STATE GOVERNMENT

Caseworkers and foster care providers often get incomplete and inaccurate information about foster kids in their care because of the state child welfare agency’s archaic technology system.

Texas lawmakers could prohibit race-based hair discrimination at schools and workplaces. At least 20 states have already passed similar legislation, according to a group that champions the laws.

Voters would have the final say on whether the state sets aside billions of dollars to acquire new water sources and invest in aging infrastructure.

Senate Bill 14 would ban doctors from providing kids with transition-related treatments that medical groups recommend for children with gender dysphoria.

In previously unreleased interviews, police who responded to the Robb Elementary shooting told investigators they were cowed by the shooter’s military-style rifle. This drove their decision to wait for a Border Patrol SWAT team to engage him, which took more than an hour.

Law enforcement officers who serve on Operation Lone Star get a $500,000 death benefit for their survivors if they die on duty. But National Guard troops on the same mission don’t get a dime from the state for their families if they die.

When do state takeovers of Texas public schools or districts happen? How long can they last? We provide answers to some of the questions surrounding the takeover of Houston ISD.

Lawmakers say their bills are needed to provide small businesses with consistent regulations and that regulatory power should be returned to the state. Labor groups say the proposal could undo hard-fought measures to protect workers.

Bigger cities like Lubbock can unintentionally suck health care resources and professionals from smaller towns, creating what one local expert calls the “doughnut effect.”

Cuts to school property tax bills. Bigger tax benefits for homeowners. A controversial idea to limit property tax growth. Here’s what you need to know about the brewing property tax debate at the Texas Legislature.

The allocation is part of a plan to add $12 billion to the current budget. It hasn’t been approved yet by the House.

Nelson’s former colleagues in the Senate gave her resounding approval, avoiding another embarrassment for Gov. Greg Abbott, whose last three nominations for secretary of state did not receive confirmation.

U.S. District Matthew Kacsmaryk was once deputy counsel for the the First Liberty Institute, the Plano-based conservative Christian law firm.

Many of the illegal voting cases the Texas attorney general has boasted about are unraveling after a key court ruling. But Tomas Ramirez III said the pursuit of charges against him has taken its toll.

Lawmakers will decide whether to keep protections that shielded tenants from eviction — or to ban them.

The priority bill, backed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, reverses a change the Legislature made two years ago during an omnibus voting bill that made illegal voting a misdemeanor.

State officials plan to offer free day access to the property as they consider how to acquire the land before its sale.

If Texas’ budget surplus were distributed directly to Texans, it could pay for 12 years of school lunches, seven months of rent or 11,000 miles of travel. Here’s how to put the big number into perspective.

A lack of lawmaker support jeopardizes the attorney general’s $3.3 million settlement, which would resolve a lawsuit alleging Paxton fired high-ranking deputies who accused him of misconduct.

Marcus Silva of Galveston alleges three of his ex-wife’s friends helped her illegally get abortion pills to end her pregnancy.

The bill, which has the blessing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, will create new rules on how gender and sexual orientation is taught. It will face a tougher test in the House.

The bills are part of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s list of priorities and, if passed as filed, could have profound impacts on how Texas universities recruit top faculty and other employees.

The state has added more beds for jail inmates who need psychiatric treatment to be considered competent to face trial. But at least a third remain empty because the state can’t hire enough people to staff them.

Operators pump a sea of “produced water” underground for disposal. Intensifying tremors raise fears that the deep toxic waste pits could intermingle with water used for farming and drinking.

Under Senate Bill 23, all felonies involving a gun would incur a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. It’s meant to curb crime, despite the lack of correlation between harsher sentences and crime rates.

Gun policy reform is the best way to address school safety, according to experts on a panel in Austin on Thursday. They also cautioned against doubling down on surveillance technology.

The bills would allow the state to hire companies to build emergency gas-fueled power plants, among other ideas for swinging the state’s power balance away from wind and solar.

Plagued by decades of scandals over sexual and physical abuse of children, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department is at a crossroads.

Pregnancy forced Destiny Williams to quit her job. She almost died during childbirth. Now with a newborn in tow, she’s struggling to build a more stable life for her and her children.

Lawyers for four former employees who accused the attorney general of firing them for reporting alleged crimes to authorities say Paxton won’t agree to finalizing the deadline by the end of this legislative session.

In its first bill passed this session, the Texas Senate sought to ensure juvenile mental health hospitalizations are reported to the federal firearm background check system.

Budget proposals would boost state spending for the current budget cycle for projects ranging from mental health hospitals to state pay raises. This would leave $27 billion in surplus for next two years.

Texas largely conducts its state business in English and Spanish. It falls to interpreters like Terry Yun to help people scale the wall dividing them from crucial government services.

Five women announced a new lawsuit Tuesday, marking the first time patients directly affected by new abortion laws have sought to challenge them in court.

The Texas Legislature has nine lawmakers who are openly LGBTQ, all Democrats. At the same time, some Republican lawmakers are pushing a slate of bills aimed at drag queens, transgender children and how sexuality is discussed in schools.

Texas lawmakers this year will debate whether to block transgender kids’ access to transition-related health care, classify businesses that host drag shows as sexually oriented establishments and limit public school lessons on sexuality and gender identity.

The head coach is also being investigated for allegedly spitting on a player during a game earlier in the season.

A lawmaker is accused of hypocrisy after it emerges that he once wore a dress. He says it wasn’t sexual.

The bill, introduced months after the Uvalde school shooting, also allocates more funds to the state’s school safety allotment, which is money given to districts to improve campus security.

State Sen. Joan Huffman filed a bill that would repeal a provision that allowed longtime lawmakers to increase their yearly take-home income by $140,000 by collecting pension payments without retiring.

Many state-owned vehicles are aging past the standards for replacement. Early budget drafts signal that lawmakers are considering funding some $237.6 million in requests for new ones.

During dueling speeches to a conservative think tank in Austin, state House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who have a history of animus, split over property tax relief, criminal justice reform and school choice.

Texas legislators are considering increasing the Department of Family and Protective Services’ budget, giving extended relatives more money to care for kids and notifying the subjects of child abuse investigations of their rights.

Seventy-seven Texas House Republicans signed on as co-authors to state Rep. Valoree Swanson’s bill extending restrictions on transgender athletes to college sports. Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed support for the legislation, which is also a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

The Texas Education Agency has been in a legal battle to take over the state’s largest school district since 2019.

Business groups warned lawmakers that Texas could lose business to other states without something to replace the so-called Chapter 313 tax break, which gave some companies big breaks on school taxes.

The idea, which still lacks some important details and could be changed by state lawmakers, would change how electricity is paid for in tight times. We explain it for everyday Texans.

For decades the park has sat on leased land that the owner recently decided to sell. As the staff closed the gates Monday night for the last time, visitors and staff held out hope that the state could find a way to save the park.

Mutscher served as speaker from 1969 to 1972 before leaving amid the pay-for-play scandal, though he was later cleared on appeal.

A Chinese crime operation bypassed the password clues of Texas.gov by using stolen identity information to fraudulently obtain replacement driver’s licenses.