The Texas Monitor

An independent, non-profit, digital-journalism site reporting on public integrity in state and local government.

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The Texas Monitor is on a temporary hiatus due to funding and personal staff situations relating in part to COVID-19. We hope to return soon and will provide updates here when our status changes. Thank you for reading us and supporting... https://t.co/cTSsAscHNH

[The Texas Monitor @thetexasmonitor]

An outside prosecutor will look into an alleged pattern of withholding of public records by Texas Tech University, at the behest of the Texas Attorney General’s Office. https://t.co/A39juRnp3B

[The Texas Monitor @thetexasmonitor]

A former police officer in Temple has been indicted for manslaughter in a 2019 case in which he shot an unarmed man who had been pulled over for speeding after a short pursuit, KWTX reported. https://t.co/CZyZ446weF

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University of Texas at Arlington President Vistasp Karbhari stepped down from his post Thursday after an investigation revealed questionable dealings with a vendor, The Dallas Morning News reported. https://t.co/KLUMv3cmUI

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The Caldwell County district attorney has declined to prosecute charges against an assistant constable for stealing public records. Instead, the constable who brought the charges is now under investigation, KXAN reported. https://t.co/5NwCuSXXwg

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Four members of the Bellmead City Council said they planned to meet Tuesday evening despite an order from the mayor that all public meetings be canceled or postponed, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. https://t.co/8bbh4X5xMh

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Using disaster declaration authority, Gov. Greg Abbott said this week that local governments will be allowed to conduct official business remotely, without the usual quorum and public participation requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act. https://t.co/Gik8HZwG2i

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The internal auditor’s office at the Dallas school district was prepared to launch a deeper dive into alleged overbilling on construction projects before its chief, Steven Martin, stepped down in February. https://t.co/NzW5LQVAvw

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The State Commission on Judicial Conduct is asking that a lawsuit filed by McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley be transferred from Waco to Austin, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. https://t.co/BvmybwzRhO

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Residents and city officials are hoping for a verdict this week from a Travis County judge in a lawsuit to determine the rights of 15,000 single-family homeowners to protest the damage they say will be done by a controversial, complicated overhaul of... https://t.co/6KHXdgKUX4

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Amber Estrada, a former employee of the East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa, is in custody after being charged with bribery, the Department of Justice announced. https://t.co/7zaAAWUAiz

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Dallas, Houston, and Fort Worth fared poorly in a watchdog group’s annual report examining the financial state of the country’s 75 most populous cities. https://t.co/vdfaB3ByAT

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An internal auditor found that Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall Law School handed out more than $400,000 in scholarships to poorly performing students to boost enrollment and enrich a school official, the Houston Chronicle reported. https://t.co/TXjhGq1TfA

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On Wednesday, Dallas County election employees recounted thousands of primary-election paper ballots that officials believe are the reason for the discrepancy between the number of voters who showed up at polls and the number of ballots initially counted. https://t.co/HVyjBU7KMU

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The former police chief of the West Texas town of Olney was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Monday after forcing two people to perform a sex act at gunpoint in 2017, The Dallas Morning News reported. https://t.co/LwrM6ohIfu

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A judge ruled that Dallas owes a gas driller $44.5 million and counting, for parkland drilling rights that were granted but later denied, The Dallas Morning News reported. https://t.co/hyancxvduz

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Joining the chorus of people calling for a deeper dive into how Victoria County handled $4 million in Hurricane Harvey recovery funds, former sheriff T. Michael O’Connor is calling for a forensic audit, the Victoria Advocate reported. https://t.co/R5K2K3Oqo4

[The Texas Monitor @thetexasmonitor]

Last October, the CEO and president of the largest charter school company in Texas took a trip to Houston. They didn’t travel the way most public-school employees would have. Instead, they traveled by private jet, their spouses and five children came... https://t.co/htShOTWy59

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Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman apologized on Friday for the long lines that caused some residents to wait hours to cast their votes during Tuesday’s primary, the Houston Chronicle reported. https://t.co/lwhmifw6GA

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State prosecutors and the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office are asking that the vice president of the Brownsville school board, under indictment for fraud and bribery, be removed from her post, Channel 4 Valley Central reported. https://t.co/EGq0Eh1kO5