Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byLuke Lawhorn
Bob Bowman took over for longtime Texas swim coach Eddie Reese last April after nine years at Arizona State and winning the men’s national championship last season. Though his primary role is the men’s head coach, Bowman is serving in a newly created position as the director of swimming and diving, meaning he oversees the women’s side as well.
Veteran swimmers like Sticklen have felt his influence across both teams.
“Having Bob here and having his energy and competitiveness and the fire that he brings, it does seep over in our side,” Emma Sticklen said. “I always think that we are a better team when both teams are having fun.”
byLuke Lawhorn
Chris Plonsky, UT’s executive senior associate athletics director, is set to be inducted this month into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco for her 48 years in college athletics, including 37 at Texas.
byMadeline de Figueiredo
Thomas Greenwell wakes up each morning and gets ready twice — he goes through the motions of brushing teeth twice, doing hair twice and getting dressed twice — once for himself and once for his client, Edgar. But Greenwell doesn’t know how much longer he will be able to afford to take care of Edgar as a community-based care provider under Medicaid. “The attendant care wages are not sustainable at all,” he says. The Legislature will revisit attendant wages in this spring’s legislative session as caregivers and advocacy groups push for more competitive and livable wages.
byMeredith McKelvey
As protests erupted in state capitals around the country Wednesday, hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Austin to voice their anger at the Trump administration.
Enraged by President Donald Trump’s far-reaching actions during the first two weeks of his second term, protesters waved signs and chanted in unison at the Texas Capitol and on the streets of downtown Austin. While protesters had varied reasons for demonstrating against the Trump administration, they shared a common fear: the demise of democratic institutions in the United States.
“At some point, you can only step on people’s necks for so long,” said Benny de la Vega, an American who immigrated from the Philippines in 1985 and said he is seeing similarities to the dictatorship he fled. “At some point, everyone will have a common, shared understanding that their rights are being taken away. When we lose representation, then things need to change.”
