Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the judge's official order signed Friday.A state district judge said Wednesday that he will move forward with an order easing restrictions for voting by mail in Texas in light of the new coronavirus pandemic.After conducting a video conference hearing in a lawsuit filed by state Democrats and civic organizations, Judge Tim Sulak told the attorneys he will issue a temporary injunction allowing all voters who risk exposure to the coronavirus if they vote in person to ask for a mail-in ballot under a portion of the Texas election code allowing...…Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the judge's official order signed Friday.A state district judge said Wednesday that he will move forward with an order easing restrictions for voting by mail in Texas in light of the new coronavirus pandemic.After conducting a video conference hearing in a lawsuit filed by state Democrats and civic organizations, Judge Tim Sulak told the attorneys he will issue a temporary injunction allowing all voters who risk exposure to the coronavirus if they vote in person to ask for a mail-in ballot under a portion of the Texas election code allowing...WW…

, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Hundreds of Texas bars and restaurants are scrambling to change how they operate, maneuvering through loopholes that will allow them to reopen after being closed by Gov. ’s latest shutdown targeting bars.Abbott has shut bars down twice since the coronavirus pandemic emerged in Texas. The first time bars were swept up in a total lockdown of statewide businesses. But the second time, on June 26, Abbott singled bars out while allowing virtually every other kind of business in Texas to stay open.But other...…, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Hundreds of Texas bars and restaurants are scrambling to change how they operate, maneuvering through loopholes that will allow them to reopen after being closed by Gov. ’s latest shutdown targeting bars.Abbott has shut bars down twice since the coronavirus pandemic emerged in Texas. The first time bars were swept up in a total lockdown of statewide businesses. But the second time, on June 26, Abbott singled bars out while allowing virtually every other kind of business in Texas to stay open.But other...WW…

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.While debate about how to safely reopen public schools in Texas raged through the summer, Kim Olstrup was preparing to bring students back to her Midcities Montessori private school in Bedford. She bought an electrostatic disinfection device similar to one used on airplanes and halved enrollment from about 130 students to about 60 to accommodate social distancing in her classrooms.In two weeks, her school for children in preschool to 12th grade will be open to...…Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.While debate about how to safely reopen public schools in Texas raged through the summer, Kim Olstrup was preparing to bring students back to her Midcities Montessori private school in Bedford. She bought an electrostatic disinfection device similar to one used on airplanes and halved enrollment from about 130 students to about 60 to accommodate social distancing in her classrooms.In two weeks, her school for children in preschool to 12th grade will be open to...WW…

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the Trump administration's efforts to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, declaring in a 5-to-4 opinion that the 2012 initiative was inappropriately terminated by the Trump administration.The court's decision comes nearly three years after Trump announced he was terminating the policy, known as DACA, that has protected more than 130,000 Texans from deportation since its inception, the second-highest total of any state after California. As of December 2019, there were about 107,000 Texans with DACA permits,...…The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the Trump administration's efforts to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, declaring in a 5-to-4 opinion that the 2012 initiative was inappropriately terminated by the Trump administration.The court's decision comes nearly three years after Trump announced he was terminating the policy, known as DACA, that has protected more than 130,000 Texans from deportation since its inception, the second-highest total of any state after California. As of December 2019, there were about 107,000 Texans with DACA permits,...WW…

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.Accurate and up-to-date coronavirus data is critical — not just for informing the officials making policy, but for parents trying to decide whether to send their kids to day care and business owners wondering whether to reopen their stores.But Texas officials keep correcting the data — whether it’s because of human error, shifting benchmarks or bureaucratic changes. Last week, Texas its coronavirus fatality toll by hundreds of people — then lowered it again, lending...…Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.Accurate and up-to-date coronavirus data is critical — not just for informing the officials making policy, but for parents trying to decide whether to send their kids to day care and business owners wondering whether to reopen their stores.But Texas officials keep correcting the data — whether it’s because of human error, shifting benchmarks or bureaucratic changes. Last week, Texas its coronavirus fatality toll by hundreds of people — then lowered it again, lending...WW…

, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Children in Texas’ youth lockups are suffering from widespread sexual assault and other constitutional violations, reform advocates wrote Wednesday in a complaint urging a federal investigation into the state’s five youth lockups.Texas Appleseed and Disability Rights Texas, two justice and legal organizations, filed the complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, citing “grievous violations of children’s constitutional rights” from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.The...…, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Children in Texas’ youth lockups are suffering from widespread sexual assault and other constitutional violations, reform advocates wrote Wednesday in a complaint urging a federal investigation into the state’s five youth lockups.Texas Appleseed and Disability Rights Texas, two justice and legal organizations, filed the complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, citing “grievous violations of children’s constitutional rights” from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.The...WW…

Less than three weeks before early voting begins in Texas, a U.S. district judge has blocked the state from eliminating straight-ticket voting as an option for people who go to the polls this November.In a ruling issued late Friday, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo cited the coronavirus pandemic, saying the elimination of the voting practice would “cause irreparable injury” to voters “by creating mass lines at the polls and increasing the amount of time voters are exposed to COVID-19.”Marmolejo also found that the GOP-backed law would “impose a discriminatory burden” on Black and...…Less than three weeks before early voting begins in Texas, a U.S. district judge has blocked the state from eliminating straight-ticket voting as an option for people who go to the polls this November.In a ruling issued late Friday, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo cited the coronavirus pandemic, saying the elimination of the voting practice would “cause irreparable injury” to voters “by creating mass lines at the polls and increasing the amount of time voters are exposed to COVID-19.”Marmolejo also found that the GOP-backed law would “impose a discriminatory burden” on Black and...WW…

, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.The Texas unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in September, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday, surpassing the national unemployment rate of 7.9% and returning the state to the unemployment levels of the Great Recession.While the national unemployment rate declined, the state’s sharp increase from the seasonally adjusted August unemployment rate of 6.8% shows how some industries that had hoped to weather the coronavirus pandemic’s economic recession have not been able to do so, economists said, and...…, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.The Texas unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in September, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday, surpassing the national unemployment rate of 7.9% and returning the state to the unemployment levels of the Great Recession.While the national unemployment rate declined, the state’s sharp increase from the seasonally adjusted August unemployment rate of 6.8% shows how some industries that had hoped to weather the coronavirus pandemic’s economic recession have not been able to do so, economists said, and...WW…

Texas is gearing up for a monumental election in the middle of a pandemic. And while the state is concerned about getting COVID-19 at a polling place, election officials expect a record number of people to vote by mail this year.Democrats, civil rights groups and individual voters have filed multiple lawsuits seeking to expand voting by mail. But those cases have so far been rejected by the courts — or are still pending. So as of Thursday, most of the state's traditional rules remain in place. Here’s a look at how voting by mail works in Texas.Registered voters can qualify to vote by mail...…Texas is gearing up for a monumental election in the middle of a pandemic. And while the state is concerned about getting COVID-19 at a polling place, election officials expect a record number of people to vote by mail this year.Democrats, civil rights groups and individual voters have filed multiple lawsuits seeking to expand voting by mail. But those cases have so far been rejected by the courts — or are still pending. So as of Thursday, most of the state's traditional rules remain in place. Here’s a look at how voting by mail works in Texas.Registered voters can qualify to vote by mail...WW…

This article is co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.Editor's note: This story was updated on Jan. 12, 2021 to note the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Mexican woman who claimed she and two others were raped and beaten at an ICE facility in Houston.Guards in an immigrant detention center in El Paso sexually assaulted and harassed inmates in a “pattern and practice” of abuse, according to a complaint filed by a Texas advocacy group urging the local district attorney...…This article is co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.Editor's note: This story was updated on Jan. 12, 2021 to note the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Mexican woman who claimed she and two others were raped and beaten at an ICE facility in Houston.Guards in an immigrant detention center in El Paso sexually assaulted and harassed inmates in a “pattern and practice” of abuse, according to a complaint filed by a Texas advocacy group urging the local district attorney...WW…