Alex Ford, Author at The Texas Tribune https://www.texastribune.org/author/alex-ford/ Independent news. Trusted by Texans. Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.texastribune.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cropped-cropped-texas-tribune-favicon-32x32.png Alex Ford, Author at The Texas Tribune https://www.texastribune.org/author/alex-ford/ 32 32 249301168 T-Squared: We’re relaunching our Texas Public Schools Explorer to better serve parents and teachers https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/01/texas-tribune-public-schools-explorer-relaunch/ Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/?p=225316

Today, we are unveiling our most ambitious update yet to The Texas Tribune’s schools explorer, with more information and added context to help Texans interpret information about our schools.

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Explore our newly redesigned Texas Public Schools Explorer with expanded data https://schools.texastribune.org/ Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/?p=225319

The explorer now shows long-term trends, school funding data, and newly released Texas Academic Performance Reports, among other updates.

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Texas tracks the long-term outcomes of public school students. See how your school district compares here. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/18/texas-school-district-higher-education-outcomes-lookup-data/ Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/?p=214654

Newly-released state data tracked the long-term outcomes of public school students who enrolled a decade ago.

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More Texas students complete journey through college, but low-income students still left behind https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/18/texas-college-completion-income-gap/ Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/?p=214638

Economically disadvantaged students are much less likely to go on and attain degrees, according to new state data that tracks long-term outcomes.

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In Houston, young mothers face some of the highest barriers for college and work in the U.S. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/02/texas-houston-employment-young-mothers-disconnection-jobs-college/ Tue, 02 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/?p=212877 Jaqueline Hernandez and her 11-month-old son study containers of strawberries at a north Houston grocery store on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.

At 13.3%, Houston has the worst rate of young adults who are neither working nor in school of the largest metro areas in the country.

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An East Texas landowner fenced off a community’s favorite fishing spot, igniting multiple legal battles https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/23/east-texas-cutoff-legal-battle-phillip-surls-2/ Thu, 23 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/?p=198481 Bud Morton pilots his flat bottom boat across the Cutoff on May 27, 2024. The 12-mile stream runs along the border of Henderson and Navarro counties.

Phillip Surls, a local businessman who owns much of the property around the Cutoff, has argued he blocked access to the stream to protect his cattle and that the waterway is not public.

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A Houston mother held by ICE must choose: indefinite detention or be deported without her family https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/08/ Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:36:31 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/?p=186298 José Avila and his sons, Jeremiah (left) and Issac (middle), attend service at their Houston church in June. José is a devout Christian, finding solace in his faith while his wife was detained.

Margarita Avila, a Houston mother of nine, was detained by ICE after an altercation that led to no charges. Her close-knit family weigh their futures if she is deported.

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Professors want to leave Texas because of tense political climate, survey says https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-faculty-university-political-climate-survey/ Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:45:44 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-faculty-university-political-climate-survey/ Many Texas faculty are considering getting a job in a different state because of increased political interference in higher ed, a recent survey found.

Professors’ concerns included the state’s DEI ban and new limits to faculty influence at colleges and universities.

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Climate change has sent temperatures soaring in Texas https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/27/texas-climate-change-heat/ Tue, 27 Jun 2023 20:54:01 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/27/texas-climate-change-heat/ A dust storm blows over cotton fields ahead of a late-summer thunderstorm in Terry County in August 2022. A Texas Tribune analysis shows that extreme heat is becoming more common across Texas due to climate change, but the effects aren’t felt the same everywhere.

Hotter days and nights. More record highs. Climate change has shifted the entire range of Texas heat upwards.

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Attorney General Ken Paxton was impeached. Here’s how that process works in Texas. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-impeachment-attorney-general-ken-paxton/ Fri, 26 May 2023 01:49:08 +0000 https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-impeachment-attorney-general-ken-paxton/ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to his supporters after being sworn in to office for a third term in Jan. 10. The state’s embattled top lawyer is facing impeachment in the Legislature.

Paxton is now suspended until the outcome of a trial in the Senate. Gov. Greg Abbott can now appoint someone to temporarily fill the vacancy.

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