During The Texas Tribune Festival’s closing keynote, the neurosurgeon said that for decades, pain management wrongly treated the body “as totally separate from the brain.”

Both legislative chambers adjourned without agreeing on changes to Senate Bill 2, which aimed to create new training and licensing requirements for local officials.

Between cracking down on abortion pills and restricting transgender restroom use, lawmakers also tackled flood safety and the STAAR test. Left untouched: Texas’ hemp industry.

The parents of children who died at Camp Mystic advocated for the new legislation, which now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.

Legislators couldn’t reach a last-minute deal to tighten regulations on consumable hemp products.

Two California-based companies accuse the state of government overreach for banning the sale of their products for the next two years.

Allen, known for her focus on public education issues, announced her retirement after 20 years in the House. She endorsed her son, Lawrence Allen Jr., to succeed her.

The bill walks back a measure lawmakers passed earlier this year allowing voters to update their address at the polls and immediately vote in their new precinct and district if their move was within the county.

House members who freeze future legislation by fleeing Texas will face steeper fines, loss of seniority and committee posts, and limits on political fundraising.

The endorsement comes as Texas elected officials push for more Christianity in public life and as Paxton’s office fights a legal challenge to religion in education.

Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, announced her passing Monday, calling her “one of the first and most effective fighters” for the anti-abortion movement.

In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor speak with Texas Tribune reporter Kate McGee about her recent investigative reporting in to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and his staff.

Collin, Bastrop and Williamson counties say they’re proactively changing their voting procedures and equipment following a federal attempt to limit barcodes or QR codes on paper ballots.

High priority bills that propose banning THC have not moved through the Texas House, as the current overtime session could conclude in the coming days.

New laws range from school vouchers and water infrastructure funding to a ban on city and county-funded abortion travel funds.

Starting Sept. 1, cultured meat sales will be banned for the next two years even though the product isn’t ready to be sold at a large scale.

Federal funding cuts to immunization efforts and a new law that allows exemption forms to be downloaded, instead of mailed, could drive up exemptions in the future.

Despite receiving substantial state funding to air-condition prisons in the last few years, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has stayed mum on when it will install cooling across the system.

Eighteen news organizations including The Texas Tribune have been seeking the records since 2022, when 19 children and 2 teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School.

Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker announced Wednesday that she is her running for Harris County Judge in the November 2026 election.

Michael Curry, Joe Lonsdale, Beto O’Rourke, Katie Phang and Margaret Spellings, among many others, join us this November in downtown Austin

The Texas Senate has passed House Bill 4 with a 23-8 vote, citing Houston ISD's academic improvements under Superintendent Mike Miles as an example of effective accountability.

Let's celebrate the memory of former mayor Turner by sharing your most cherished moments and photos with him.

The Houston Independent School District has appointed a Bond Oversight Committee to ensure transparency and accountability for a proposed $4.4 billion bond.

Allred has run a more traditional campaign in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, focusing on targeted ads and moderate policy.

The U.S. Homeland Security Secretary specifically called out the state’s policy of busing migrants to cities in other parts of the country.

The Texas attorney general filed a similar lawsuit earlier this week against Bexar County, which includes San Antonio.

Gonzales, who represents a Texas border district, tells a Tribune Festival audience that his own party will be to blame for defeats in the November election.

In a conversation Friday, the Maryland governor discussed his first two years leading the Old Line State and the sprint to Nov. 5.

📚 Exciting news from the Houston Independent School District (HISD)! The latest results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams (STAAR) show that HISD students have demonstrated significant academic growth 💪🎉 Despite the challenges, HISD is closing achievement gaps and paving the way for a brighter future, according to Superintendent Mike Miles. #HISD #AcademicGrowth #ClosingGaps #EducationMatters

In the wake of a scandal tying them to white supremacists, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks started a new PAC to support far-right candidates

Cuellar was unharmed in the incident, and law enforcement eventually retrieved the car.

Here’s a look back at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival through the eyes of Tribune photographers.

State Rep. John Bryant said Democrats will need to work together to block the “school choice” bill in October.

In an interview for The Texas Tribune Festival, the journalist urged Texans to organize in response to the state’s book bans and restrictions on public school lessons.

Texas Democrats decry Republican infighting that has halted attempts to approve annual spending bills and avoid a federal government shutdown.

Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin said his team was naive in its belief that “principle would win out over politics.”

Lawmakers at a Texas Tribune Fest panel found common ground on school funding and teacher pay but took starkly different stances on “school choice.”

The law requires publicly-funded universities and colleges to close their diversity, equity and inclusion offices, creating hiring challenges.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar says the state has collected more from insurance premiums that he had previously predicted. He suggested lawmakers invest more in teacher pay raises.

Though the mayor’s position in Dallas is technically nonpartisan, Johnson joins Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker as one of two Republican mayors to lead a major Texas city.

In this week’s episode, we discuss the first impeachment proceedings against a sitting attorney general in Texas history.

Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn are helping host the event at the Omni Barton Creek Resort and Spa.

Speaking at The Texas Tribune Festival, Cruz said armed security is a better way to keep schools safe.

Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle talked schools, abortion and guns in advance of next year’s session in a range of panels at The Texas Tribune Festival.

One of the longest-serving Republican state senators, Robert Nichols is among the first to say publicly he’d support revising the state’s abortion prohibition. He spoke Friday at The Texas Tribune Festival.

At the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival, the Texas House speaker also signaled willingness to consider exceptions to the state’s abortion ban.

On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Jolie about the problems within the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and with Eleanor about the state’s efforts to expand postnatal Medicaid.

Sharp talked about how higher ed survives the pandemic, the obstacles to running a world-class public university and the future of college football.

Allen West at The Texas Tribune Festival in 2016 Credit: Erich Schlagel for The Texas TribuneTexas GOP Chair Allen West would like to see President Donald Trump visit the state again before Election Day to help rally support for down-ballot candidates, the Republican leader said during a Texas Tribune Festival interview that aired Tuesday. “I’ve got the message up to him,” West, a former Florida congressman, told the Tribune’s Patrick Svitek. “We’re seeing the Democrats really focus up here in North Texas, between Dallas County, Collin, Denton and Tarrant County for those state House seats,” West said, also referencing two contested congressional races in Texas’ 24th District and Texas’ 32nd District. West, who won the race for party chair in July, has at times openly disagreed with how Republican Gov. “We cannot live in a state where an executive believes that they can change established law by themselves.

Greg Abbott used the pandemic as a guise to limit access to abortion. Greg Abbott of using the coronavirus pandemic as a guise to end abortion access in Texas. During the month-long period when Texas was shut down, top state officials and the courts effectively banned nearly all abortions. Circuit Court of Appeals largely sided with state officials throughout the legal back and forth. In the initial weeks of the pandemic, a number of states including Texas tried to ban abortions as part of emergency orders.

Dallas Police Chief U. Rene Hall at The Texas Tribune Festival in 2017. Credit: Qiling Wang for The Texas TribuneDallas Police Chief U. Rene Hall will leave her position on Nov. 10, according to a statement from Dallas City Manager T.C. Hall was heavily criticized by six City Council members after anti-police brutality protests in Dallas in the wake of George Floyds killing. A federal judge later temporarily banned the City of Dallas from using tear-gas and other non-lethal weapons against peaceful crowds. Prior to working in Dallas, she was the deputy chief of the Detroit Police Department.

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 28, 2018. Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune(Audio unavailable. Click here to listen on texastribune.org.) In this week's TribCast, Matthew speaks with Ross, Alex and Patrick about the incoming hurricane, the first week of college classes and the Republican National Convention.

Former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt at The Texas Tribune Festival in 2018 Thomas Meredith for The Texas TribuneFormer Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt is set to succeed former state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, in the Texas Senate after state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez said Monday he is dropping out of the race. Eckhardt and Rodriguez, both Democrats, were poised to face off in a special election runoff for the seat. "For that reason," he wrote, "I have decided to forego the runoff for Senate and focus my efforts on winning a Democratic majority and promoting an aggressive, progressive agenda in the Texas House." Eckhardt and Rodriguez finished first and second, respectively, in the six-way race on July 14. Greg Abbott had not yet set a date for the runoff.

Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt speaks at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 29, 2018. Thomas Meredith for The Texas TribuneFormer Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt was leading the way Tuesday night in the special election to replace former state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, though it remained unclear whether she would be able to avoid a runoff. Eckhardt, who needs 50% of the vote to win the election outright, was hovering around that figure Tuesday night. Rodriguez touted his 18 years in the Texas House, arguing that his relationships there will serve him well in the Senate. His district includes all of Bastrop County, most of Austin and northern Travis County.

Chris Hayes interviews U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at The Texas Tribune Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019. On Thursday, Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue praised president Donald Trump in a ceremony at The White House. Free speech works both ways. And now the Left is trying to cancel Hispanic culture and silence free speech, Cruz tweeted on Friday. I respect Free Speech & Im exerting mine: until @Nike ends its contempt for those values, I WILL NO LONGER PURCHASE NIKE PRODUCTS.

U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, at The Texas Tribune Festival in 2018. Stephen Spillman for The Texas TribuneWASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Sylvia R. Garcia, a Houston Democrat, announced Friday that she was exposed to the coronavirus and will be self-quarantining. Noting that she lived near an international airport and could make a direct flight to Washington, Garcia voted on behalf of her fellow freshman, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, announced in early March he was potentially exposed, but under the direction of the U.S. House physician, he returned to Congress. And after running a fever, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher self-quarantined but ultimately tested negative for the coronavirus.

WASHINGTON Chris Hayes interviews U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at The Texas Tribune Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019. Bob Daemmrich for The Texas TribuneU.S. Sen. Ted Cruz this weekend said the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis black man, is "clearly police brutality." "It's horrific, and it starts with a horrific act of police brutality," the state's junior GOP senator said on Fox News on Sunday evening. And there is an immediate demonization and attack of the police officers, and I think that's wrong, and I think it's premature." "It was clearly police brutality and it was not conduct we expect of any officer.