Archive
Civil Rights Lawsuit Accuses Police of Unlawfully Arresting a High Schooler in the Early Days of the Pandemic
The lawsuit cites findings from a ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation that featured Socrates Shawn, who was commuting between his divorced parents’ homes when he was pulled over and arrested in April 2020 by an officer in Progreso, Texas.
Settlement Over Private Border Wall Won’t Stop Flooding or Erosion of Rio Grande Shoreline, Experts Say
Federal authorities have reached a deal that gives builders of the privately funded fence control over where to inspect for damage and leeway over which issues they choose to repair.
Why 18-Year-Olds in Texas Can Buy AR-15s but Not Handguns
The massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, highlights disparities in how federal laws regulate rifles and handguns. The shooter bought two rifles days after his 18th birthday.
They Built the Wall. Problems Remain After Founder’s Guilty Plea.
Brian Kolfage, a 40-year-old Air Force veteran, faces more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the wall effort.
Reality Check: Seven Times Texas Leaders Misled the Public About Operation Lone Star
As they investigated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, reporters repeatedly found situations where Abbott and DPS officials cited accomplishments that lacked crucial context or did not match reality. Here are a few examples.
Examining Nearly Two Decades of Taxpayer-Funded Border Operations
Since 2005, Texas Govs. Rick Perry and Greg Abbott have launched a multitude of widely publicized and costly border initiatives, which usually kicked off during their reelection campaigns or while they were considering bids for higher office.
Texas’ Border Operation Is Meant to Deter Cartels and Smugglers. More Often, It Imprisons Lone Men for Trespassing.
The largest share of Operation Lone Star arrests were of people accused only of trespassing on private property. Many spend months in prison, but the strategy does not appear to have slowed immigration.
“We’re Going to Be Conservative.” Official Orders Books Removed From Schools, Targeting Titles About Transgender People.
The North Texas superintendent’s comments, made on a leaked recording, raise constitutional concerns, legal experts said.
Help Us Investigate Texas Border Security Initiatives
We’re looking into Texas’ border security initiatives, including what has worked, what hasn’t and how they affect residents. If you have experience on the border, we’d like to hear from you.
Texas’ Governor Brags About His Border Initiative. The Data Doesn’t Back Him Up.
Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. We dug into the data Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star, and it raises more questions than answers.
Carbon Monoxide Killed a Mother and Daughter. A Firefighter Was Reprimanded After a Delayed 911 Response.
After half of a family was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, reporting by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News revealed that a fire crew had failed to enter the house to check on them. A firefighter has now been disciplined.
U.S. Plans New Safety Rules to Crack Down on Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from Portable Generators
The announcement comes two months after an investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News detailed the deadly cost of the government’s failure to regulate portable generators.
Rechaza la EPA la norma de Texas que es más indulgente para un contaminante atmosférico muy tóxico
A raíz de una investigación realizada por ProPublica y The Texas Tribune sobre el óxido de etileno, la EPA ha emprendido medidas para rechazar una norma menos protectora creada por los reguladores de Texas y respaldada por la industria química.
Planta de esterilización de equipo médico contamina con sustancias cancerígenas a decenas de miles de alumnos
Nadie le dijo a la familia de Yaneli Ortiz que la fábrica cerca de la que vivían emitía óxido de etileno. No les dijeron cuando en la EPA se descubrió que causa cáncer. Tampoco cuando le diagnosticaron leucemia.
A Push to Remove LGBTQ Books in One County Could Signal Rising Partisanship on School Boards
A Texas county’s refusal to remove two books from the children’s section of the library sparked a yearslong political battle. Now school board races have taken on a deeply partisan tone, and elections serve as a purity test for far-right politics.
EPA Rejects Texas’ More Lenient Standard for Highly Toxic Air Pollutant
In the wake of an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune into the widely used chemical ethylene oxide, the EPA has moved to reject a less protective standard crafted by Texas regulators and backed by the chemical industry.
El monóxido de carbono que producen los generadores envenena a miles de personas al año. Estados Unidos ha fallado en exigir cambios de seguridad.
Los generadores portátiles están entre los productos de consumo más mortales. Dos décadas después de que el gobierno identificará el peligro, el sistema deja a la gente vulnerable al permitir que la industria se regule a sí misma.
A Plant That Sterilizes Medical Equipment Spews Cancer-Causing Pollution on Tens of Thousands of Schoolchildren
Nobody told Yaneli Ortiz’s family that the factory they lived near emitted ethylene oxide. Not when the EPA found it causes cancer. Not when she was diagnosed with leukemia. And not when Texas moved to allow polluters to emit more of the chemical.