Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
bySheldon Munroe
The stars truly aligned as more than 300 stargazers from across the country looked upward at McDonald Observatory to conclude the 2026 Dark Skies Festival under the open skies of West Texas.
Overcast skies had observatory staff prepare for virtual demonstrations, but then the sky emerged, evoking excited whispers and “awws” as more than 3,000 stars became visible to the naked eye. Several globular clusters, the Milky Way and very bright Jupiter drew particular excitement.
“We are here to appreciate the stars as well as the wildlife and human health,” observatory staffer Ryan Cantrell said.
byMax Mazoch
President Donald J. Trump carried the Rio Grande Valley in the 2024 presidential election along with 46% of the Latino vote nationwide — a record among Republican presidential candidates. Now, the Texas Democratic Party might have its best chance to win back the once reliably Democratic region and Latino voters, Texas political analysts say. “I […]
byErika Gonzalez
Four months after leaving the family detention center in Dilley, Kelly Vargas’ 6-year-old daughter still wakes up at night asking about “the bad ICE men.” Vargas, a Colombian mother who had lived in New York for more than a year before being detained in late 2025, is now trying to rebuild her life in Bogotá, Colombia. But the effects have stayed with her.
“She doesn’t forget,” Vargas said, adding that her daughter often asks, “Mom, do you remember when we were in jail?”
Others in Texas have described similar experiences. Immigration detention centers have drawn growing attention as advocates, lawyers and medical professionals say problems with health care, crowding and oversight are affecting people held in custody.
bySamantha Rubin and Erika Gonzalez
By the time patients arrive at the Women’s Reproductive Clinic of New Mexico, many have already spent hours on the road from Texas, sometimes traveling overnight after arranging child care and scraping together money for the trip to access care that is no longer available in their state.
Now, for the first time since Texas banned abortions, the Texas Medical Board has issued formal training intended to clarify when physicians can legally provide abortion care under the medical emergency exception. The guidance follows legislative changes in 2025 that required the board to create educational materials for physicians about the law.
