These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021
How These Cities Are Breaking Up the Work of Police Departments As the country reassesses its relationship with law enforcement, Ithaca, New York; Berkeley and Oakland, California; and Austin, Texas, are defunding, replacing, or reducing the scope of their police departments. Eoin Higgins May 26, 2021
30 Years of Power Outages and Campaign Donations in Texas State officials funded by power companies have been warned, since at least 1989, that the power grid was at risk of failure in cold weather. They have consistently failed to act. Jerry Iannelli Feb 26, 2021
Washington State’s Most Populous County Curbed Covid-19 Among The Homeless By Moving Them To Hotels. But One Local Government Fought Back. Seattle suburb Renton is battling an emergency homeless shelter through its zoning code. Rachel M. Cohen Feb 10, 2021
COVID-19 is Spreading Faster Than Ever. Jail Populations are Surging, Too In many of America’s major cities, the early efforts to reduce incarceration during the pandemic have been reversed. Jerry Iannelli Feb 03, 2021
Austin May Use Money Cut From Police Budget To Establish Permanent Supportive Housing The City Council will decide whether to buy two hotels and use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the homeless people who will live there. Meg O'Connor Jan 26, 2021
Austin’s Unreliable Crime Lab Could Lead to Another Wrongful Execution Dubious DNA evidence—and a potential coverup by the Travis County DA’s office—are at the heart of a judge’s recommendation that Areli Escobar gets a new trial. Jerry Iannelli Jan 20, 2021
Police Funding Is a Pivotal Issue in Two Austin City Council Runoffs Incumbents Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter have been targeted by conservative challengers because of the council’s votes to cut police funding and repeal a ban on public camping. Meg O'Connor Dec 01, 2020
Four Austin Women Reported Their Sexual Assaults. But Police And Prosecutors Failed To Hold The Perpetrators Accountable. While a debate over defunding the police rages in Austin, a new lawsuit reminds its residents that assault cases in the city are routinely ignored. Jerry Iannelli Oct 02, 2020
Austin May Cut Police Budget by Nearly $150 Million The City Council will pass a budget this week that could cut nearly $150 million in funding from the Austin Police Department. The proposal appears to have majority support. Meg O'Connor Aug 12, 2020
Study Finds Stark Racial Disparities for Low-Level Drug Offenses In Travis County, Texas The authors reported that 29.4 percent of the possession cases involved Black individuals in a county where Black people make up only 8.9 percent of the population. Dawn R. Wolfe Feb 21, 2020
A City Council Resolution Could End Marijuana Arrests and Fines in Austin, Texas The move is made possible by a Texas law that legalized the production of hemp last year. Jay Willis Jan 10, 2020
Working Families Party To Endorse José Garza for Travis County D.A. The Austin-based labor and immigrant rights attorney, who has pledged to end money bail and nonviolent drug prosecutions, is looking to unseat incumbent District Attorney Margaret Moore. Aaron Morrison Dec 06, 2019
Austin Braces As Texas Officials Plan Crackdown On Homeless Encampments Last week, the City Council reinstated a “no camping” ordinance meant to discourage people experiencing homelessness from sleeping on sidewalks and outside a shelter. Advocates say the city is criminalizing poverty. Aaron Morrison Oct 25, 2019
New Lawsuit Claims a Sacramento Deputy Unlawfully Arrested Activist Who Protested Clearing Of Homeless Encampment Advocates and homeless people are suing Sacramento County over its treatment of homeless—and the city responded by filing a lawsuit against seven men for being a ‘public nuisance.‘ Meg O'Connor Sep 04, 2019
A Baby’s Death, a Flawed Autopsy, and a Mother Locked Up for Life Tina Rodriguez was sent to prison in Texas for allegedly starving her son to death. But recent discoveries about the medical examiner who conducted the baby’s autopsy raise questions about her case. Debbie Nathan Apr 22, 2019
How A No-Knock Raid in Austin Turned Into a Lethal Shootout ‘There were explosions everywhere ... I had no idea who was in the house.’ Jessica Pishko Feb 05, 2019
A Suit on Behalf of 6,000 Women Decries Law Enforcement’s Handling of Sexual Assault Cases In Travis County, detectives refused training that would have helped them interview victims of trauma. Kira Lerner Nov 09, 2018
