https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/kayla-guo/The latest news by Kayla Guo.enFri, 20 Dec 2024 05:00:00 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/20/texas-legislature-committee-robert-roberson-death-row-testify-paxton/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.By Kayla GuoFri, 20 Dec 2024 05:00:00 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/20/texas-legislature-committee-robert-roberson-death-row-testify-paxton/State lawmakers want death row inmate Robert Roberson, seen at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston in 2023, to testify about his case at the state Capitol, but Attorney General Ken Paxton's office continues to object to the effort.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.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Innocence Projecthttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/19/robert-roberson-ken-paxton-texas-house-testimony/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.By Kayla GuoThu, 19 Dec 2024 20:38:52 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/19/robert-roberson-ken-paxton-texas-house-testimony/Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Texas GOP Convention in San Antonio on May 23, 2024.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Texas GOP Convention Thursday, May 23, 2024 in San Antonio.Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/19/texas-public-utility-commission-performance-credit-power-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.By Kayla GuoThu, 19 Dec 2024 14:35:17 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/19/texas-public-utility-commission-performance-credit-power-grid/Public Utilities Commission Chairman Thomas Gleeson speaks during a meeting on July 11, 2024. The PUC on Wednesday shelved the performance credit mechanism, which aimed to increase the power grid's reliability, saying it would fall short of that goal.Public Utilities Commission Chairman Thomas Gleeson speaks during a meeting on Thursday, July 11, 2024.Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/17/texas-robert-roberson-subpoena-ken-paxton/The new subpoena comes after lawmakers say Ken Paxton’s office stalled a previous effort to get Roberson’s legislative testimony about his conviction in “shaken baby” case.By Kayla GuoTue, 17 Dec 2024 13:30:01 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/17/texas-robert-roberson-subpoena-ken-paxton/Robert Roberson photographed through plexiglass at TDCJ Polunsky Unit in Livingston on Dec. 19, 2023.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.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Innocence Projecthttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/11/texas-exxon-clean-air-act-penalty-affirmed/A 2021 ruling found the oil giant committed more than 16,000 violations of the Clean Air Act at its Baytown refinery and plant.By Kayla GuoWed, 11 Dec 2024 18:29:59 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/11/texas-exxon-clean-air-act-penalty-affirmed/https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/03/texas-power-grid-ercot-winter-forecast-extreme-cold/ERCOT says conditions this winter could spark extreme cold, but additional power supply and continued weatherization efforts will lower the risk of power outages.By Kayla GuoTue, 03 Dec 2024 14:53:31 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/03/texas-power-grid-ercot-winter-forecast-extreme-cold/The ERCOT board of directors meet at the organization's Austin headquarters on Dec. 3, 2024 to discuss the grid's readiness for the coming winter.The ERCOT Board of Directors convene for a meeting at the organization's headquarters in Austin on Dec. 3, 2024.Noah Devereaux for the Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/25/robert-roberson-joe-moody-jeff-leach-texas-death-penalty/The Criminal Jurisprudence Committee plans to issue a new subpoena to the death row inmate for a Dec. 20 hearing if Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office does not cooperate.By Kayla Guo and Terri LangfordTue, 26 Nov 2024 10:14:54 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/25/robert-roberson-joe-moody-jeff-leach-texas-death-penalty/From left: Texas Tribune reporter Kayla Guo moderates a conversation with State Reps. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Joe Moody, D-El Paso, in Austin on Dec. 6, 2024. Moody, who is chairman, serves with Leach on the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.John Jordan/The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/25/texas-cryptocurrency-mining-registration-public-utility-commission-er/The Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted the rule amid surging demand for power across the state and a growing crypto mining industry in Texas.By Kayla GuoMon, 25 Nov 2024 14:40:19 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/25/texas-cryptocurrency-mining-registration-public-utility-commission-er/Pods of computers are submerged in fluid that keep them from overheating at a crypto mining facility in Helios in 2022.Pods full of computers that are submerged in fluid at the crypto mining facility, Helios, near Afton, on Sept. 15, 2022. The fluid keeps the computers well under manufacturer-designed temps to avoid overheating.Trace Thomas for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/22/texas-port-neches-plant-explosion-settlement/The settlement directs TCP Group to repair equipment and to pay $12.6 million in penalties for clean air violations at its Southeast Texas facility.By Kayla GuoFri, 22 Nov 2024 16:20:07 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/22/texas-port-neches-plant-explosion-settlement/https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/20/texas-department-public-safety-director/Martin, a senior official, takes the helm of the agency on Dec. 1, replacing retiring director Steve McCraw.By Kayla GuoWed, 20 Nov 2024 15:21:03 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/20/texas-department-public-safety-director/https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/15/robert-roberson-texas-execution-whats-next/Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a “shaken baby” case that many say led to an innocent man’s death sentence.By Kayla GuoFri, 15 Nov 2024 17:22:52 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/15/robert-roberson-texas-execution-whats-next/Robert Roberson seeks a new trial after his 2003 conviction for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine, Texas.Robert Roberson seeks a new trial for the 2003 conviction of the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine, Texas on August 14, 2018.Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/14/texas-melissa-lucio-capital-murder-conviction-recommendation/The Cameron County judge also found the state relied on false testimony during her capital murder trial, according to court documents.By Kayla GuoThu, 14 Nov 2024 18:46:29 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/14/texas-melissa-lucio-capital-murder-conviction-recommendation/State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, speaks at a 2022 rally organized at Dallas City Hall to free death row inmate Melissa Lucio.State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, speaks at a rally organized at Dallas City Hall to free Melissa Lucio on April 7, 2022.Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/13/mccaul-detained-intoxication-washington-airport-texas/A nervous flier, the House Foreign Affairs chief said he made a “poor decision” to mix Ambien and alcohol before his flight home to Texas on Nov. 4.By Kayla GuoWed, 13 Nov 2024 16:23:51 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/13/mccaul-detained-intoxication-washington-airport-texas/U.S. Rep Michael McCaul, R-Austin, said his detainment at a Washington, D.C. airport was "the result of a poor decision I made to mix an Ambien — which I took in order to sleep on the upcoming flight — with some alcohol.”U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, speaks to reporters outside a House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 12, 2023.Julia Nikhinson for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/12/donald-trump-texan-john-ratcliffe-CIA/Ratcliffe represented Texas’ 4th Congressional District until Trump picked him to serve as director of national intelligence in 2020.By Kayla GuoTue, 12 Nov 2024 17:36:31 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/12/donald-trump-texan-john-ratcliffe-CIA/https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/07/texas-oklahoma-border-change-lake-texoma/The two states agreed to a land swap to ensure that a Dallas-area water district’s pump station lies wholly within Texas. Neither state gained in size from the small change.By Kayla GuoThu, 07 Nov 2024 17:55:01 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/07/texas-oklahoma-border-change-lake-texoma/A raw water pump station at Lake Texoma on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. The station was bisected by the state line between Texas and Oklahoma.A raw water pump station at Lake Texoma on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. The station is bisected by the state line between Texas and Oklahoma, complicating the transportation of water to its intended destination in Texas.Laura Buckman for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/06/texas-republican-sweep-appellate-courts/Republican judges won in 25 out of 26 contested races throughout the state in a show of the party’s broader strength up and down Tuesday’s ballot.By Kayla GuoWed, 06 Nov 2024 18:36:30 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/06/texas-republican-sweep-appellate-courts/In Tuesday's elections for the state's appellate courts, Republican judges won all but one of the contested races.Texas Senate gavelMarjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/05/texas-election-day-trump-harris-allred-cruz-congress-legislature/Texas might not be a swing state, but many of its races will have major consequences to the national political landscape and on the lives of everyday Texans.By Texas Tribune Staff, James Barragán, Jasper Scherer, Matthew Choi, Robert Downen, Alejandro Serrano, Joshua Fechter, Kayla Guo, Pooja Salhotra and Terri LangfordTue, 05 Nov 2024 05:00:00 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/05/texas-election-day-trump-harris-allred-cruz-congress-legislature/Voters wait in line at the Houston Community College Southeast voting location in Houston on Election Day.Voters wait in line at the Houston Community College Southeast voting location in Houston on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.Mark Felix for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/01/texas-justice-department-election-monitors/The federal agency agreed their monitors would remain outside polling locations and wouldn’t interfere with voting.By Terri Langford, Joshua Fechter and Kayla GuoFri, 01 Nov 2024 22:44:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/01/texas-justice-department-election-monitors/The Department of Justice announced Friday it would send election monitors to 27 states, including Texas, to keep an eye out for potential voting rights violations on Tuesday.Voters check in to vote at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center in Houston, Tuesday Nov. 8, 2022.Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/29/robert-roberson-shaken-baby-texas-death-row-evidence/Even before the Texas man’s death sentence became a political lightning rod, law enforcement and medical experts had differing opinions on the evidence that convicted him.By Kayla GuoTue, 29 Oct 2024 17:23:43 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/29/robert-roberson-shaken-baby-texas-death-row-evidence/Robert Roberson photographed through plexiglass at Texas' 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.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.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Innocence Projecthttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/29/ken-paxton-jeff-leach-robert-roberson/The AG also said he’d make a criminal referral against the lawmaker, who apologized for texting a Court of Criminal Appeals judge about a new trial for the death row inmate.By Jasper Scherer, Kayla Guo and Pooja SalhotraTue, 29 Oct 2024 16:38:17 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/29/ken-paxton-jeff-leach-robert-roberson/“His conduct demonstrates that he is unfit to serve in any capacity overseeing our judicial system and unfit to serve as a member of the Texas House,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement seeking Rep. Jeff Leach's resignation Tuesday.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Texas GOP Convention Thursday, May 23, 2024 in San Antonio.Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune