Texas is now home to 31 million people even as population growth slows
Texas added nearly 563,000 residents within the last year, new U.S. Census Bureau estimates show. Full Story
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![The Austin skyline begins to light up as the solar eclipse reaches peak totality on Monday, April 8, 2024.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ uneven population boom is creating ghost towns in many rural counties
Local leaders and rural revitalization experts say Texas’ smallest towns can survive — despite a shift to urban and suburban counties — but it will take investments. Full Story
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![Cornudas, Texas with a population of less than 20, hosts a chili cook-off hoping to draw over 1,000 visitors on September 28, 2024.]()
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A growing and aging population is forcing Texas counties to seek state EMS funding
Although Texas counties are not required to provide ambulance services, many are digging deep to pay for their own fleet or to contract out services. Full Story
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![The interior of a CareFlite ambulance vehicle outside the Johnson County County Commissioners office in Cleburne on November 8, 2024.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Watch: How the race for sheriff on the border became a referendum on immigration
Del Rio Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez’s run for reelection provides a glimpse at how new patterns of immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border have coincided with, if not driven, changing attitudes among voters who live there. Full Story
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A pro-gun, anti-abortion border sheriff appealed to both parties. Then he was painted as soft on immigration.
Immigration is not part of Joe Frank Martinez’s job. But in Del Rio, like in other majority Latino communities across the country, the issue is high on voters’ minds and is disrupting long-standing political allegiances. Full Story
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![The memory of nearly 20,000 primarily Haitian immigrants arriving at the border is seared into the minds of Del Rio residents. Many fear it could happen again, making immigration one of the key issues in Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez’s race for reelection and disrupting local politics.]()
Credit: From left: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune, Liz Moughon/ProPublica, Gerardo del Valle/ProPublica -
Odessa bans transgender people from using restrooms that don’t match sex assigned at birth
LGBTQ+ advocates called the ban one of the most extreme measures enacted by a local government. Full Story
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![The Odessa City Council listens to comments from a member of the public during a meeting Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in Odessa.]()
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Texas is a young state with older elected officials. Some young leaders are trying to change that.
The average age of Texans last year was 37, while the Legislature’s average age was 55. Hurdles to voting and the unique challenges young candidates encounter fuel the mismatch. Full Story
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![Days before SB17 and SB18, regarding higher education tenure and DEI, are heard on the house floor, Texas Students for DEI visit with House Representative Erin Zwiener to urge opposition to the bills in the state capitol on May 18, 2023.]()
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At this South Texas political convention, everyone has a voice, regardless of legal status
Inspired by the work of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, the biennial “cumbre” helps South Texans organize for political change. Full Story
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![People cast their votes for the topics that they are interested in LUPE focusing on for the next two years during the Cumbre de Miembros 2024 in San Juan, Texas on Sept. 14, 2024.
Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton agrees to pause its investigation into Texas civic group’s voter registration efforts
Jolt, which advocates for more Latino voting participation, says the attorney general’s probe spurred threatening comments online. Full Story
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![Voter registration tables were set up at the ‘For the People’ voting rights rally at the Texas Capitol on Sunday, June 20, 2021.]()
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Ken Paxton sues Bexar County over voter registration outreach effort
The move escalates Texas Republicans’ brewing fight with urban counties over initiatives to proactively send applications to unregistered voters. Full Story
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![Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at the 2024 Texas GOP Convention in San Antonio on May 23, 2024.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Court agrees to review Crystal Mason’s case after appeal from Tarrant County DA
A Texas appeals court overturned the illegal voting conviction of Crystal Mason earlier this year. Full Story
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![Crystal Mason spoke about being accused of voter fraud and her upcoming court case on Sept. 9 2019 in Fort Worth.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
A South Texas school district received a request to remove 676 books from its libraries
The request came from a local pastor who is part of a group that trains people to “defend their freedom and liberty.” Other faith leaders have pushed back. Full Story
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![Books at Vandegrift High School's library on March 2, 2022.]()
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Voting Rights Act doesn’t protect coalitions of racial or ethnic groups challenging political maps, appeals court rules
In a lawsuit challenging redistricting in Galveston County, the 5th Circuit said the protections afforded to a single racial group don’t apply to multiple groups who collectively claim voting rights violations. Full Story
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![The Galveston County Courthouse on Thursday, May 16, 2024.]()
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Kamala Harris’ historic candidacy energizes Texas’ Black and Indian American voters
Black and Asian American voters collectively made up just 15% of the turnout in Texas’ 2020 and 2022 elections, according to exit polls. Full Story
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![Beverly Hatcher wears a “VOTE” necklace she saw Michelle Obama wearing in her garden home on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in Beaumont, TX. Hatcher immediately found a similar necklace online and bought for herself and as gifts for others.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Interstate 27 has divided Lubbock for decades. North and east side residents want that to change.
After repeated attempts to convince the City Council to make zoning changes, residents asked the federal government to intervene. Full Story
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![Northbound motorists drive on I-27 south of Plainview, a route traveled by many that seek abortion healthcare while headed out of Texas.]()
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Texas Supreme Court upholds ban on transition-related care for minors
Parents and medical providers of transgender adolescents sued Texas, challenging the constitutionality of a restriction on puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Full Story
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Fastest growing group in Texas: Asian Americans
A new Census Bureau report shows the Asian American population went up 5.5% in one year, outpacing overall state growth. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol in downtown Austin on June 20, 2017.]()
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Police ask Texas prosecutors to treat attempted drowning of Palestinian 3-year-old child as a hate crime
A Texas woman allegedly tried to drown a 3-year-old at an apartment complex pool in suburban Dallas after making racist remarks toward the child’s mother. Full Story
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![Elizabeth Wolf allegedly tried to drown a 3-year-old at an apartment complex pool in Euless in May 2024.]()
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For the first time, West Texas has a permanent LGBTQ+ community center
A local volunteer died by suicide ahead of the center’s grand opening, reminding the West Texas community why such spaces are important. Full Story
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![Adriana Aguilar, chair of Basin Pride, embraces PFLAG President, Peggy Reeves, after her talk on stage about the tragic suicide of their friend, volunteer and performer, Luna Harrison during the Pride Festival hosted by Basin Pride at The Vine in Odessa, Texas.]()
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How the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling may change San Antonio’s contracting decisions
San Antonio and Bexar County officials have delayed action on some policies amid a national push to end race-conscious procurement decisions. Full Story
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Credit: Scott Ball/San Antonio Report