still doesn’t know what went wrong. It’s a key reason we’re publishing findings based on a trove of raw materials investigators have yet to release. Full Story
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Uvalde shooting shows contrast in preparedness between students and police
Across the country, states require more training to prepare students and teachers for mass shootings than for those expected to protect them. The differences were clear in Uvalde, where children and officers waited on opposite sides of the door. Full Story
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![Collage by ProPublica. Body camera stills obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Collage by ProPublica. Body camera stills obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune -
Dark money nonprofit with ties to Texas billionaire works to defeat Midland school bond
Tim Dunn’s public policy groups have helped ensure that tax hike language is attached to every school bond ballot measure in the state. Now he is using that language to cast doubt on a bond in his hometown of Midland. Full Story
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Credit: Photo illustration by ProPublica. Source photographs: Brett Buchanan for The Texas Tribune, bond mailer obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. -
Book bans in Texas spread as new state law takes effect
As Texas enters its third straight school year of coordinated book banning activity, a growing number of districts are targeting library books. Caught in the dragnet: books featuring a “naked” crayon and one with a cartoon butt. Full Story
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![A reflection of an American flag is visible as a Little Free Library, which was designed to look like a prison, invites residents to take books that the library says have been challenged by schools across the state of Texas, in Houston on May 3, 2023.]()
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Texas schools chief took over Houston district, but has let underperforming charter networks expand
Commissioner of Education Mike Morath has repeatedly waived expansion requirements for charter school networks, allowing them to serve thousands more students, even when they don’t meet academic performance standards. Full Story
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Credit: Evan L’Roy/The Texas Tribune -
The many times Ken Paxton refused to defend Texas agencies in court
The Texas attorney general said he’s “back to work” after his recent acquittal, but his office has repeatedly declined to fulfill one of its key duties: representing state agencies who are being sued. Full Story
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Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
Texas AG Ken Paxton’s habit of refusing to defend state agencies cost taxpayers
Records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune give deeper insight into how Paxton’s representation denials often pushed agencies to look for outside legal counsel that was ultimately funded by taxpayers. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at a news conference at the William P. Clements State Office Building on a pilot program to dispose of medications, especially opioids on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2022 in Austin, TX. Paxton was joined by a group of former athletes and coaches to make the announcement. (Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune)of former athletes and coaches to make the announcement.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas nixed child ID kits after our investigation. Now a bill to spend taxpayer money on the kits in Pennsylvania is in trouble.
Legislation that would require purchasing the kits is facing key opposition after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found no evidence that they’d ever been used to find a missing child. The probe previously spurred Texas to strip millions in funding. Full Story
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Credit: Photo illustration by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica. Source images: Kits from the National Child Identification Program. -
Judge says DPS must release documents related to Uvalde shooting response
The state police agency had been withholding nearly all of its records on law enforcement’s botched response to Texas’ deadliest school shooting. DPS will have an opportunity to redact the files before they are released. Full Story
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![Family members and friends participate in a march in support of those killed and injured in the school shooting at Robb Elementary, in Uvalde on July 10, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune