Texas Tribune
Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp will retire in June 2025
by By Zach Despart, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-01 09:14:44
SUMMARY: John Sharp, the longest-serving chancellor of Texas A&M, will retire in June 2025 after transforming the university system over 13 years. During his tenure, Sharp expanded A&M's academic and athletic programs, including acquiring a law school, building the 2,000-acre RELLIS campus, and moving A&M's football team to the Southeastern Conference. Despite some controversies, such as a job offer scandal and criticism of political interference, his leadership significantly boosted the system's stature. Sharp's successor will be chosen through a national search, with the challenge of matching his unique political skills and ambitious vision for the university.
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John Sharp, Texas A&M's longest serving chancellor who has transformed the university system and boosted the flagship's academic and athletic brands over his 13 years at the helm, will retire in June 2025.
Citing a desire to “always go out on top,” Sharp, 73, said in an interview with The Texas Tribune that he had accomplished most of what he had set out to achieve, from acquiring a law school to building a 2,000-acre high-tech campus called RELLIS for defense research and testing.
“We've done some amazing things, and over the next year there's going to be some more amazing things, and I'm not sure after this next year it can be topped,” Sharp said with a chuckle. “It seemed to be a pretty good time to say hey, it's been a great ride, and it's time for someone else to take the reins.”
Sharp informed the Board of Regents several weeks ago and announced his retirement to staff on Monday morning. The regents will conduct a national search in the coming months for Sharp's successor.
“It's an understatement to say we have giant boots to fill,” Regents Chair Bill Mahomes said in a statement.
Sharp's impending exit from his alma mater sets off a seismic change across Texas' higher education and political landscape where he is one of the most well-known and influential leaders. The charismatic and ambitious Aggie has presided over an enormous expansion of the A&M system, which now includes 11 universities, eight state agencies and more than 150,000 students.
Under Sharp, the College Station flagship ballooned into the nation's largest university, with more than 77,000 students — an increase of more than 50% since he stepped into his role.
John Sharp attends a ceremony for graduates of the Texas Department of Emergency Management program at the Texas State Capitol on March 24, 2023.
Credit:
Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune
After the system acquired Texas Wesleyan University's law school in 2012, it shot up 57 spots in five years and is now ranked one of the nation's top 30 law programs.
Sharp also elevated the football team, overseeing a nearly half a billion dollar expansion of Kyle Field and moving the Aggies into the Southeastern Conference. The team has risen in the ranks earning six bowl game wins since 2011, compared to just one bowl win in the 14 years before Sharp took the reins. However, Sharp has fallen short of his promise to deliver a national championship.
“The A&M System has become a dynamo nationally since John Sharp became chancellor,” said Phil Adams, who served on the Board of Regents during the first 10 years of Sharp's tenure, in a statement. “Every year he had a big idea, and it got done.”
A former legislator and statewide elected official, Sharp's political dynamism has often been compared to former President Lyndon B. Johnson, another conservative Democrat from rural Texas. He has proven remarkably adept at navigating the thorny politics of higher education at a time when the Republican Legislature has become increasingly critical of university curriculum and culture. In the most recent legislative session, Sharp secured $1 billion in new funding for the system, an all-time high.
He teased at yet-to-be announced projects in the works that, if they come to fruition, could bring the biggest economic development to the Brazos Valley since the founding of A&M.
“We wake up every morning and don't limit ourselves on ideas,” Sharp said. “Some of them are good and some of them turn out bad, and the ones that are good, we go to the Legislature and ask for money, and they've been great to us.”
John Sharp speaks holds a press conference during a Texas A&M Board of Regents meeting on May 19, 2022. Over his 13 years at the helm, Sharp has transformed the university system and boosted the flagship's academic and athletic brands.
Credit:
Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune
That higher education governance has become increasingly political has flustered many university leaders who rose through the ranks of academia. But not Sharp, whose background as a politician makes him uniquely equipped to bend the Legislature to his will.
Sharp, a Blue Dog Democrat from Victoria County, served in the Corps of Cadets and as student body president at Texas A&M. After stints in the state House and Senate before, he was elected to the statewide Railroad Commission in 1986. He won office twice as the state comptroller and in 1998 ran for lieutenant governor against Rick Perry — his onetime dormmate when the pair were A&M undergraduates. Sharp narrowly lost the race, and with the Republican Party ascendant, his future in electoral politics was dim.
Yet he remained close with Perry, and it was a Board of Regents appointed by the governor that hired Sharp to run the A&M System in 2011. His hiring as an outsider was greeted with skepticism with some professors and administrators. He demonstrated impatience with the lethargic pace of decision making in higher education. He possesses frenetic energy and an occasionally short temper.
But even his detractors concede that his tenacity and penchant for showmanship have transformed the A&M System in a way no previous chancellor had done. He added the “Texas A&M” brand to several government agencies within the system, including the state's emergency management department. To the particular delight of fellow Aggies, Sharp helped the system beat out the University of Texas to co-manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which handles radioactive and weapons-grade nuclear material.
John Sharp attends a Texas A&M Board of Regents' meeting on Aug. 23, 2017. “We've done some amazing things, and over the next year there's going to be some more amazing things, and I'm not sure after this next year it can be topped,” Sharp said in an interview with The Texas Tribune.
Credit:
Shelby Knowles/The Texas Tribune
Sharp attributes the steadfast support from state leaders in part to the fact that as the A&M System has grown in size and prestige, it has maintained the same culture as when he attended in the 1970s.
“Nobody calls us anybody's little brother anymore,” Sharp said. “But we still have a student body that's full of patriotism, that's full of selfless service, that's committed to the country and state.”
He acknowledged criticism by conservative voters and politicians that universities have become too liberal. He bristles at criticism from the far right publication Texas Scorecard that A&M has “gone woke” for policies promoting diversity. The website also attacked A&M's president for acknowledging the concept of white privilege and criticized the school for offering classes on LGBTQIA+ topics.
Sharp said A&M is anything but a haven for leftists. He challenged critics to find another public university where thousands of students gather in the basketball arena for weekly Bible study, as they do at A&M. The system sent out a press release, with a glowing quote from Sharp, when A&M was named the 13th most conservative college campus by Niche College Rankings.
In recent years, Sharp has taken heat on campus for not doing more to defend the interests of diverse students and faculty that have found themselves in the Legislature's political crosshairs.
Last year, Texas A&M was involved in an embarrassing and expensive scandal after offering and then rescinding a job a Black journalism professor after conservative board members raised concerns that she would promote diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum because of her credentials. The professor, Kathleen McElroy, ended up settling with Texas A&M for $1 million.
Days later, the Tribune reported Sharp was involved in the suspension of a professor who was accused by a politically connected student of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during a lecture.
Both cases set off accusations of political interference at A&M and raised questions about how university officials like Sharp value diversity.
But those questions do not come, at least publicly, from the regents that employ Sharp and who in 2021 gave him a whopping 7-year contract extension. While nominally a Democrat, Sharp also does not publicly criticize the Republicans who control state government and appoint regents, nor does he campaign for the Democrats that challenge them.
Sharp on the Texas Senate floor as Sen. Pete Flores is sworn into office on Oct. 12, 2018. A former legislator and statewide elected official, Sharp's political dynamism has often been compared to former President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Credit:
Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
At times, he is accommodating to his benefactors in the Capitol. When Gov. Greg Abbott prohibited state agencies and public universities from considering diversity in hiring decisions, Sharp prohibited the consideration of race in admissions, even though Texas A&M had not done this in practice for 20 years.
And even when Sharp felt he had no choice but to disagree with state leaders, he found creative solutions. When Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushed to end faculty tenure — a move Sharp knew would torpedo A&M's future as a magnet for world-class professors — Sharp proposed lawmakers simply codify the system's existing tenure policies into law, which allowed for the firing of faculty in limited circumstances.
It was the kind of Sharp masterstroke that demonstrated why he is the longest-serving chancellor on A&M system history.
But finding a successor with such a unique skill set may be a challenge, as Sharp acknowledged the post he leaves is far more complex than the one he inherited. He declined to share his advice for the regents in their selection, but said he is committed to helping the new chancellor settle into the role before he departs next June.
“(The regents) wanted me to stay through the legislative session one more time to help with that,” Sharp said. “I'll bring the new chancellor with me.”
Kate McGee contributed reporting.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
UT-Austin offers probation to students arrested in protests
by By Asad Jung, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 17:44:44
SUMMARY: The University of Texas at Austin is disciplining students arrested during pro-Palestinian protests in April by offering “deferred suspension,” allowing students to avoid suspension by proving educational growth. Deferred suspension requires students to take an exam on university rules and avoid appealing the decision. Some students, like Ari Lenahan, see this as a relief compared to harsher penalties faced by peers at other universities. Over 130 protesters were arrested, but Travis County Attorney Delia Garza declined to pursue criminal trespassing charges. The university's heavy-handed response has sparked criticism from students, faculty, and free speech advocates.
