The barrage of ads focused on trans kids playing youth sports motivated the Republican base as Democrats struggled to respond.

The two states agreed to a land swap to ensure that a Dallas-area water district’s pump station lies wholly within Texas. Neither state gained in size from the small change.

From engaging with representatives to joining advocacy groups, there are numerous ways to continue participating in democracy and shaping policy after the polls close.

Last year, Abbott refused to give public schools a major raise without passing a voucher program. His tone was more conciliatory after Election Day.

A historic 18.6 million Texans were registered to vote in the 2024 election, and 61% cast ballots, a nearly 6% drop from the 2020 presidential race.

Tom Maynard, Pam Little, Aaron Kinsey and Brandon Hall prevailed in contested races. The race for District 1 was still undetermined as of Wednesday morning.

Texans from across the state went to the polls early with plenty on their mind. The Texas Tribune partnered with other news organizations to hear from a diverse cross-section of voters.

Texas might not be a swing state, but many of its races will have major consequences to the national political landscape and on the lives of everyday Texans.

Disinformation spikes during major U.S. elections. Experts urge verifying sources, fact-checking and careful content sharing.

Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump said Texas had fixed an error with voting machines, but Patrick quickly said there was no problem to fix.

The federal agency agreed their monitors would remain outside polling locations and wouldn’t interfere with voting.

Abandoned wells in the Permian Basin are increasingly erupting with briney, polluted water. The Texas Railroad Commission says it needs emergency money to respond.

Three fairgoers are requesting up to $1 million in damages and to allow guns at the State Fair.

By state law, Election Day totals must be submitted to the state within 24 hours after polls close. Meeting that deadline requires careful but quick work.

Texans serving time for misdemeanor offenses or who are in jail awaiting trial are eligible to vote but only two counties offer voting in jail.

A Starr County property was purchased to build border wall, while Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said the state has many options for a sprawling ranch in West Texas.

Even before the Texas man’s death sentence became a political lightning rod, law enforcement and medical experts had differing opinions on the evidence that convicted him.

The AG also said he’d make a criminal referral against the lawmaker, who apologized for texting a Court of Criminal Appeals judge about a new trial for the death row inmate.

Members of a Texas House committee say in a Texas Supreme Court filing that Paxton’s office is blocking the death row inmate from complying with a legislative subpoena.

The lawsuit claims the endangered designation for six mussel species is a misuse of environmental law that threatens Texas’ economy.

Texas desperately needs more and denser housing to keep up with the demand. But zoning restrictions get in the way, a Texas Tribune analysis found.

School officials says the state decision to cut federal money likely will hurt their ability to recruit and retain critical staff for students with disabilities.

A Bexar County election worker was assaulted Thursday, officials said. In Tarrant County, officials encouraged voters to review their ballots before voting.

Texas’ junk science statute has remained hamstrung for the last decade. So too have other criminal justice reforms, despite efforts from the Texas House.

The national licensing board announced it will consider folding the proposed skills test into an existing exam amid worries the additional hurdle would discourage applicants.

LGBTQ+ advocates called the ban one of the most extreme measures enacted by a local government.

Only a handful of Texas counties will not have all in-person voters cast paper ballots at the polls. By 2026, all voting machines in Texas must produce a paper trail, per a 2021 state law.

This artificial intelligence tool queries The Texas Tribune’s guides to help answer your questions about voting rules in 2024.

The death row inmate was expected to testify before a Texas House committee, but those plans were scrapped amid a dispute over whether he should appear in person or virtually.

It’s rare for governors to step in to halt executions. In the case of Robert Roberson, it ended up being state lawmakers who took extraordinary steps.

Democrats in Lubbock and Amarillo hope Kamala Harris’ candidacy and a backlash to abortion laws will help make their long-held vision of a blue wave a reality.

Gov. Greg Abbott gave an inflated number of noncitizens removed from the state’s voter rolls, officials acknowledged, confirming findings by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and Votebeat.

Here’s what you need to know after a ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat investigation found that Gov. Greg Abbott likely inflated the number of noncitizens on voter rolls.

The South Texas city is the latest to grapple with aging water infrastructure, which officials suggested could have been the cause for the E. coli outbreak.

Texas Windstorm Insurance Association officials argued they needed a 10% rate increase to help insure a growing number of policyholders.

Directors, producers and actors say better incentives in other states pull projects away from Texas, which is losing out on millions of dollars.

Democrats have long held an edge in South Texas, but Republicans see an opening there to expand their House majority.

The examination of Deloitte’s existing contracts comes after it failed to catch red flags in a company’s application for a loan to build or upgrade power plants in the state.

The average age of Texans last year was 37, while the Legislature’s average age was 55. Hurdles to voting and the unique challenges young candidates encounter fuel the mismatch.

Former employees say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gutted the unit soon after the fracking boom swept the state oil industry. The operation never returned to what it was before.

Our guide can help you determine how to register, who is eligible to vote, whether you’re still registered and more in advance of Election Day.

Texan voters will have significant influence in November, both within and outside the state. They will be electing a U.S. senator, 38 U.S. House members, 150 state House members, as well as various judges and local elected officials. Additionally, they will have influence over important questions.

One group estimated more than 568,000 cats and dogs entered shelters in 2023. About 82,000 cats and dogs were euthanized.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has investigated at least five organizations this year that do immigration-related work.

Texas officials acknowledged some errors after they stripped Medicaid coverage from more than 2 million people, most of them children. A ProPublica and Texas Tribune review of records shows that these mistakes and others were preventable.

The Texas Tribune and The Associated Press visited five locations along the 1,254-mile span to separate the facts from the political narrative during a heated election year.

The lawsuit claims federal regulators have undermined the Texas oil and gas industry by misusing environmental law, negatively impacting drilling and production.

Four GOP state representatives suspended their bids to challenge Phelan and 48 Republicans backed Cook, which could threaten Phelan’s shot at a third term.

The smell of oil wells has long permeated Caldwell County, near Austin and San Antonio. Now researchers have documented wells releasing dangerous amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas.

The first-term Republican defending her seat said a private school voucher program will help her community, especially students from low-income families.

The county told a state district court judge that the applications were already mailed out and any ruling would be moot.

Abbott signed a proclamation declaring Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and directed Texas DPS to create strike teams targeting the gang.

Lawmakers tasked the Public Utility Commission with overseeing the Texas Energy Fund, though the agency has no experience running a loan program.

The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 7. The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and Votebeat want to hear from people removed from voter rolls.

After Attorney General Ken Paxton’s failed impeachment trial, his allies touted Smithee, one of the House’s most senior members, as a speaker candidate.

Jolt, which advocates for more Latino voting participation, says the attorney general’s probe spurred threatening comments online.

Led by co-pastors Joe and Dawn Weaks, Connection Christian Church, a 118-year-old congregation in Odessa, has transformed while keeping true to its legacy of helping the community.

Texas has seen a record number of chronic wasting disease cases this year. The state is looking for new ways to contain the spread without driving deer breeders out of business.

The review of CBP agents’ response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting found that active shooting training was insufficient.

Other states look to Texas as the state psychology board pushes against the new national licensing requirements.

About 25% of Texas’ correctional officer positions are unfilled. Inmates say the shortages make it harder for them to get respite during hot summer months.

The Texas Education Agency says there’s time to fix problems before officially reported data is used to determine how much money districts get.

While environmentalists say the new rules don’t do enough to protect groundwater, oil and gas operators are contesting stricter requirements for waste pits near wells.

A state Medicaid program pays caregivers of intellectually and developmentally disabled individuals living in community-based homes. Families, advocates and providers want lawmakers to increase that hourly pay.

