Investigators hadn't determined the origin of the attacks as of Friday evening and were still working to bring cities' systems back online, according to a news release from the Texas Department of Information Resources.
The task force will analyze current and emerging state threats and form stronger prevention strategies. Abbott took similar action — which led to sweeping legislation — after last year's school shooting in Santa Fe.
The appeals court overturned a 2018 decision from a federal district judge who ruled that the law, which gives adoption placement preference to Native American tribes, was unconstitutional. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenged the law in 2017.
A memo obtained by The Texas Tribune instructs DPS officers to cite and release suspects in misdemeanor marijuana cases "as appropriate." Officials said the goal is to continue enforcement even though some prosecutors aren't taking new pot cases.
The federal death penalty hasn't been carried out since 2003. Now the U.S. attorney general wants to adopt the method used in Texas executions to put five men to death.
Prosecutors and crime lab scientists were scrambling to find a solution after a change in the state's definition of marijuana imperiled criminal cases.
Gov. Abbott said the troops will have two main roles: to help at temporary holding facilities for single adult migrants in the Rio Grande Valley and in El Paso, and to help Border Patrol units along ports of entry.
Texas has resisted recent attempts to change its vaccine laws, allowing parents to get their children exemptions for "reasons of conscience."
The legislation addresses “not only the tragedy that took place at Santa Fe,” Gov. Greg Abbott said, “but will do more than Texas has ever done to make schools safer places for our students, for our educators, for our parents and families.”
The the economic losses laid out in the study would represent the loss of one-third of the country’s total trade trade with Mexico over a three-month period.
Texas has had the anti-boycott law regarding Israel on its books since 2017.
In Texas, the HHSC uses an automated system to detect income changes in households with children on Medicaid several times a year.
The Texas Education Agency said Friday that it is discussing solutions with the federal government and the Legislature.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued an opinion declaring that the exclusion of a Buddhist adviser was religious discrimination and proposed two alternatives for the Texas prison system: Don’t allow any chaplains into the execution chambers, or allow chaplains of all religions.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has prioritized fixing the bail system this session, but he has focused more on making it harder for dangerous defendants to get out of jail.
As part of an ongoing flurry of litigation in federal court here over the state’s bungled citizenship review of its voter rolls, a federal judge on Monday told a handful of Texas counties they may not — for now — purge registered voters or send them letters demanding proof of citizenship.
Although some lawmakers have bristled at the idea of private companies storing Texans’ personal information in far-flung locations, proponents of the reforms say data security will be at the forefront of any decision they make.
Candy Noble and Angela Paxton were the only freshman female Republicans elected to the Texas House and Senate, respectively, amid a surge of women running for office.
Highlighting a lack of revenue and too much borrowing, the state transportation director gave Ohio lawmakers a blunt assessment Wednesday of Ohio's road construction finances.
In a letter sent to state lawmakers late Wednesday, Whitley largely defended the review efforts as a legally sound exercise, and he did not admit that his office had erred when it mistakenly threw into question the eligibility of tens of thousands of U.S. citizens or when it sent counties lists of voters it knew very likely included naturalized citizens.
Thousands of Texans seeking government help with surprise medical bills were hit with another shock last year: a clogged-up consumer protection bureaucracy.
A growing chorus of high-ranking Texas officials is calling on the federal government to establish rules that will allow for the flow of $4.3 billion to the state for Hurricane Harvey recovery.
A federal appeals court has lifted a lower court order that blocked Texas from booting Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, potentially imperiling the health care provider’s participation in the federal-state health insurance program.
At two of the three schools, Texas State University and the University of Houston, the football programs spent more money than they earned last fiscal year, requiring other university funds to cover the difference.
Over the last week or so, Trump has considered using disaster recovery funds to build a border wall, given that he has not been able to get Congress to appropriate money for one.
Shahid Shafi will retain his role as vice-chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party despite a push from a small faction of precinct chairs to remove him from his post because he's Muslim.
Edgewood’s chronic problems signify Texas’ long record of neglecting schools that educate mostly students of color — racial integration and school funding increases have generally come when the courts forced the state’s hand.
Castro has been getting ready for a potential run for nearly two years, traveling the country to support midterm candidates and doling out contributions through his Opportunity First PAC.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Travis County District Court, centers on a December 2017 incident when San Antonio police discovered a trailer carrying 12 individuals from Guatemala who were suspected of being undocumented.
The Texas State Board of Education backed a motion Tuesday evening to reinsert Hillary Clinton into the state's 11th-grade U.S. history standards, two months after voting to remove the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee from the state's curriculum.
The historic number of Texas candidates who ran for offices from governor down to city council positions joined a record-shattering rank of more than 400 LGBTQ individuals on national midterm ballots this year.
The county will now open a Sunday polling place at Prairie View City Hall and expand voting hours at the university's campus center on Monday through Wednesday of next week to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., instead of the original 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
With early voting on campus restricted to three days, civil rights attorneys, voting rights advocates and local Democrats are now raising the specter that the hour-and-a-half waits that students faced at the polling location could not only dim student turnout but also violate state and federal law.
Early Monday morning, Austin Water issued a boil water notice for all of its customers due to elevated levels of silt from last week’s flooding. And by Monday night, the city was warning residents that "immediate action" was needed to avoid running out of water.
This boom is engulfing the rest of West Texas, too, extending to areas that drilling hasn’t touched before. As communities welcome the jobs and the new business, they’re struggling with an onslaught of problems that include spikes in traffic accidents and homelessness.
After arguing its case in a federal appeals court Wednesday, Texas will soon know whether its decision to spend $33.3 million less on students with disabilities in 2012 will cost it millions in future federal funding.
A letter from the Texas Education Agency about funding for schooling in migrant shelters highlights the ongoing push and pull between federal and state agencies.
In Texas, people with unpaid traffic tickets can lose their licenses through two separate state policies.
Texas has a system in place to identify people with disabilities who will need extra help during a natural disaster. But it’s unclear whether any of the people described in the emails signed up for or even knew about it.
At first glance, it may seem typical that Lewis Conway Jr. got his name on the ballot for a seat on the Austin City Council — he paid the filing fee and turned in his application before the deadline.
Extinguishing the possibility that Texas could be placed back under federal electoral supervision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday pushed aside claims that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color when they enacted the state's congressional and state House maps.
Days after a tent city went up near El Paso, demonstrators near the facility took aim at the Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant children from parents who were seeking asylum.
The money collected will go to a “dedicated testing evidence account” controlled by the state comptroller. The Governor's Criminal Justice Division will then distribute the funds to qualifying crime labs and agencies on an application basis.
The U.S. Justice Department said late Friday it agrees the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should be terminated. That court filing came after Texas and six other states filed a lawsuit last month to end the 2012 program.
Texans can now store their precious metals in a publicly backed secure vault close to home, as the United States’ first state-run gold depository opens for business in Austin.
On a bright Thursday in April, in Alief Independent School District’s Mata Intermediate School, sixth-grade teacher Justin Williams walked to his classroom door from the hallway and crooked a finger, beckoning a gangly 13-year-old to come outside.
When Tory Gunsolley learned that his agency was about to receive $40 million in federal recovery funds in the wake of Hurricane Ike, he was thrilled.
The Brazos River as it flows past Glen Rose on Aug. 2, 2013. Drought conditions have led to a significant decrease in water levels in the river. Use of the river by cattle farmers along its route is another factor leading to a decrease in water quality and shore erosion is.
A wave of Texas women candidates won or made it to runoffs in more than 50 primary races statewide amid a surge of interest in running for office among women around the country.
As polls opened in the Texas primaries on Tuesday, The Texas Tribune laid out seven key questions for election night. Now that the smoke is clearing, here are the answers:
Texas is suing the federal government over President Barack Obama's landmark health law — again.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday informed the U.S. Supreme Court that if the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program still exists in June, his office would consider filing suit to eliminate the program.
Denying the city of Houston’s request, the U.S. Supreme Court will not review a June decision by the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled that the landmark decision legalizing same-sex marriage does not fully address the right to marriage benefits.
ORANGE — With her husband incarcerated on a murder charge, Jacquene Fontenot single-handedly wakes and dresses five kids under the age of 5 every morning, drops them off at a local child care center and drives two hours to her job as a custodian in central Louisiana.
After Kelly Unterburger and his girlfriend were pulled over for speeding in 2011, a state trooper searched the car and found what was described in court documents as a bag dusted with white powder. Unterburger was arrested for possessing less than a gram of a controlled substance and brought before a North Texas court.
Coastal Texas officials whose counties and cities bore the brunt of Hurricane Harvey’s deadly blow this summer unleashed a barrage of complaints about recovery efforts at a Texas House subcommittee hearing in Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
Texas executed a Mexican national late Wednesday night despite a flurry of last-minute appeals and objections from his native country and United Nations human rights experts.
The billions in long-term disaster relief dollars that will fund Texans’ recovery from Hurricane Harvey’s devastating blow are still far from reaching state coffers. But there’s already tension brewing over how much federal money should be spent to fix flood victims' homes and how much should go toward repairing government buildings and launching new flood control projects.
Robert Pruett was executed in Huntsville Thursday night, completing the death sentence he received more than 15 years ago in the 1999 murder of prison guard Daniel Nagle.
It could be months, if not years, before southeast Texans and scores of counties and cities receive federal funds to pay for the long-term rebuilding and recovery of homes and communities battered by Hurricane Harvey’s epic rains.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said that a lack of immediate state funding for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts is forcing him to push for a property tax hike in this storm-battered city still reeling from the worst rainfall event in U.S. history.
Patients who visit freestanding emergency rooms in Texas should now have a better idea of whether their health insurance will cover the bill.
State Rep. Victoria Neave agrees that everyday Texans shouldn't have to pass around a figurative hat to help rape victims get justice; footing the costly bill to test sexual assault kits should be the job of government, she says.
When Houston-based epidemiologist Winifred Hamilton spent a few days in the field last week collecting samples of the abundant floodwater Tropical Storm Harvey had left in its wake, she was able to practice the health safety advice she had urged her fellow Houstonians to follow.
Continuing a dramatic reversal on voting rights under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal appeals court to allow Texas to enforce a photo voter identification law that a lower court found discriminatory.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday put on hold a lower court ruling that invalidated two of Texas' 36 congressional districts.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Monday morning sent a clear message to members of Houston’s immigrant community who might fear seeking help during Hurricane Harvey because of their legal status.
It's official: State Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano, is running for Congress.
The El Paso City Council narrowly voted against creating a municipal identification card program amid concerns that the measure would lead to the border city being perceived as the kind of "sanctuary" jurisdiction that has been the target of President Donald Trump and Texas' Republican leaders.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller — the cowboy-hat wearing Republican known for wading deep into partisan and cultural divides — is furious with the Six Flags amusement park chain, calling its decision to take down the Confederate flag and four others that had flown over the park part of a “militant, anarchist movement sweeping our country, destroying and attempting to sanitize our nation’s history.”
As many as 63 million people – nearly a fifth of the country – from rural central California to the boroughs of New York City, were exposed to potentially unsafe water more than once during the past decade, according to a News21 investigation of 680,000 water quality and monitoring violations from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Texas ran afoul of the Voting Rights Act by restricting the interpretation assistance English-limited voters may receive at the ballot box, a federal appeals court found.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday weighed in on the renewed debate over Confederate monuments in Texas, saying that removing them "won't erase our nation's past, and it doesn't advance our nation's future."
Federal judges invalidated two Texas congressional districts Tuesday, ruling that they must be fixed by either the Legislature or a federal court.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed a bill that will require Texas women to pay an extra health insurance premium for non-emergency abortions, one of three abortion-related items the governor placed on lawmakers' agendas for the special session.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks on Wednesday dismissed the state of Texas’ lawsuit against Travis County and other defendants over the state's new immigration enforcement law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is backing Wisconsin in a high-profile case asking the U.S. Supreme Court whether lawmakers can go too far when drawing political maps to advantage one party.
After more than 12 years on death row, a San Antonio man convicted in a fatal stabbing was executed Thursday night. It was Texas’ fifth execution of the year.
Just 30 miles south of the urban epicenter of Houston, the scene around one of Texas’ oldest maximum-security prisons has a much more rustic quality.
Gov. Greg Abbott said that he would publicly call out lawmakers who didn’t support his 20-item legislative agenda while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick came out swinging against House leadership during Monday appearances on the eve of Texas' special legislative session.
Warning that “liberals are trying to mess with Texas,” a confident Gov. Greg Abbott promised Friday he’ll fight to keep Texas in conservative hands if voters give him another four years in office.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and officials from nine other states on Thursday urged the Trump administration to end an Obama-era program that’s allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to live and work in the country without fear of being deported.
The city of El Paso voted on Tuesday to join the growing list of local governments that have filed a legal challenge in hopes of stopping Texas’ new immigration enforcement law from going into effect.
The largest city in Texas will join San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and other local governments in a lawsuit against the state’s new immigration enforcement law.
With three days left for him to sign or veto bills passed during the regular session, Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law legislation that would give faith-based adoption agencies legal protection to reject gay parents, let voters decide the fate of Dallas County Schools and create a law named after a woman who died in custody after a controversial arrest.
Two years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would build the country's first state-run gold depository, the project took a major step forward Wednesday.
The cities of San Antonio and Austin announced on Thursday they have joined the fight to stop the state's new immigration enforcement law, Senate Bill 4, in federal court.
After remaining quiet on the issue during the recent legislative session, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law Thursday that will eliminate the straight-ticket voting option starting in 2020.
Uber and Lyft will relaunch services in Austin on Monday, now that Texas lawmakers have passed a bill overriding local regulations on ride-hailing companies.
Texas GOP Chairman Tom Mechler announced his resignation Saturday, citing personal reasons. It's effective immediately, he said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry entered into politics in his home state again this week, while touting his efforts on criminal justice reform during his tenure as Texas governor.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has dropped a lawsuit against the city of Brownsville over a 2010 ordinance that imposed a $1 per-transaction fee on plastic bags offered at grocery stores and other retailers.
San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor will face councilman Ron Nirenberg in a runoff in her reeelection bid. In El Paso, former state Rep. Dee Margo came up short and will face David Saucedo in a mayoral runoff.
Almost two years after Texas tried to import an execution drug from overseas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled Thursday that the drug can’t be admitted into the United States.
The judge in the securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has ruled that the trial should be moved out of Collin County and delayed.
A federal judge has ordered sanctions against the state of Texas for blowing past deadlines and ignoring a court order to hand over thousands of pages of documents in a lawsuit challenging its voter registration practices.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday said he would work to oust Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez if she doesn't fully cooperate with federal immigration officials' requests to hand over jail inmates thought to be undocumented immigrants.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up Texas’ effort salvage its strict voter identification law, handing at least a temporary victory to civil rights advocates who have successfully argued that the law discriminates against minorities.
Newly-elected Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez on Friday made good on her most controversial campaign promise, announcing that her department would reduce its cooperation with federal immigration authorities when they request an inmate be flagged for possible deportation.
About a month after being sworn in, Corpus Christi Mayor Dan McQueen announced his resignation in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, asserting that he could "no longer deal with such differing views and divisiveness," according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Texas Republicans suggested hopefully that their years-long practice of suing the federal government would finally be over.
As gloomy government budget news stacks up in Austin, a state appeals court ruling issued Friday appears to erase a huge worry about the state’s business franchise tax.
North Texas was freezing during a three-day stretch last month, but Mary Garcia refused to turn on the heat in her cramped apartment.
A federal judge has delayed Texas' fetal remains burial rule until Jan. 6.
The controversial oil and gas extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing can contaminate drinking water under certain circumstances, according to a long-anticipated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report released Tuesday.
As he said farewell to the Texas Legislature in January 2015, Rick Perry couldn’t help but reflect on how energy technology and policy had transformed the state’s landscape — and fueled its economy — during his record 14 years as governor.
With the legislative session just weeks ahead, the Texas business community is digging in its heels in opposition to Texas Republicans’ anti-LGBT proposals, warning they could have dire consequences on the state’s economy.
Texas county jails have seen a sharp decline in inmate suicides since they began using a revised mental health screening tool last December.
Another Texas Republican elector is objecting to Donald Trump, saying he will not vote for the president-elect.
Faced with a rising death toll from opioid abuse, Texas public health officials in May decided to apply for a $1 million federal grant to purchase Naloxone, a drug that, if administered during an overdose, can save the life of a person addicted to heroin or pain pills.
Ending a streak of thin electoral margins, Harris County — the biggest battleground in ruby red Texas with a population larger than 25 other states — turned solidly blue on Tuesday with the largest presidential margin of victory in more than a decade.
The superintendents and elected school boards of 11 Texas districts — including Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth — have been ordered by the state education agency to attend two-day training programs to learn how to fix their failing schools.
This much is clear after two days of early voting in Texas: Legal wrangling over the state’s voter identification law is stirring confusion at the polls.
