Jim Malewitz

Trump Team Confirms Plans To Drop Key Claim Against Texas Voter ID Law

The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed Monday it plans to ditch its longstanding position that Texas lawmakers purposefully discriminated against minority voters by passing the nation’s strictest voter identification law in 2011.

Jim Malewitz
By Jim Malewitz
During the first week of early voting for the 2016 presidential elections, civil rights lawyers took issue with this sign outside of a polling place in Cuero. It did not mention options for casting a ballot without photo ID. (Photo: Bob Daemmrich /The Texas Tribune)

(REPORT) --- The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday ditched its longstanding position that Texas lawmakers purposefully discriminated against minority voters by passing the nation’s strictest voter identification law in 2011. The move came one day before a federal judge was scheduled to hear arguments on that high-stakes voting rights

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Latest Texas Mosque Fire Ruled Arson

Investigators said Wednesday that someone intentionally set the fire that destroyed a mosque two weeks ago in Victoria, the South Texas town that has since rallied around its Muslim community.

Jim Malewitz
By Jim Malewitz
The FBI, ATF and other agencies sift through the burned remains of the Victoria Islamic Center a mosque in Victoria on Jan. 29 2017. Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune

(REPORT) --- Investigators said Wednesday that someone intentionally set the fire that destroyed a mosque two weeks ago in Victoria, the South Texas town that has since rallied around its Muslim community. But experts still don’t know who set the blaze, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said in a news release. Meanwhile, the

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Abandoned Texas Oil Wells Seen As “Ticking Time Bombs” Of Contamination

Texas is among several states grappling with a surge of abandoned drilling sites and dwindling funds to clean them up.

Jim Malewitz
By Jim Malewitz
Ty Edwards, assistant general manager of the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District, points to brackish water flowing from one of several flowing abandoned wells— originally drilled for oil, but later used for irrigation — that no state agency plans to plug. Rafael Aguilera for The Texas Tribune

IMPERIAL (REPORT) — Peculiar things can happen after folks drill deep into the earth — looking for oil, water or whatever — and leave a bunch of holes in the ground. Fluids can gurgle and leak, migrating where they don’t belong. In rare instances, land could even sink or collapse. The oddest unintended consequences tend to bubble up in this

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Texas Found 276 Cases Of Groundwater Contamination Last Year

Texas regulators have allowed energy companies in recent years to inject toxic materials into at least a “handful” of underground sources of drinking water, records show.

Jim Malewitz
By Jim Malewitz

State regulators last year documented 276 new cases of groundwater contamination across Texas, a slight increase compared to 2014 but far fewer than in years past. That’s according to the annual “Joint Groundwater Monitoring and Contamination Report” published last week by the Texas Groundwater Projection Committee, a collection of nine state

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EPA: North Texas Earthquakes Likely Linked To Fracking

Texas, home to thousands of such wells, is the third-most at-risk state for man-made earthquakes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey — behind only Oklahoma and Kansas.

Jim Malewitz
By Jim Malewitz
Chad Devereaux examines bricks that fell from three sides of his in-laws home in Sparks, Okla., following two earthquakes that hit the area in less than 24 hours. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Federal regulators believe “there is a significant possibility” that recent earthquakes in North Texas are linked to oil and gas activity, even if state regulators won’t say so. That’s according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual evaluation of how the Texas Railroad Commission oversees thousands of injection and disposal wells

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