State news in Texas
Statewide Texas News
Texans for Lawsuit Reform Shakes up Leadership After Disastrous Legislative Session
The internal shakeup follows a bruising year for TLR, both politically and reputationally.
Gov. Abbott Signs Legislation Expanding Funding For Texas Water Infrastructure
The two measures are intended to ensure Texas has enough water for the future.
General Mills Will Remove Artificial Dyes After Paxton Investigation
The company announced this week that it would discontinue use of harmful color additives in school lunches by summer 2026, expanding the ban to all of its products by 2027.
A Decade Later, State Charges Against Ken Paxton Officially Dismissed
The dismissal marks a formal end to one of the most high-profile and politically charged prosecutions in Texas history.
State Archive
Texas Releases Progress Report on 2020 Election Audit
Texans are getting their first look at results of the state’s 2020 election audit. The initial findings, released today, hold few surprises. On Friday, Texas Secretary of State John Scott released a progress report on Phase 1 of the state’s “full forensic audit” of...
Divided Opinions on How Texas Legislature Responded to Winter Blackouts
Texans statewide cried out in February when they were hit with record power blackouts and freezing cold—and it is still uncertain if state officials did much to protect the grid moving forward. “[By the morning of February 15,] half of Texas’ wind turbines were frozen...
Texas’ Contentious New Pro-life ‘Heartbeat Law’ Is Saving Lives
With a massacre currently unfolding in the state—more than 53,000 Texans were killed through abortions in 2020—state lawmakers had the opportunity this year to approve a variety of proposals to protect babies in the womb and even ban abortion, but they passed only...
Border Crisis Turns Attention to Building a Texas Wall
As illegal border crossings continue to fuel sex trafficking and other crimes in Texas, citizens have watched the nearly year-long journey of Gov. Greg Abbott moving towards building a border wall. The Biden–Harris administration stopped construction of former...
What Happened to the Texas GOP Priorities?
When the final ballots were counted in the November 2020 elections in Texas, the political landscape remained largely the same as it has for years: with Republicans controlling every statewide office and both chambers of the state Legislature. But even with...
Texas Legislature Failed to Address Executive Overreach and Mask Mandates in 2021
The events over the last two years in Texas thrust Chapter 418 of the Texas Government Code, or the Disaster Act of 1975, into the political spotlight. Much of the recourse government entities took to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic certainly caused many to demand...
Abbott Has Still Not Called a Special Session on Vaccine Mandates
This article has been updated to correct the current number of lawmakers calling for a fourth special session. Despite activists, organizations, a steadily growing list of Texas lawmakers, and the Republican Party of Texas imploring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to convene a...
House Democrats Faced No Consequences for Quorum Bust
Of the storylines that came out of the Texas Legislature in 2021, perhaps none earned more national media attention than when House Democrats fled the state for Washington, D.C., in order to halt progress on election integrity legislation in the Texas House. During...
Election Integrity Wins and Losses in the Texas Legislature
Few issues drew as much attention this year as election integrity. Well before questions about the 2020 presidential election captured headlines, the Republican Party of Texas and grassroots activists across the state decided making Texas elections more secure would...