Texas has a record-breaking 15 million people registered to vote ahead of the November election, the Secretary of State’s office announced Thursday.
A judge has thrown out the federal civil case accusing Attorney General Ken Paxton of securities fraud, giving him his biggest legal victory yet since the allegations surfaced more than a year ago.
Shoestring budgets and bureaucratic hurdles are preventing some of the state's top researchers and forensic experts from identifying hundreds of the remains found on or near the Texas border, members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission said Wednesday.
Hearing oral arguments Wednesday in an appeal by Texas death row inmate Duane Buck, U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared unswayed by the state's contention that Buck's death sentence should stand despite a psychologist's testimony at his trial that black men are more dangerous than whites.
Rick Perry did not survive to dance another day.
In the wake of an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision striking down part of that state's workers' compensation law, Texas is now the only state that lets private companies opt out of a state-run system and draw up their own plans to compensate injured workers.
After a spate of legal troubles in recent years related to his personal injury law practice in Houston – lawsuits resulting in multiple costly settlements, criminal convictions and the suspension of his law license — state Rep. Ron Reynolds has filed for bankruptcy.
The federal government is accusing Texas of circulating “inaccurate or misleading information” to poll workers and would-be voters about relaxed identification requirements for the November elections.
Texas will no longer help low-income families pay their electric bills. Lite-Up Texas, a program that offered discounts to hundreds of thousands of poor Texas families over the years, has run out of money and the discounts ended on Aug. 31, the Public Utility Commission confirmed.
More than a year ago, civil rights and fair housing activists cheered when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lawsuit over housing segregation in Texas to go forward.
Ramping up its fight over the rights of transgender people, Texas filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the federal government over a regulation prohibiting discrimination against transgender individuals in some health programs.
Politicians and voting rights advocates continue to clash over whether photo ID and other voting requirements are needed to prevent voter fraud, but a News21 analysis and recent court rulings show little evidence that such fraud is widespread.
A state appeals court has struck down a plastic bag ban in Laredo in a high-profile fight over local control that could ultimately impact similar laws in other Texas cities.
Land Commissioner George P. Bush, who has not endorsed Donald Trump, is now asking Texas Republicans to support the party's presidential nominee.
Texas struck a deal Wednesday that will soften its voter ID law for the November general election — a development that lawyers suing the state say will make it easier for minorities to cast their ballots.
The new state law allowing guns inside college buildings went into effect Monday. Here’s a rundown of what that means for people on campus.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the city of Austin in Travis County district court, trying to force the city to comply with his reading of the state's open carry law and allow license holders to openly carry handguns in city hall.
Death and infertility were just two of the risks a doctor described to Kryston Skinner when she chose to have an abortion last year.
Texas spending on prisons and jails is the highest in the nation, a new federal study concludes, and has grown about five times faster than the state's rate of spending growth on elementary and secondary education over the past three decades.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will not attend the Republican National Convention as he recovers from severe burns he suffered during a family vacation, according to his office.
Gov. Greg Abbott may not attend the Republican National Convention after suffering severe burns during a family vacation in Wyoming.
State Sen. Royce West is suing Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant for allegedly trashing — to the tune of more than $60,000 in repairs — a property he had leased to Bryant.
Leonard Abbott of San Marcos had heard of the dangers of payday loans — the small-dollar, high-interest credit that can quickly trap borrowers in a morass of debt.
Texas on Thursday lost its fight against the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the state, ending a monthslong battle during which refugees from the war-torn country continued to arrive.
An influential Texas lawmaker has a new side gig that’s raising a few eyebrows in capital circles.
When a patient sits before Dr. Cynthia de las Fuentes, a licensed psychologist in West Austin, she says they get much more than an empathic ear.
Standing on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday morning that his office is launching a lawsuit against the state of Delaware over millions of dollars he argued are owed to Texas and 20 other states.
The Travis County GOP has voted to limit the power of incoming chairman Robert Morrow, a controversial figure whose surprise election earlier this year shook up local politics in Texas' fifth-largest county.
Long before Trump University fell in the crosshairs of Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, one of Donald Trump's fellow Republicans drew a bead on the now-defunct school: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The Texas Supreme Court has strengthened protections for landowners who don’t have rights to the water underneath their property.
In a stunning comeback, State Board of Education hopeful Keven Ellis won Tuesday's District 9 Republican primary runoff over Mary Lou Bruner, who drew national attention for social media posts touting far-right conspiracy theories and other fringe views.
A top lawyer for Texas fiercely defended the state’s strictest-in-the-nation voter identification law on Tuesday in a high-profile case that could ultimately determine at what point states that assert that they are protecting the integrity of elections cross over into disenfranchisement.
The Brownsville-based judge who halted President Obama’s 2014 executive action on immigration has decided that ethics classes are in order for the attorneys who defended the policy.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday issued a ruling upholding the state’s public school funding system as constitutional, while asserting that the state’s more than 5 million students “deserve transformational, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid."
An Austin judge temporarily blocked the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from issuing a childcare license to an immigration detention center in Dilley on Wednesday.
Documents from the department show that a March inspection of the Karnes center, operated by the GEO Group, uncovered six deficiencies ranging from insufficient mulch levels on the playground to unclear labeling of children's' allergies and health conditions in their files.
The Obama administration has agreed to temporarily keep some federal Medicaid money flowing into Texas to help hospitals treat uninsured patients, a relief to health care providers that feared losing the funds over state leaders' refusal to provide health insurance to low-income adults.
A Texas appeals court delivered a big loss on Thursday to a group of home health agencies and parents of children with disabilities who sued the state over payment cuts to in-home therapy providers.
When Emma Quintero moved into her modest, bright blue house eight years ago, she'd watch neighbors pass by on their way to fish the murky waters of two sprawling reservoirs and irrigation canals that reach into the Rio Grande Valley like tentacles, delivering water to fields of citrus and vegetables.
Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor plans to retire at the end of May after 11 months on the job, according to sources briefed on the decision.
A statewide teachers group filed a lawsuit Wednesday in an attempt to block the state from implementing a controversial system that for the first time ties assessments of educators to student performance on standardized tests.
The state’s child welfare agency faces a $40 million budget shortfall, a critical shortage of good homes for foster children and overwhelming caseloads for staff, agency leaders told state lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday.
A federal judge has blocked part of the state’s omnibus border security bill that makes harboring undocumented immigrants a state crime.
Texas prison inmates shouldn't be allowed to have active social media accounts, even if friends or family on the outside actually run them, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has decided.
Waller County, Texas, needs a new jail, local officers need body cameras to record their activities and the sheriff's office needs to promote civility, a study committee formed after the death of Sandra Bland said Tuesday. The county came under national scrutiny in July when Bland was found hanged in her jail cell three days after being arrested for assaulting an officer during a contentious traffic stop.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been charged in federal court with allegedly misleading investors in a technology company.
Public officials who use private email accounts to conduct official business cannot conceal their personal email addresses when releasing public information, a state appeals court ruled Friday.
The criminal case against former Gov. Rick Perry was officially dismissed on Wednesday, weeks after Texas' highest criminal court ordered that it be dropped.
A federal judge on Monday approved a $20.8 billion settlement negotiated between BP and a group of plaintiffs including the federal government, Texas and four other Gulf Coast states and hundreds of local governments stemming from the energy giant's 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry may have stumped for Ted Cruz for president, but there's no record he voted in this year's Republican primary in Texas. A spokesman for Perry suggested his ballot may have been lost in the mail.
Leaning forward on a two-seat swing beneath a shady tree, Ricardo Lopez ticked off his lofty political ambitions:
After former Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order in December 2014 mandating the use of E-Verify for state agencies, some lawmakers noted the directive lacked a mechanism to ensure compliance.
Adam Kelly Ward, whom appeals courts have recognized as mentally ill, is set for execution Tuesday evening in a 2005 shooting death.
The number of children sleeping in Child Protective Services offices shot up after an internal policy change at the agency limited child placements, according to state data released Thursday.
The governor of Texas thinks that fraud in the electoral system that put him and others in office is “rampant.”
Nearly three years after Texas lawmakers passed a law requiring some applicants for unemployment benefits to pass a drug test, the state has yet to test a single applicant, and it remains unclear when the program will get going.
The full U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to take up the Texas voter ID case Wednesday, adding another chapter to the law’s convoluted journey through the federal court system.
Gov. Greg Abbott has endorsed Ted Cruz for president, becoming the highest-ranking elected official in Cruz's home state — and the country — to support the U.S. senator's campaign.
