Walmart gunman won’t face the death penalty, family says
The removal of the death penalty as an option could lead to a quick guilty plea and life sentence, as happened with federal charges in 2023. Full Story
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![Guests visit the memorial on the third anniversary of the Walmart mass shooting that left 23 dead, at the El Paso County Healing Garden on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Olvidados en la cárcel sin abogado: Así le falla un pueblo de Texas a los acusados pobres
En el condado de Maverick, las autoridades pueden tardar meses en informar a los fiscales de una detención, mientras los acusados esperan en la cárcel. Rara vez se asignan abogados a quien los solicita. Full Story
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![Eagle Pass limita con la cuidad mexicana de Piedras Negras. Muchas personas que viven en Piedras Negras cruzan a diario para trabajar, ir de compras o visitar a sus familiares.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman para The New York Times -
Forgotten in jail without a lawyer: how a Texas town fails poor defendants
People in Maverick County spend months in jail waiting to be charged with minor crimes. Some are simply lost in the system Full Story
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![EAGLE PASS, TEXAS - January 6, 2025: The city of Eagle Pass, Texas with Piedras Negras in the background. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times -
Texas A&M can’t ban “Draggieland” drag show, federal judge rules
Judge Lee H. Rosenthal said the student group that organizes Draggieland, the Queer Empowerment Council, was likely to succeed in showing the ban violates the First Amendment. Full Story
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![Students and supporters gather on campus to protest the Texas A&M University Board of Regents' decision on Draggieland in College Station, TX, on Wednesday, March 6, 2025.]()
Credit: Ishika Samant for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ DEI debate centers on a disagreement about whether programs perpetuate or prevent discrimination
Supporters say diversity initiatives close educational and income gaps born from a history of prejudice. Republican officials say they prioritize identity over merit. Full Story
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![Illustrated posters reading “We Belong Here” litter the Capitol’s rotunda floor during Texas Students for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s protest of HB1 Rider No. 186, which would defund DEI initiatives at public universities, on Mar. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge strikes down Texas' mail ballot ID requirement
The judge found that the provisions of SB1, the state's 2021 voter security law, discriminate against voters with disabilities. Full Story
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![A ballot is dropped in Austin in October, 2020.]()
Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune -
Texas prison staff falsified temperatures records, investigation finds
Two-thirds of the state’s roughly 100 jails and prisons in Texas are not fully air conditioned in inmate housing areas. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas AG Ken Paxton accuses Coppell ISD of violating Texas’ “critical race theory” ban
The attorney general office’s lawsuit is based on an undercover video published in February by a conservative activist group. Full Story
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![The Texas flags hangs at a classroom, on Aug. 7, 2024.]()
Credit: Trace Thomas for The Texas Tribune -
Two men convicted in the smuggling deaths of 53 immigrants in San Antonio
The 2022 tragedy was the nation’s deadliest smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. Full Story
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![A sign sits on display at a makeshift memorial on Thursday, June 30, 2022 outside San Antonio, TX. Community members paid their respects to the 53 people who died after being left in a truck trailer in a human smuggling operation. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Paxton says trans Texans can’t use court orders to change sex on driver’s licenses, birth certificates
Per the attorney general’s nonbinding opinion, state agencies should change gender markers on government documents back to a person’s sex assigned at birth. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to the media during a press conference in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on Jan. 15, 2025.]()
Credit: Luke Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers push harsher criminal penalties
Proposed legislation includes increased penalties for retail theft, car burglaries and forgery, among others. Full Story
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![Inmates are monitored at a security station at the Harris County Detention Center on April 16, 2024, in Houston.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
DOJ drops fight against Texas political maps as Trump administration retreats from voting rights cases
The Biden administration had challenged a Republican-led redistricting plan that diluted the political power of minorities. Other legal challenges will continue. Full Story
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![Census data from 2020 and redistricting maps at The Texas Tribune office in Austin on Oct. 7, 2021. The state population grew by nearly 4 million and was driven mainly by people of color.]()
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Texas House bill would weaken renters’ rights, advocates say
The proposal is part of a push by Republican legislators aimed at helping property owners deal with squatters. Full Story
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![A writ of possession and a notice to vacate are taped to the door at an apartment complex in Houston on April 11, 2023.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
DOJ drops lawsuit against company over alleged abuse at child migrant shelters in Texas, other states
The lawsuit against Southwest Key included allegations of abuse at an El Paso facility. The administration said it will no longer use the company’s services. Full Story
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![Southwest Key National Headquarters located in Austin, Tx, as seen on Oct. 4, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Stay granted for Texas death row inmate two days before scheduled execution
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did not clarify why it halted the execution of David Wood in its order granting the stay. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Federal appeals court reverses Texas death row inmate’s conviction
Brittany Marlowe Holberg was convicted in 1998 of robbing and murdering an 80-year-old man in his Amarillo home. The appeals court said critical evidence was withheld. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
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U.S. Supreme Court takes up Texas nuclear waste disposal case
The case could establish the nation’s first independent repository for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, despite the objections of state leaders. Full Story
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![The entrance to the Waste Control Specialists site where radioactive and hazardous waste is being stored on Jan. 17, 2021.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
Trump administration removes five immigration judges in Texas, union says
The move raises concerns about large case backlogs that have persisted for years. Full Story
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![Migrants seeking asylum in the United States who previously requested an appointment on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection One application at the CBP building in El Paso on June 14, 2024.]()
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A shortage of criminal defense attorneys threatens indigent right to counsel in rural Texas
Texas’ indigent defense commission wants lawmakers to spend $35 million on public defender offices in rural areas, but some say that isn’t nearly enough to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution. Full Story
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![Scene from bond review docket in the Travis County courthouse in July.]()
Credit: Trevor Paulhus for The Texas Tribune and Texas Monthly -
How the Supreme Court of the United States and federal courts work and affect Texans
Here’s how federal courts help determine the fate of controversial issues, such as immigration laws, in Texas and beyond. Full Story
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![The United States Federal Courthouse in Austin on June 9, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune