Emma Platoff
summer @TexasTribune, alum @yaledailynews @phillyinquirer & @hartfordcourant. tips and taco recs to [email protected]
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Harris County tried to make voting easier during the pandemic. Texas Republicans fought every step of the way.
In a bitterly contested election overlaid with the fears and risks of an uncontrolled pandemic, Harris County has become a case study in raw politics and partisan efforts to manipulate voter turnout.
Texas counties can offer only one drop-off ballot location, federal appeals court rules, upholding Gov. Greg Abbott’s order
Civil rights groups and voting advocates had argued the restriction would disproportionately impact low-income voters, voters with disabilities, older voters and voters of color in Democratic counties.
Harris County can't send mail-in ballot applications to all registered voters, Texas Supreme Court rules
The elections administrator for the county, Texas' most populous and a critical stronghold for Democrats, has already sent the applications to voters 65 or over. The GOP Texas Supreme Court ruled he may not send them to the rest of the county's 2.4...
Early voting can start Oct. 13, as scheduled, Texas Supreme Court rules
The Texas Supreme Court ruled against several GOP officials who pushed to keep early voting to a two-week period during the pandemic.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s top aides want him investigated for bribery and other alleged crimes, report says
Seven senior officials said in a letter obtained by the Austin American-Statesman that they have reason to believe Paxton is violating the law.
Voters, voting rights groups sue Gov. Greg Abbott over order to close ballot drop-off locations
The Texas and National Leagues of United Latin American Citizens, the League of Women Voters of Texas and two Texas voters asked a federal judge in Austin to overturn the governor’s order, which forced Travis and Harris counties — two of the state’s...
Gov. Greg Abbott limits counties to one absentee ballot drop-off location, bolstering GOP efforts to restrict voting
The Republican governor's order Thursday was a rebuke to large, Democratic counties that have set up numerous locations where voters may drop off their completed absentee ballots in person. Civil rights groups say it will suppress voting.
No straight-ticket voting for Texas' 2020 election, federal appeals court says
A three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2017 state law ending the popular one-punch option — and admonished a lower court judge for trying to bring the practice back so soon before early voting starts Oct. 13.
After Ginsburg’s death, high stakes for Texas’ legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act
Experts say the Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down the law in its entirety. Texas’ GOP leaders have yet to produce a promised plan to replace it.
Houston Republicans sue to limit in-person and absentee voting options in Harris County
Conservative activist Steve Hotze and a number of Republican candidates and officials are asking the Texas Supreme Court to shorten the early voting period and limit drop-off locations for absentee ballots in the state’s largest Democratic county.
Straight-ticket voting ends in 2020. For some down-ballot Republicans, that wasn't soon enough.
The Legislature voted last year to end straight-party voting for the 2020 elections. After a tough night for some down-ballot Republicans, some are wishing they'd done it sooner.
As Texas college towns emerge as coronavirus hot spots, universities try to keep students from infecting locals
In counties where four-year college students make up at least 10% of the population, cases have grown 34% since Aug. 19, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. That’s compared with 23% in counties with a smaller proportion of students.
Less than 1% of Texas students who returned to public school in person have tested positive for COVID-19
The state's first effort to publicly report coronavirus data from schools shows low statewide infection rates. Breakdowns by school districts should be reported next week.
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Emma Platoff
There are:
-5.5 million Texas public school students
-1.1 million learning in person (so far)
-at least 2,344 coronavirus cases — a rate of about 0.21%.
w/ @AliyyaSwaby
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Absent widespread testing, Texas schools have limited tools to prevent coronavirus spread
Coronavirus cases are inevitable as Texas schools reopen. The challenge for administrators will be preventing large-scale outbreaks.
Bucking local health warnings, two private religious schools are set to reopen in hard-hit Rio Grande Valley
Desperate to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Cameron County has ordered all schools to keep classrooms closed until late September. But state officials say local health orders don't apply to private religious schools.
Texas becomes fourth state to surpass 10,000 COVID-19 deaths
Experts say official death tolls are all but certain to be undercounts.
Coronavirus testing in Texas plummets as schools prepare to reopen
Texas' low number of tests and large percentage of positive results suggest inadequacies in the state's public health surveillance effort at a time when school reopenings are certain to increase viral spread, health experts said.
Why Texas’ coronavirus data comes with caveats
It’s hard to collect good numbers on an unknown virus, and Texas health officials have made errors. But experts say the state’s coronavirus data is useful as long as users understand its limitations.
Across Texas and the nation, the novel coronavirus is deadlier for people of color
New data on Texas coronavirus fatalities reveals stark racial disparities.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was indicted 5 years ago. He still hasn't gone to trial.
Read our timeline covering delays and side battles in the long-running securities fraud case against Paxton.