It’s a scene repeated often in Texas towns along the Rio Grande: a white U.S. Border Patrol van sporting the agency's trademark green stripe competing with a Laredo Police Department car at a busy Stripes convenience store.
If a California-based company has its way, the following scenario could become common across Texas: A police officer pulls over a driver, not for speeding or some other traffic violation, but for outstanding court fines.
In several ways, Councilman Joel Barajas has been completely alone.
A Texas appeals court ruled Friday that the Texas Film Commission acted within its authority when it decided after the release of the film "Machete" to deny its producers state incentives.
Taking aim at a new Texas law making it a state felony to harbor undocumented immigrants, a national civil rights group announced Monday that it is suing the state.
Former Gov. Rick Perry has endorsed Ted Cruz for president, Politico reported early Monday.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday announced a new unit in his office dedicated to combating human trafficking.
More than 18,000 times over the past two years, local jails across the country have failed to hand over deportable immigrants to federal authorities, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement records obtained by The Texas Tribune.
A year out of office, former Gov. Rick Perry has a new job: chief strategy officer at MCNA Dental, the largest privatively held dental insurance company in the country, according to a spokesman for Perry.
In a fresh — but long shot — assertion of states’ rights, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday called for a convention of U.S. states to pass nine new amendments to the U.S. Constitution, measures meant to limit the powers of the federal government.
The next battle over gun rights in Texas may take place in an unlikely setting: the zoo.
The future of popular vehicle-for-hire services Uber and Lyft in Austin was up in the air early Friday morning after the city council voted 9-2 in favor of an ordinance aimed at regulating the firms more like traditional taxi companies.
Texas has violated the constitutional rights of foster children by exposing them to an unreasonable risk of harm in a system where children "often age out of care more damaged than when they entered," a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Two bottom-tier Republican presidential candidates have missed the filing deadline for the Texas primary.
A Collin County judge has denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's requests to dismiss criminal charges accusing him of financial fraud.
The Obama Administration won a small but significant battle on Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Texas’ request for an extra 30 days to respond to the White House’s petition for review of a controversial immigration case.
A Texas veterinarian who offered pet-care advice online lost a battle against state regulators on Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case.
Given the chance to move away from Austin following the Nov. 3 passage of Proposition 3, which repealed the state capital residency requirement in the Texas Constitution for certain statewide elected officials, reps for four of the five eligible said they would continue to live near the Capitol Complex.
The State Board of Education on Wednesday rejected a rule change that would have allowed school boards to hire anyone they wanted as superintendent — even if the candidate had no public education experience — as long as they had some kind of post-baccalaureate degree and intended to pursue superintendent certification.
A ruling from the Texas Attorney General's office has just made it more difficult to access information about the kinds of crimes undocumented immigrants have committed in Dallas County — and whether local officials turned those offenders over to federal authorities.
The state agency that oversees jails is issuing a new intake form so jailers will ask more specific, direct questions when booking people.
To avoid confusion and uncertainty, the state’s 2016 elections for Congress and the Texas House will proceed under the current political maps, a three-judge federal panel in San Antonio said late Friday.
If Texas sheriffs do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities, they will face losing state grant money, Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday.
The Obama administration has warned state officials that pushing Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program could put Texas at odds with federal law.
Gov. Greg Abbott criticized Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez in the wake of reports that she planned to free some immigrants processed through the Dallas County jail rather than hand them over to federal authorities.
Texas is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over President Obama’s plan to combat climate change, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday. It is doing so in partnership with a bipartisan coalition that includes 23 other states.
In Texas' latest salvo against Obamacare, Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit over a fee states must help cover to pay for the sweeping federal health reform law.
Texas will sentence fewer people to die in 2015 than in any other year since the state’s death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
The office of Attorney General Ken Paxton says he is recusing himself from some of his professional responsibilities as he fights an indictment on securities fraud charges.
School choice, including controversial tax credit scholarships, tops a lengthy list of public education issues Dan Patrick has asked state senators to study ahead of the 2017 legislative session.
A federal appeals court has blocked a major Obama administration clean water rule, handing an early victory to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other states trying to drown it in court.
Following in the footsteps of Harris County and the city of Dallas, the state announced Thursday it is suing Volkswagen in connection with the German automaker's admitted use of software that allowed its vehicles to circumvent emissions limits.
Following an outcry from dozens of state lawmakers, Texas’ top health agency announced Thursday it will make less drastic cuts than originally planned to a therapy program for children with disabilities.
For University of Texas at El Paso professor David Smith-Soto, the fight against allowing guns in his classroom began with a quiet act of civil disobedience this summer.
A recent audit found more than 25,000 families living in public housing nationwide that made more than the income limit to qualify for rent subsidies. Of those, 1,056 live in Texas.
Carrizo cane sprouts along the banks of the Rio Grande, providing easy cover for smugglers and drug mules. A new state law says it should be eradicated, and the governor requested $10 million to do the job. But lawmakers neglected to set aside any money for razing cane.
A study looked at Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas and found no connection between allowing concealed weapons and crime rates, which are trending downward nationwide.
Over the objections of Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, the Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling in June making it easier for private companies to keep secret details of their contracts with the state of Texas and local governments, a move that public information advocates warn is ripe for abuse.
The Texas General Land Office has dropped its lawsuit against Denton's obliterated ban on hydraulic fracturing and moratorium on new gas drilling, officially resolving all litigation over the local vote,
At least 80 injured state workers in the past decade have been taken to court by Texas' Office of Risk Management after being awarded compensation from the state's Division of Workers' Compensation.
The Texas State University System has an idea for future students busy with families and jobs: Don't even show up on campus freshman year.
The Obama administration’s controversial new clean water regulations apply in Texas after all.
Energy Future Holdings, saddled with more than $40 billion in debt and struggling to reorganize in court, owns all or part of three crucial pieces of the state's grid.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's first courtroom appearance as a criminal defendant was a 30-minute affair in which Paxton's lead lawyer quit for unspecified reasons, the attorney general requested that no cameras be allowed at his trial and the judge admonished everyone to limit public statements about the case.
Gov. Greg Abbott's many redactions and unilateral decisions to withhold information — along with all the exceptions written into disclosure laws each year by the Texas Legislature — are leaving the public less and less informed about the activities of the government they pay for, transparency experts said.
The $37 million program, Texas Fitness Now, primarily gave money to schools to buy sports and gym equipment from 2007 to 2011. Four years later, kids are just as fat.
The state of Texas should have done more to protect the safety of drinking water for two small border communities in Webb County, defense lawyers argued Thursday in the criminal trial for two former water treatment plant employees.
Texas Supreme Court ruled the city council must reword the language because the vote should be on whether to affirm the ordinance, not repeal it.
Incompetence, local politics, lack of resources — all have been blamed for the foul tap water that periodically streams from the faucets of about 8,000 residents in two small border communities.
New rules allow prisoners to grow facial hair but will require more frequent ID photos. Prisoners have to pay the addition cost themselves.
Texas’ strict voter identification requirements kept many would-be voters in a Hispanic-majority congressional district from going to the polls last November — including many who had proper IDs — a new survey shows.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s top law enforcement officer, turned himself into jail Monday to be booked on felony securities fraud charges.
Uber is adding the Texas city to a small list of cities where it has wheelchair-accessible vehicles,
The woman who was found hanged in one of the jail's cells on July 13, should have received a court-ordered mental health exam once she indicated she had tried to commit suicide in the past, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards confirmed Wednesday.
Texas’ Republican leaders and environmentalists are both claiming victory Tuesday following an appeals court ruling that requires the federal government to ease limits on certain emissions for Texas and a dozen other states.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Houston City Council must repeal or put up for public vote a 2014 ordinance that extended protections to gay and transgender residents.
A state appeals court on Friday ruled against one of two counts in the indictment against former Gov. Rick Perry.
The Texas Water Development Board has approved nearly $4 billion in financing for dozens of projects to increase water supplies across the state, and a handful to promote conservation.
When Sandra Bland was booked at the Waller County Jail, she told the staff she had attempted suicide before — a staff, it turns out, who had not been sufficiently trained on how to safeguard the well-being of inmates who are mentally ill, suicidal or pose a risk to themselves.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday asked a federal district judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims a state agency violated the U.S. Constitution by denying birth certificates to U.S.-citizen children of immigrant parents.
The water planning agency called the drought disappearance “big news” Monday in its weekly drought report, but also offered a reminder that the national monitor “favors soil conditions” and that “reservoirs are still low in West, Far West, and South Texas.”
