Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byNoemi Castanon
Nabil Ezzarhouni and his son Rumi were headed home from their afternoon bike ride through the Southern Walnut Creek trail in January when a car hit the 7-year-old at the intersection of Lyons and Springdale roads. Austin police and emergency services quickly arrived, checked Rumi and determined that while he had suffered bruises and scrapes, he did not need hospitalization.
Austin has invested over $1.3 billion since 2016 to transform its roads for bike safety, according to Austin Transportation and Public Works. But accidents like the one involving little Rumi are common. In 2025, cars seriously injured 22 cyclists, and five cyclists. So far this year, three bikers have been seriously injured, according to Vision Zero dashboard of traffic safety.
“We need to ensure bikes are safe and have the right to be driven around without having to take a chance,” Ezzarhouni said.
byNatalia Rodriguez
Ronald Reagan went from actor to governor to president. Donald Trump went from real-estate developer to reality TV star to president. Now, two Texas celebrities, Bobby Pulido and Mark Texeira, hope to join that list as they run for U.S. Congress without holding any prior office.
“Name recognition is huge,” says University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professor Richard Longoria, whose research focuses on celebrity politics. “It’s one of the biggest predictors for people that study electoral politics. Getting a lot of media attention and being well known is a huge advantage, but by itself is not enough.”
byRachel N. Madison
Protesters at the Texas Capitol called for the Legislature to stop the rapid spread of data centers Monday, urging representatives to hold a special session to discuss the environmental impacts of the new technology. “My land is being threatened,” said Rena Schroeder, a Republican candidate for a state Senate seat in South Texas. “We […]
byOisakhose Aghomo
Experts say Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012, is struggling to navigate real-life sex and dating culture in a digital age, and research points to this generation having less sex. Now, their teenage counterparts will have less access to information about sex after parents’ rights groups successfully lobbied for a new law that restricts Texas schools from teaching sex education or providing student health services unless parents have specifically authorized it.
