Texas

Evictions in Some Texas Cities Are Almost Back To Normal Levels as Tenant Help Dries Up

Evictions in major Texas cities have reached levels not seen since the pandemic began. But tenant protections and financial assistance for struggling renters are beginning to fade.

  • By Joshua Fechter and Uriel J. García , The Texas Tribune

How Cities Are Addressing Mental Distress

Successful programs include partnerships between social workers and first responders, incorporate data and recognize larger social factors affecting health and well-being, like racism, experts say.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Surging Catalytic Converter Thefts Spur State Crackdowns

The pollution control devices contain precious metals worth thousands of dollars per ounce.

  • By Jenni Bergal, Stateline

How Texas Republicans Moved Beyond a Bathroom Bill to Ban Transgender Athletes From School Sports

In 2017, conservative lawmakers failed to pass legislation targeting transgender Texans. Things were different this year.

  • By Allyson Waller, The Texas Tribune

Some States Are Cloaking Prison Covid Data

A half-dozen corrections agencies provide less detail than they did a year ago.

  • By Michael Ollove, Stateline

Snip Snip: One Plan to Mandate Vasectomies to Prevent Pregnancies

A Pennsylvania lawmaker said his “parody legislation,” outlined in a sponsorship memo, is meant to garner discussion about reproductive rights.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Tesla to Move Headquarters From California to Texas

CEO Elon Musk cited housing affordability and commute times in announcing the relocation, which follows a clash between the billionaire and California officials last year.

  • By Bill Lucia

'God’s Will Is Being Thwarted.' Even in Solid Republican Counties, Hard-Liners Seek More Partisan Control of Elections

The political battle in one Texas county where Trump got 81% of the vote offers a rare view into the virulent distrust and unyielding pressure facing elections administrators.

  • By Jeremy Schwartz, ProPublica

Citizen Enforcement of Texas Abortion Ban Could Spread to Other Laws

Two state laws that restrict transgender youth also rely on private civil actions.

  • By Christine Vestal, Stateline

Jim Crow Tactics Reborn in Texas Abortion Law, Deputizing Citizens to Enforce Legally Suspect Provision

The new law that bans most abortions uses a method employed by Texas and other states to enforce racist laws in the 19th and 20th centuries that aimed to disenfranchise African Americans.

  • By Stefanie Lindquist, The Conversation

Lyft and Uber Establish Legal Funds to Protect Drivers from Texas Abortion Law

The ride-booking companies said they would cover legal fees if their drivers are sued under the state’s new law, which allows private citizens to file lawsuits against anyone who “aids and abets” a woman in obtaining an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Governor Has Oversight of Mask Decisions, A State Supreme Court Rules

Texas’ highest court issued a ruling Thursday that blocks school districts in Bexar County from enforcing mask mandates.

  • By Andrea Noble
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Poll Finds Weak Support for State Bans on Local Mask Mandates

The survey results come as state and local officials in some places battle over mask policies, and as cases of the virus swell.

  • By Bill Lucia

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tests Positive for Covid-19

The governor spoke Monday night at a GOP event in Collin County, later tweeting photos of him addressing a maskless crowd. Less than three hours before his diagnosis was announced Tuesday afternoon, he tweeted pictures of a meeting with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan.

  • By Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune

Gov. Greg Abbott’s Order Banning Mask Mandates in Texas Schools Faces Lawsuit, Defiance by Big-City Districts

Dallas Independent School District announced Monday it will require masking while Houston ISD will vote on a mandate this week. A nonprofit group has also sued to block Abbott’s order.

  • By Brian Lopez, The Texas Tribune

Converted Texas Prison Gets First Immigrant Detainees

Border-crossing immigrants are being arrested by Texas troopers on state charges like trespassing, and they’re starting to trickle into a prison emptied to house them.

  • By Lomi Kriel and Jolie McCullough

Can Greg Abbott Actually Build Trump's Border Wall?

The governor wants to finish the wall that Donald Trump began on the Texas-Mexico border, but he'll have to overcome the same hurdles that impeded the ex-president's efforts.

  • By Mandi Cai and Uriel J. García, The Texas Tribune

Low-Income People of Color Bear Brunt of Rising Pedestrian Deaths

Pedestrians deaths have soared in Texas and nationwide in recent years, especially in low-income communities of color.

  • By David Montgomery, Stateline

Gov. Greg Abbott is Using a Disaster Declaration to Help Fund a Border Wall. Democrats Say It’s an Overreach of Executive Powers.

The disaster declarations give the governor broad power to suspend state laws and regulations that hinder a jurisdiction’s recovery from a disaster and to allow the use of available resources to respond to the disaster.

  • By Cassandra Pollock and James Barragán, The Texas Tribune

Why States Have Been Slow Paying Out Billions in Federal Rental Aid

Congress approved over $46 billion to help cover overdue rent. Struggling households and frustrated landlords are still waiting on the money.

  • By Jacob Fischler

Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Bill Allowing College Athletes to Profit Off Their Own Name and Likeness

More than a dozen states have passed similar legislation allowing college athletes to be paid for the use of their name, image or likeness as state lawmakers have called on the federal government to set national guidelines.

  • By Kate McGee, The Texas Tribune