Almost a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton quietly conceded a case against the federal government over medical leave benefits for certain same-sex couples.
Rusk County's Joyce Lewis-Kugle is the first Texas elected official to quit office rather than abide by the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
The new examination costs more and can only be taken on computers. Only 30 percent of those taking the online test have passed,
After an anti-abortion group on Tuesday released an undercover video showing an executive at Planned Parenthood discussing how to preserve an aborted fetus’s organs for medical research, Gov. Greg Abbott announced an investigation into the alleged practice.
The governor's early June veto of Senate Bill 359 caught many of the measure’s proponents off-guard. The legislation had sailed through the House and Senate with little debate and only a handful of negative votes.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus, Democrats in the House and Senate asked for the creation of a task force to consider whether the numerous Confederate monuments, markers and statutes on the Capitol grounds are “historically accurate, whether they are appropriately located on the Capitol grounds, and whether any changes are needed.”
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller discussed new initiatives in consumer protection and his fight against what he considers "federal overreach."
A coalition of states including Texas has defeated the Environmental Protection Agency in a battle over major regulations on mercury, acid gases and other toxic metals emissions that spew from power plants.
If they finish their sentences and comply with any terms of parole, Texans convicted on felony drug charges soon will be able to receive food stamps, though another strike will put them back under a lifetime ban.
Earl Holt, who heads the Missouri-based Council of Conservative Citizens, has given to dozens of Republican candidates and causes across the country, according to federal records. In Texas, he has spread around several thousand dollars over the past four years.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation late Thursday, saying criminalizing school absences doesn't work
Five members of the Texas Supreme Court affirmed a 2011 opinion from the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals that said the attorney general's office did not have standing to appeal the divorce between Texas residents Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly.
A months-long effort to keep Republicans from pushing Planned Parenthood out of a state cancer screening program for low-income women ended in defeat on Saturday when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed off on the proposal.
With his first session officially behind him, Gov. Greg Abbott has wielded his veto pen against 42 bills, the largest batch of legislation to draw a Texas governor's disapproval since the 2007 session.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on Thursday restored the option for public schools to serve certain fried foods and soda by lifting a decade-old statewide ban on deep fryers and soda machines.
Gov. Greg Abbott has signed legislation that sets a five-year statute of limitations and caps payouts at about $2 million when counties sue companies that have fouled their water or air.
Declaring “a new era of job growth in the state of Texas,” Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed a $2.56 billion bill cutting the franchise tax rate paid by businesses by 25 percent.
Calling it a salute to the “genius” of the country’s founding fathers, Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday signed legislation allowing Texans with licenses to openly tote their handguns in a hip or shoulder holster.
Gov. Gregg Abbott said the bill would go "too far" in pursuit of water conservation by giving a local water utility authority that belongs to the state.
To Gov. Greg Abbott, signing a sweeping, multimillion-dollar border security bill hundreds of miles from the Rio Grande made sense.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state can require abortion clinics to meet costly ambulatory surgical center standards,
Who killed the State House and Senate's top energy bills? Their autopsy evokes the names of T. Boone Pickens and Koch Industries and involves plenty of squabbling between the chambers.
Shortly before former Gov. Rick Perry officially launched his second presidential campaign in Dallas on Thursday morning, his successor ended a long-criticized initiative from Perry’s tenure.
Launching his presidential campaign Thursday in a sun-soaked airport hangar here, Rick Perry worked hard — sweating profusely in the process — to tell supporters who exactly he is: the proud son of Paint Creek, Texas; an Air Force veteran who has never forgotten what the military taught him; the longest-serving governor of one of the biggest states.
Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed two bills on Monday, including one aimed at encouraging people to call 911 during drug overdoses, even if they are in possession of illegal substances themselves.
Last year, Texans saw Greg Abbott on the side of a traffic-choked highway in the Dallas area, promising to put billions more toward transportation if elected governor.
Offering what he said would be "healing and hope for children who are afflicted by relentless seizures caused by epilepsy," Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation Monday legalizing low-THC cannabis oils as treatment for certain medical conditions.
Promises to enact tough immigration legislation remain unfulfilled.
What makes a legislative session epic, or at least interesting, is peril: a Legislature facing some sort of crisis.
Climate change is taking a toll on Texas, and the devastating floods that have killed at least 15 people and left 12 others missing across the state are some of the best evidence yet of that phenomenon, state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said in an interview Wednesday.
As the clock struck midnight, the failure of an anti-abortion initiative — dear to the hearts of the far right — marked the end of a tumultuous day on the floor of the Texas House that saw the passage of sweeping ethics reform and a version of legislation allowing concealed carrying of handguns on college campuses.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a case that centers on how Texas draws its political districts, a longtime point of dispute between the state and voting rights advocates.
After a month of discussion over whether to attach a bill requiring public universities and colleges to allow concealed handguns on their campuses to another piece of gun legislation — an effort to squeeze the controversial measure through — House lawmakers opted to consider the bill, Senate Bill 11, on its own.
Saying Texas needs to avoid a “patchwork of local regulations” that threaten oil and gas production, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed legislation that would pre-empt local efforts to regulate a wide variety of drilling-related activities.
Some critics told the panel Monday that a proposal to allow concealed handgun license holders to openly carry the firearms would have made the Waco shooting worse. But the panel approved the bill and sent it to the full Senate, where it is likely to have enough votes to pass.
State Rep. Byron Cook, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, said the legislation, Senate Bill 19, attempted to address problems that don’t exist without fixing the ones that do.
The author of a bill to ban the substance postponed the measure until July 4 — more than a month after the end of the legislative session.
A bill to bring online voter registration to Texas is dead thanks to a small but vocal group of officials from the state's largest county, according to the measure's sponsor, state Rep. Celia Israel. But Israel, whose legislation had the backing of a majority of the Texas House, says she's not giving up.
Justices won't review the appeals court’s ruling in Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Glenn and JoLynn Bragg – the first time a Texas appeals court found that groundwater regulation resulted in a violation of property rights under the Texas Constitution.
Judge Catharina Haynes stopped short of rebuking state lawmakers, but she sounded perplexed that lawmakers had not made the law more palatable to critics as it winded through the federal court system.
Thanks to a February federal court victory, Douglas Marshall set up the table with pamphlets for the first time today. It's across from a prayer station that has been in City Hall since 2009.
The technology giant and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers are working to defeat a bill to update Texas law for driverless cars.
Gregg Abbott's refusal to expand Medicaid will likely lead to a fight with the feds over billions of federal dollars for hospitals.
Federal officials called the state's health agency this week to say that Texas' reluctance to expand Medicaid will play into whether his administration extends a waiver that helps the state's hospitals cover uninsured patients.
A state appeals court has sided with farmers, ranchers and other longstanding water rights holders in a Brazos River case with widespread implications for future water battles in drought-prone Texas.
Facing a $338 million unpaid bill for Medicaid, Texas lawmakers voted Tuesday to help pay for it with a $102 million cash infusion that came from the feds under the Affordable Care Act.
On Wednesday Georgetown’s municipal utility unveiled plans to abandon traditional electricity sources like coal and gas power plants and instead use wind and solar energy to meet all power needs.
The state of Texas is suing the Obama administration for giving medical leave benefits to certain same-sex couples, according to an announcement Wednesday from Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Four months after the Denton, Texas, historic vote, top state lawmakers don’t appear to be scratching their heads. Petroleum is winning hands down, and local control appears headed for a beating.
Lobbyists don’t have to report the names of the legislators they are entertaining unless the expenditures go over $114 per day.
An infusion of $2 billion into Texas' state water plan — once a little-known wish list of water projects — has highlighted the role of private engineering and consulting firms, which play a big role in writing it.
Turn on the faucet. Fill a glass with water. Drink it. Acts so commonplace you perform them without thinking twice.
A law passed in 2011 put endangered species in the comptroller's purview. The idea was that any time a Texas animal ends up on a federal endangered species list, industrial activity is in danger.
On the ground in Iowa, which will kick off the 2016 primary season, the Texas governor is taken seriously.
Allies of former Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday rolled out a Super PAC that can raise unlimited amounts of money to boost the likely 2016 presidential candidate.
The legislative proposal Greg Abbott favors has attracted mixed reactions from early education advocates, who hope it can be strengthened. The plan as it stands will barely change the status quo.
Leading Texas Republicans on Monday asked the Obama administration for greater flexibility to administer Medicaid — a move that has gotten little traction in the past — while reiterating that they would not participate in an expansion of the program under the Affordable Care Act.
Advocates for the elderly and people with disabilities have long pushed for higher wages for personal care attendants, who are typically paid through Medicaid-contracted companies. This year, the cause has been newly championed by a group of fiscally conservative state leaders, led by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
After Rick Perry won an upset race for agriculture commissioner in 1990, he needed a flashy issue — something that would bring him a little notoriety, get him out on the road.
Opponents of the latest bill argue that there’s little evidence that recipients of welfare use their cash assistance to purchase drugs, and that drug testing won't help families in need.
Weighing a 2016 run, Paul has added Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri as a senior adviser.
A Muslim group has asked Texas House Speaker Joe Straus whether state Rep. Molly White violated ethics rules by instructing her staff to ask Muslim visitors to her office to declare their allegiance to the United States.
A judge on Tuesday rejected former Gov. Rick Perry’s attempt to throw out a two-count indictment against him, saying it's too early in the case to challenge the constitutionality of the charges.
A report contends that correctional staff at the Estelle Unit regularly neglect, abuse and even violently beat blind deaf, and otherwise disabled prisoners with little to no consequences. Inmates Abused in Prison
U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. ruled on Monday that the University of Houston could not deny a veteran free tuition benefits granted under the Texas Hazlewood Act because he was a resident of another state when he enrolled in the military.
Gov. Rick Perry on Monday ensured that BP will not be able to take back a $5 million grant that sat unused – and seemingly forgotten – for years after the company gave it to Texas following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
Travis County prosecutors said Saturday they dropped several criminal investigations — including one involving no-bid state contracts — after the Texas governor ended their funding in 2013.
This is a leap, but not a long one: Gov. Rick Perry started his second bid for the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, delivering a valedictory speech to the Texas Legislature on his way out of an office he has held for more than 14 years.
Though few seem to be aware, yes, parents can bring cupcakes – or other junk food – to classroom birthday parties and school events.
State or local government employees giving out same-sex marriage licenses would stop receiving their salaries under a bill filed Wednesday for the 84th legislative session.
If fans of Dr Pepper and the Fort Worth Zoo don't get it in gear, their chance to buy specialty license plates might soon be gone. The Houston Rockets are hanging by a thread.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has a new building, and can claim credit for the conservative makeup of the 2015 Legislature.
The Texas governor had a toll road plan “as Big as Texas.” Then things got complicated.
Officials in many of the counties hoped to lease mineral rights beneath county roads and rights of way to energy companies. But a 54-year-old opinion from the attorney general’s office gives leasing rights, and the revenue, to the state.
Three months into the school year, standards are challenging. As parents and educators question whether the rigor of the new curriculum is developmentally appropriate, school officials say they lack the resources to help teachers learn new material.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio won't lift a stay to allow gay marriages to go into effect immediately.
The heads of Live Oak Brewing in Austin, Peticolas Brewing Company in Dallas and Revolver Brewing in Granbury, say Senate Bill 639 is unconstitutional.
Texas law requires the Texas Education Agency to revoke a school's charter if it fails to meet state academic or financial accountability ratings for three years.
A few renovations are needed before Greg Abbott, the first Texas governor to use a wheelchair, moves to the 1856 house in January.
The Texas prison system is making it easier for family members to visit loved ones behind bars.
Building on previous suggestions, including the establishment of two specialized Ebola treatment centers, a task force on Thursday released its full report on how the state could better handle an outbreak of an infectious disease.
Under the new procedure, reporters will be required to affirm that they do not lobby or advocate for a political party, group or individual.
At a news conference Wednesday, Perry said he would be requiring all state agencies to use E-Verify, a federal electronic employee verification system that aims to prevent the hiring of illegal workers.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a two-say sentence stay for the defense team of Scott Panetti, who tried to call John F. Kennedy, Pope John Paul II and Jesus Christ as witnesses in his murder trial.
One day before its first-in-Texas ban on hydraulic fracturing is set to take effect, Denton called the oil and gas extraction technique a “public nuisance” that the North Texas town has the right to regulate.
In June, the state education agency revoked the charter of the Honors Academy Charter School District, Well into the new school year, all seven Honors Academy schools, which enroll a total of almost 700 students, are still open.
Federal requests to hold undocumented immigrants in Texas jails longer so they can possibly be deported have dropped by the thousands, according to report released Wednesday.
A board of medical professionals appointed by Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that the state should provide health coverage to low-income Texans under the Affordable Care Act — a move the Republican-led Legislature has opposed.
Frustrated for decades in its search for a new source of water, the Texas city thinks it has finally divined the answer. It will pay big money to let private companies do the work.
After the winners of Tuesday’s elections are sworn in, there will be only seven white Democrats left in the Texas Legislature.
A bipartisan group of lawyers led by former Texas Solicitor General James C. Ho filed an amicus brief Monday in Austin, asking a judge to dismiss the case against the state's governor.
Just hours after Denton residents voted to ban hydraulic fracturing, the Texas General Land Office and the state’s biggest petroleum group fired off separate legal challenges to the new rule.
The San Antonio City Council on Thursday unanimously voted in front of a packed chamber to approve a controversial pipeline that would bring in groundwater from 142 miles away. The $3.4 billion project would pipe in 16 billion gallons of water each year from Central Texas' Burleson County.
Texas regulators on Tuesday tightened rules for wells that dispose of oilfield waste, a response to the spate of earthquakes that have rattled North Texas.
The typically obscure agency will draw more notice if political scions becomes responsible for butting heads with some of the state's most powerful and politically influential interests.
During an interview for ABC News' This Week, George P. Bush, the Republican nominee for land commissioner, said it was "more than likely" that his father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will make a 2016 run for the White House.
Led by the state's chief toxicologist, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has spent months fleshing out its position that ozone levels in polluted cities across Texas aren't harmful to human health.
For as many as 40,000 low-income Austin households being squeezed by high rents in a booming city, Wednesday offers the barest glimmer of hope.
Austin Energy has balked at the council’s green proposal and said it would be too expensive for ratepayers. And since then, a debate has ensued over how to be politically progressive and economically practical at the same time.
With little money and swimming against the tide in conservative Texas, Democrat Sam Houston has little choice but to campaign for attorney general "the old fashioned way" — on the cheap, and largely from the front seat of his Toyota Prius.
Texas should require photo voter identification in this year’s general election, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, overturning an earlier ruling by a federal district judge in Texas.
Since 2003, Gov. Rick Perry’s Texas Enterprise Fund has given out more than $500 million to private firms in exchange for a promise to create jobs in Texas.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to reconsider a March ruling that allowed Texas to require physicians who perform abortions to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion facility.
The lone debate scheduled between Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and his Democratic opponent, David Alameel, could end up only being broadcast in Spanish.
But starting this week, potential students can see how much they money they could expect to make monthly at different points in their career, as well as how much they might repay each month in loans.
Candidates for three of the eight major statewide races on this year’s November ballot appear likely to reach Election Day without ever engaging in a debate with their opponent, according to campaign representatives.
The number of first-time students choosing the new plans ranges from zero at some universities to 4,000 at the University of North Texas. Varied interest may be because, under such the plan, first-year students tend to pay more than their counterparts on the traditional track.
As the Teflon governor of Texas enters the last months of his 14 years in the state's top job, his troubles are piling up and the allies and colleagues who have often rallied to his side are turning their attention to other things.
While a federal judge in Corpus Christi mulls whether the state's requirement to show photo ID to cast a ballot violates the federal Voting Rights Act, a judge on the highest criminal appeals court in Texas is taking another approach: He's suing the state over its relatively new voter ID law.
As it hears arguments in an appeal of a federal judge’s decision overturning new requirements for Texas abortion facilities, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the state could enforce the requirements in the meantime.
State officials have characterized the response to an Ebola diagnosis in Dallas as top-notch, but medical experts argue that the state’s public health infrastructure may be vulnerable.
A recent study looked at 14 types of abortion restrictions that state legislatures have implemented across the country. The authors then plotted each state's number of restrictions against an evaluation of health outcome statistics.
Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has mostly avoided direct confrontation with his opponent in the race for Texas governor, took a hard swing at Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis over her ethics as a lawmaker in a televised debate Tuesday night.
Last week, faith-based and congressional leaders from Arizona, Illinois and Pennsylvania announced a multistate sanctuary movement patterned off a similar effort that took place in the 1980s. Texas could be next.
The state’s headway with graduation rates has not been matched by similar success in measures that track students’ college and career readiness, prompting questions about what it takes to earn a high school diploma.
Staffers at the federal agency have praised a Texas Railroad Commission proposal aimed at curbing earthquakes possibly triggered by the high-pressure injection of oil and gas waste.
As he considers a second run for president, Gov. Rick Perry said Sunday that he continues to support a Texas program that proved a political liability during his failed 2012 bid.
Local and state leaders made clear that the state expected to pursue more toll projects. Neither the state nor the federal government is likely to approve other funding options like raising the gas tax.
The Texas Supreme Court weighs in on a mineral rights fraud case.
Midland, Texas, will launch a pilot program in January for a special high school for students who want to work in the oil industry.
A group of Duke University scientists often accused of anti-fracking bias have published their most definitive research to date linking shale gas exploration with methane gas contamination of drinking water.
Joe Allbaugh, former FEMA director and Perry and Bush campaign manager, gets piece of pot business, He says his mind was changed through his wife’s fight with cancer.
Reacting to news that state Sen. Wendy Davis had two abortions for medical reasons, including one because brain damage was detected in her unborn child, Texas’ leading anti-abortion groups reiterated their opposition to the termination of pregnancies, including ones where severe disabilities can be detected in a fetus.
Plaintiffs will try to convince U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos that the law puts an unfair burden on minority voters.
Her new policy ideas draw praise and criticism from critics.
Is Rick Perry overdoing border control?
Despite the calendar, campaigns are taking a back seat in the Texas news cycle.
The Texas Bar Association has created a web page for lawyers interested in providing help, but immigrants face more than the challenges of a complicated system. They must also grapple with judges who apply legal standards differently.
Environmental justice advocates question Houston's recycling plan. Where should the new sorting facility be located?
The state purchases conservation land in Calhoun County with oil spill money.
Glitches threaten Obamacare coverage for some immigrants, even when they have the proper documentation.
Texas’ only radioactive waste site has permission to dramatically expand its capacity, take in new types of waste and reduce its financial liability should its owner suddenly close up shop.
Three days after he got indicted on corruption charges, Gov. Rick Perry rolled out a high-powered defense team that slammed the prosecution as outrageous and political — but left a lot of answered questions.
Congress left towns and counties on the Texas-Mexico border hanging last week when it adjourned without sending a supplemental budget measure to the president.
With a lot of uncertainty, schools try to prepare for new arrivals.
No states require testing for such toxins, which are caused by algal blooms. And there are no federal or state standards for acceptable levels of the toxins, even though they can be lethal.
It's time for self-driving automobiles, jet packs and hover cars, really.
The state's GOP attorney general got $50,000 from the company PAC amid a lawsuit about homeowners’ insurance rates. Was there preferential treatment?
Some sheriffs are interested in selling electronic cigarettes so jails can shore up tight budgets.
Voters will decide whether this North Texas college town will become the state's first city to ban hydraulic fracturing.
In a 2-1 decision Tuesday, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled — for the second time — that the University of Texas at Austin can use race as an element of its admissions decisions for candidates not admitted via the state's Top Ten Percent Law.
Politicians are complaining about the climate targets, but some say Texas utilities — companies that would be tasked with helping Texas comply with the regulations — are well-positioned to meet the potential carbon target due to investments in natural gas and renewable energy sources
Climate scientists say Texas is missing an opportunity to plan for the future.
After watching a $5 million grant to Gov. Rick Perry’s office go unspent nearly four years after it was presented in the wake of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP is asking Texas for its money back.
Health officials say the immigrant surge is a medical crisis because of the conditions where people are housed.
The state is an important testing ground for energy storage.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has been instructed to immediately increase its efforts to secure the Texas-Mexico border with a $1.3 million-per-week operation, the offices of Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Gov. Rick Perry announced Wednesday evening.
Recent jury verdicts in eminent domain cases reflect an upward trend in the cost of building oil and gas pipelines in Texas.
Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday announced that the state has reached agreements with health facilities to provide care for veterans who cannot get timely treatment from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
State lawmakers preparing to hear from veterans about excessive wait times at VA clinics have new ammunition: In a new report, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found that Texas medical facilities have some of the longest patient wait times in the nation.
Uber and Lyft are rolling forward in the state, but uncertainty lingers.
Texas students receive fewer disciplinary tickets thanks to reforms.
In a reversal of his previous rulings, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Thursday decided that the Texas prison system can keep secret from the public information about pharmacies that provide execution drugs.
The candidates are talking more about conservative credentials and pot than farming woes.
A law helps state workers find time for the gym.
A federal appeals court halted the planned execution in Texas of Robert James Campbell just hours before he was to be put to death Tuesday based on questions about whether the 41-year-old inmate is mentally disabled.
Texas cancels its Medicaid contract with Xerox and sues over allegedly misspent money.
A $5-per-patron fee is not an unconstitutional occupation tax and must be paid by Texas strip clubs that serve alcohol, an appeals court ruled Friday.
Lawsuits address the transparency of the state's execution system.
Lawyers have zeroed in on Texas' secrecy in the aftermath of a botched execution in neighboring Oklahoma, raising questions about whether the lack of information about how the death penalty is implemented could lead to cruel and unusual punishment.
A controversial strip club fee that lawmakers approved in 2007 is still winding its way through the courts, but Comptroller Susan Combs is demanding the clubs to pay six years' worth of “pole taxes.”
The Texas governor talks 2016 on "Meet the Press."
The drug used in Tuesday night’s botched execution in Oklahoma – midazolam – is stored by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and can be used at any time in the state's death penalty protocol, raising concerns among defense lawyers and others about the state’s secretive lethal injection process.
New law limits standardized tests, but not school-level examinations or prep work.
Since 2005, the number of Texas parolees who commit new crimes has dropped, but room for improvement remains. On Tuesday, lawmakers will examine ways to reduce recidivism among those with mental illness and substance addiction, a group most at risk to reoffend.
One state university could get $15 million in federal money to support programs that train police how to address situations like the recent Fort Hood shooting.
Texas will not treat Bitcoin and other virtual currencies as legal money, according to a new memo from the Texas Department of Banking. Yet some companies that deal in Bitcoin transactions could draw state oversight, even if they are based outside of Texas.
Giving up on red tape, health care providers turn to a cash-cased model, “direct primary care," to cut costs.
Prolific donors are behind Rick Perry's marketing tool.
After a rise in foster care deaths, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has approved new regulations.
“Until Plaintiffs have full disclosure of the product with which Texas will cause their death, they cannot fully develop a challenge to its process,” U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore said in her ruling.
In a 5-4 decision, the justices struck down federal limits on how much an individual may make in total political contributions, also known as aggregate limits.
Greg Abbott proposes an addition $1,500 per preschool student if they're inn programs that meet "performance requirements set by the state."
Rick Perry says that federal anti-rape standards are "impossible."
Despite policy successes, water still vexes San Antonio.
As Texas debates whether plastic bag bans violate the state's health and safety laws, Dallas passes its own restriction.
The Galveston Bay spill will take a gigantic economic and ecological toll on the state and the region.
The evidence that men make more in government is most striking among the highest-paid workers at state agencies.
If Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wins, his wife will become the first Latina to be the first lady of Texas.
A shift in election law has prompted Texas to extend the time between primaries and runoffs. That means primary night results might not carry into runoffs.
Faced with dwindling water supplies, the Lower Colorado River Authority, which supplies water and energy to much of Central Texas, is limiting downstream water releases.
The fast train failed once, but It's back for another go.
The state legislator ended his campaign Friday after finishing second in the Republican primary.
An abortion provider will shutter clinics in McAllen and Beaumont due to strict abortion regulations passed by the Legislature last year.
As the Republican primary results poured in Tuesday evening, a general rule of thumb emerged in races featuring Tea Party insurgents challenging Republican incumbents: Money matters.
Tuesday's primary is the first of three elections that will select the state’s next set of officeholders.
On lists of endorsements, the governor of Texas' name is rare.
Expecting pot penalties to decrease? Slow your roll.
Pregnant inmates in Houston find help to stay out of prison in the future.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate calls for increased access to full-day prekindergarten classes.
Greg Abbott brings the Texas governor into the fold on his campaign trail.
The city's water system asked the private sector to develop plans for a new water supply for the growing region 3 years ago. The utility has decided not to use any of them.
A new report indicates that water availability is a risk for oil and gas drillers.
Greg Abbott touts a $300 million border security proposal.
How anti-regulation politics may have been a problem for the energy industry.
The Texas college adopts a guaranteed tuition plan.
The state senator says her critics have picked on the "wrong Texas gal."
Greg Abbott bolsters outreach with a Spanish-language website.