The Texas House speaker race is becoming increasingly crowded. Phelan, who is under fire from his right, says he plans to seek the leadership position again.

The move escalates Texas Republicans’ brewing fight with urban counties over initiatives to proactively send applications to unregistered voters.

In Italy, as in Texas, funding hospitals over primary care leaves many feeling “medically homeless.” Italy’s post-COVID plans show another way.

Texas officials have launched investigations into voting fraud allegations, but assisting other voters isn’t automatically illegal.

View and easily share in-depth voter guides by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization.

While many other states limit hunting of the apex predator, Texas is only now introducing rules to ban canned hunts and require regular checking of traps.

With the State Fair opening in less than a month, the Attorney General is asking a Dallas County judge to overturn the ban on guns.

The county plans to ID eligible voters and send them registration forms. GOP officials say it’s an end-run around state law.

Since the 2020 election, Texas Republicans have dramatically rewritten the state’s voting laws, which have made some long-standing practices illegal.

Federal and state law already required voter roll maintenance. Experts warn the governor’s framing of this routine process could be used to undermine trust in elections.

At a news conference, Texas House candidate Cecilia Castellano did not address any of the allegations Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office laid out in search warrant affidavits.

The Fox News host who shared the allegation online has previously shared election misinformation.

Paxton’s office claimed the group broke rules prohibiting political activity by nonprofits, but the judge rejected the case outright.

The bus trips to Democrat-run cities stopped after June as the number of migrants apprehended across the southwest border plummeted.

The Texas Department of Public Safety rule change surfaced in an internal email that also asks driver license staff to compile the names of people seeking a gender marker change.

Residents at the sprawling Terlingua Ranch near Big Bend National Park will limit residents to 1,000 gallons of nondrinking water per month.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has targeted similar organizations that aid migrants at the border. The lawsuit appears to be the first to focus on political speech and rules that govern nonprofits.

All Texas voters with disabilities have the right to accessible voting options, whether in person or by mail.

A state fair spokesperson said they would cooperate with the city of Dallas’s guidance on the matter.

Deaths from heat are notoriously difficult to quantify because of how complex and subjective the process is. It leaves officials with an incomplete picture of who heat kills.

House hearing focuses on a curriculum plan and on school vouchers.

The executive order from the Texas governor will require hospitals to track the cost of care for undocumented migrants, in order for the state to push for federal reimbursement.

An SMU study is the first scientific proof of a phenomenon local landowners have long warned was occurring.

Texas Health and Human Services could face $100,000-per-day fines for violating a judge's orders. The state wants the judge off the case.

Future Texas therapists must complete internships to start their careers, but there’s not enough providers to mentor all of the students.

The DOJ found that officers overused pepper spray, kept youths in prolonged isolation and failed to protect them from sexual abuse.

Texas sued to stop an executive order issued by President Biden on his Inauguration Day to stop border wall construction and divert funds that had already been allocated for the project.

No state agency is taking responsibility for making sure the privately built lines that power many oil and gas sites are safe. Such lines have been blamed for sparking two recent Panhandle fires.

When disaster strikes, Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy takes command of her county’s emergency communication channels, including a text service and Facebook page.

Three other cities have passed similar measures but the Texas AG and others question whether they can be enforced because of conflicts with state law.

About $45 million will go to Texas towns with fewer than 1,000 residents — a boon for municipalities without a viable tax base.

Jason Wells told regulators the company will launch a new outage tracker by Aug. 1. It will also trim more tree limbs near power lines and hire an executive to focus on emergency response.

We want to hear from all Texans – even if you can’t vote or are not sure you want to vote.

County officials issued a disaster declaration Tuesday, saying the state’s mass arrests at the border have cost the county millions of dollars and overwhelmed its criminal justice system.

The company’s power outages in July have drawn the ire of state leaders. Here’s what you need to know.

Wednesday’s ruling is the second time a Texas judge has ruled against the attorney general for investigating shelters helping migrants.