When you grow up in a Southern church, you learn how things are done. And how they’re not done. Some kids learn early. Some kids never get it. Bethel Missionary Baptist Church was a small, white frame structure. Like many churches of mid-20th Century America, it was...
The latest report on child maltreatment fatalities and near fatalities, compiled by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, indicates 251 children in Texas died in fiscal year 2020 due to abuse and neglect. That figure includes 28 children who died...
A Texas Senate committee on Friday passed an elections bill that would tighten the state’s voting rules by limiting extended early voting hours, requiring proof of disability to qualify for mail-in voting and prohibiting drive-thru voting. Senate Bill 7,...
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced too many tragedies to tally, but here is one that does not get talked about enough: It has worsened conditions that leave children and youth especially vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, a human trafficking crime. Human...
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas leaders are rolling up their sleeves to get the COVID-19 vaccine and to encourage the public to follow suit. “I will never ask any Texan to do something that I’m not willing to do myself,” Abbott said before getting vaccinated at a...
Texas has the second-highest population of veterans in the country––nearly 1.5 million––and many of these veterans are poor or homeless. While groups around the state are tirelessly working on veterans’ behalf, there is always more to be done to ensure their civil...
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is battling back against seven top aides who accuse him of bribery and abuse of office. The aides delivered the accusations in a letter to the agency’s human resources director. The Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV obtained and...
In a year of fighting a global pandemic, historic protests for racial equality, and the rapidly approaching presidential election, America needs journalists to bring them critical reporting. The events of this year have led to significant increases in traffic to news...
Students across Texas returned to campuses last week as schools and universities scrambled to put into place new lesson plans that best accommodate a pandemic. For many school districts, this meant greatly expanding the technological resources of their students to...