The Texas Workforce Commission said it will not be able to start the drug testing program on the state’s timetable because the United States Labor Department has not set the required parameters.
In third statewide bid, Friedman hopes to win with marijuana.
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State Sen. Wendy Davis, standing on the stage where she got her high school diploma more than 30 years ago, finally announced Thursday what has been anticipated, telegraphed and talked about for weeks: She is running for Texas governor.
In their successful push this summer for strict new regulations on abortion facilities and the doctors performing them, proponents of the legislation said it was needed because conditions at existing facilities made it unsafe for women seeking to terminate pregnancies.
In remarks at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Davis said she’d either run for governor or try to hold on to her hard-fought state Senate seat.
Prison reforms may result in better conditions for inmates, but those improvements come at the expense of welfare cash assistance and other government relief for the needy, according to a study released this month by Rice University and Louisiana State University.
HB 2, which was filibustered by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, in the first special session, passed in both the House and Senate last week during the current second special session. The law, which would impose several new regulations on abortions and abortion providers, has drawn criticism from abortion advocates and incited demonstrations from both sides.
Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that he will not run for re-election next year, creating the first open race for Texas governor since 1990 and making Attorney General Greg Abbott the instant favorite to replace him.
It's looking increasingly unlikely that Gov. Perry will seek a fourth term in the Governor's Mansion.
Gov. Perry had signaled that he would make his decision about the 2014 governor’s race known by July 1. But that turned out to be the day the next 30-day special session begins.
Citing the need for "authentic conservative leadership" in Texas, state Sen. Dan Patrick announced on Thursday that he would run for lieutenant governor against incumbent David Dewhurst.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday slammed the woman who this week led a filibuster in the state legislature, derailing sweeping abortion legislation.
In the wake of its decision to strike a section of the Voting Rights Act earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out two Texas cases on voter ID and redistricting.
Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, which Governing previously named a legislator to watch, entered the national spotlight this week when she successfully led a rare and possibly temporary victory to kill a restrictive abortion bill.
Gov. Rick Perry also put transportation funding and a juvenile justice measure on the agenda for the session, which is set to begin July 1.
Republican senators made a last-ditch effort to approve SB 5, voting 19-10, but by then the clock had ticked past midnight. Under the terms of the state Constitution, the special session had ended, and the bill could not be signed, enrolled or sent to the governor.
Gov. Rick Perry has signed a bill that will subject Texans applying for unemployment benefits to a drug test if their responses to a screening questionnaire indicate possible drug use.
On behalf of seven Dallas-area students, Texas Appleseed, Disability Rights Texas and the National Center for Youth Law will ask the Justice Department to declare that the state's process of prosecuting truancy as a crime is unconstitutional.
For a fourth consecutive legislative session, a proposed statewide ban on smoking in public workplaces fell short, as critics argued that such a ban could unconstitutionally curtail businesses’ freedom.
Gov. Rick Perry has asked the legislature to consider the funding of transportation infrastructure projects during their current special session.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is making another jobs raid, this time in New York City. His visit will be supplemented with a $1 million television advertising campaign in the city promoting Texas' pro-business environment.
After a ruling by the 11th Court of Appeals in favor of landowners seeking to block construction of a reservoir, the state's water plan may be subject to an increasing number of legal challenges.
Gov. Rick Perry on Monday called lawmakers back into an immediate special session to consider redistricting measures for the Legislature and the Texans who serve in the U.S. Congress.
Known as the Michael Morton Act, the law aims to avoid wrongful convictions by preventing prosecutors from suppressing evidence.
Houston physician and Republican campaign donor Steve Hotze has written two songs about his opposition to federal health reform.
Following the explosion of a fertilizer plant last month, officials and residents across the state are reexamining safety regulations.
The Texas governor has said he won't lay out his political plans until June. Whether he decides to run for a fourth term in office may affect races across the state.
A new report shows that reducing penalties for prostitution and sending more defendants to diversion programs would decrease the practice and save the state money. A bill that would follow that recommendation is under consideration by the legislature.
Gov. Rick Perry and a number of Texas politicians are seeking help from the Obama administration to hold Mexico to its treaty obligations to release water from the Rio Grande to Texas cities along the border.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is pushing to have more weapons made in the state. His office has sent letters to 34 different firearms and accessories manufacturers in other states encouraging them to relocate to Texas.
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New early-stage technology that uses chemicals for fracking is gaining popularity in the state as a way to alleviate concerns over the high quantities of water needed for hydraulic fracking.
In a move aimed to make the state appear more financially stable, the Governor and some lawmakers are working on a bill that would move the state's gold deposits from a Federal Reserve Bank in New York City to a secure location in Texas.
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A new bill seeks to clarify the standards used when deciding to execute intellectually disabled criminals.
The Texas Governor, outraged at the release of undocumented immigrants due to Federal budget cuts, has written a letter of protest to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
GOP leaders in Texas are remaining firm about not doing the Medicaid expansion as designed in the Affordable Care Act, but are leaving the door open to work with the Obama administration if they are given more flexibility.
State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, filed legislation Thursday that would provide mental health training to Texas teachers.
Ten years ago, the Texas Legislature passed laws to clamp down on lawmakers lobbying state agencies on behalf of private clients. Despite the reforms, some elected officials continue to find work lobbying, or something that resembles it in the eyes of critics.
In a decision certain to be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, state district Judge John Dietz ruled that the state does not adequately or efficiently fund public schools.
While many states offer tax incentives for people to purchase energy-efficient vehicles like hybrids and electric cars, lawmakers in several states have proposed levying special fees on owners of some such vehicles.
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With the emergence of new technology, legislators have filed a bevy of bills that could change the way some Texans use social media.
Responding to petitions from eight states calling for the right to secede, the White House has called for healthy debate, but to not let "that debate tear us apart."
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As Congress prepares for what is expected to be a contentious debate over immigration reform, with issues like the DREAM Act and what kind of reforms constitute "amnesty" expected to be at the forefront, immigration lawyers say addressing lesser-known and arcane policies could be just as important and effective.
Following the shootings at a Connecticut elementary school, Texas lawmakers are considering making firearms more available to teachers and other school personnel.
The Tea Party want to replace some current lawmakers with fresh ones, preferably from their own flock.
The population on Texas' death row is at its lowest in more than 20 years, and the state has seen a 75 percent drop in death sentences since 2002.
Opponents say such legislation erodes women's legal access to abortion, and that a similar fetal pain law in Arizona is currently being reviewed by a federal appeals court.
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Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial process of shooting water, sand and chemicals underground to access oil or natural gas trapped in shale rock, has made plenty of headlines in recent years. But the drilling process involves many other steps beyond breaking up rock, and several opportunities for things to go wrong.
The move comes in the wake of accusations that the trustees failed to catch a scheme tied to former Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia that either removed or advanced students who were not passing.
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On the agenda for Thursday morning's meeting of the University of Texas System Board of Regents is a discussion on a topic near and dear to the pocketbooks of many students and their parents: student loan debt.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a similar challenge in 2011. Since then, 10 Texas universities have announced the launch of such a degree plan, or the intention to launch one in the near future.
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Subjects like solar panels and smart-grid technologies become a topic of discussion at plenty of Austin happy hours. But when dozens of people gathered at a lakeside bar earlier this month, the talk drifted toward oil prices, shale plays and hydraulic fracturing.
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Let us pause for a moment to consider the legislative wizardry of the late Irma Rangel. The Kingsville Democrat shared much of the credit for the brainstorm that created the state’s top 10 percent rule for colleges in 1997. That law says high school graduates in that top tier get automatic admission into state colleges and universities.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
A small but growing number of Texas cities are passing lighting ordinances to keep the night sky dark as the state grows.
The late Texas state Sen. Mario Gallegos' name will still appear on the ballot in November, and if he wins, Gov. Rick Perry will call a special election to fill his seat.
Lots of people get elected by voters who didn't look at their names but instead voted by choosing all candidates from one party or another.
When lawmakers decided to charge inmates $100 a year for medical treatments, they expected it to help plug holes in the prison budget. But critics of the new policy say the result is less health care for sick inmates.
Women's access to affordable health care will be reduced if the state follows through with its plan to eschew federal funding for the Women’s Health Program and create a state program instead, according to a new study from George Washington University.
Seeing a recent increase in suicides by military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Texas lawmakers are looking for ways to address mental health challenges faced by soldiers as they come back to the state.
The court will decide whether a Jewish inmate has a right to be provided a kosher diet. Lawyers say the change would cost TDCJ between $1,000 and $3,000 per year, or an extra 0.02 percent of the agency's annual budget.