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The University of Texas at Austin has begun disciplining students who were arrested in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in April, scolding them for their actions but offering them a path to avoid suspension.
In letters sent out to students this week, first reported by KUT, university officials said it would be appropriate to suspend them for their actions during the protests but would give them the option to take “deferred suspension” instead, a form of probation that would allow students to remain in class and keep the disciplinary action from appearing on their final transcripts.
“Recognizing our commitment to educational growth, we want to offer you an alternative path to avoid suspension by proving that you have learned from this experience,” reads one of the letters obtained by The Texas Tribune.
Students who choose deferred suspension must agree to take an exam testing their knowledge of the university's rules and agree not to appeal the decision. The status would be active until July 7, 2025.
Those who decline that option would be suspended, the letter says. Students may also appeal the disciplinary sanctions through a university hearing.
Ari Lenahan, a UT-Austin student set to graduate in December, said he was relieved the university offered him deferred suspension since students at other universities across the country are facing harsher punishments after participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. He said it may be the best choice for him since he aims to graduate this year.
“It's a lot clearer where I stand now, at least in the university's eyes,” he said.
Lenahan still has a hold on his account preventing him from registering for classes in the fall but said the letter he received Wednesday states any holds will be removed once his case is resolved.
Anne-Marie Jardine, a recent graduate, received a sanction letter concerning her involvement in an April 24 pro-Palestinian demonstration. Jardine was told she would be under deferred suspension for one year if she were to re-enroll at UT-Austin. Jardine said she hasn't received her official diploma from the university yet.
Many other students under investigation have not yet been informed about how the university plans to move forward with their cases. Sam Law, a PhD candidate who was arrested on April 29, said that he expects the university will contact him soon.
More than 130 protesters were arrested at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on UT-Austin's campus in late April. In resolute efforts to dispel the protesters, law enforcement at the time deployed pepper spray and flash-bang explosives and charged students with horses. State troopers were deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott to help quash the protests and had a hand in the arrests.
Those arrested were charged with criminal trespassing but Travis County Attorney Delia Garza declined to pursue those charges.
In the aftermath of the protest, many students, faculty and free speech advocates questioned UT-Austin's heavy-handed response to the protests and criticized state GOP leaders' support of the arrests. Just a few years ago, Abbott had championed state legislation that protected free speech on college campuses, leading free speech advocates to ask who gets to enjoy free speech protections in Texas.
UT-Austin leaders, meanwhile, have vowed to carry out discipline against students who violated campus policies. Seniors in the class of 2024 were afraid their diplomas would be withheld, though they were permitted to join graduation ceremonies in the spring.
Sneha Dey contributed to this story.
Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
The post UT-Austin offers probation to students arrested in protests appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Hurricane Beryl likely to hit Texas coast Monday
by By Emily Foxhall, Berenice Garcia and Stephen Simpson, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 16:47:07
SUMMARY: Texans are being urged to prepare for Hurricane Beryl, expected to make landfall as a Category 1 or 2 storm along the Texas coast on Monday. Currently crossing Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Beryl could hit anywhere from northern Mexico to the mid-Texas coast. Officials stress vigilance and preparation, especially for those along the Gulf coast, and advise stocking up on essentials like food and water. Emergency measures include distributing sandbags and readying evacuation plans. Beryl, an unusually strong early-season storm, has already caused significant Caribbean damage, with forecasters predicting a highly active hurricane season exacerbated by climate change.
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Texans need to prepare for Hurricane Beryl, which is likely to make landfall on the state's coast as a Category 1 or 2 storm on Monday, state emergency officials said.
The record-setting storm was moving across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, leaving forecasters still unsure exactly where along the Texas coast will see the worst rainfall and wind.
As Beryl left behind a trail of destruction across Caribbean islands, state officials urged Texans along the entire Gulf coast to pay close attention and prepare for a dangerous storm, particularly people vacationing during the July 4 holiday weekend.
“Everyone along the coast should be paying attention to this storm,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a news conference in Austin. Patrick is serving as acting governor as Gov. Greg Abbott travels in Asia on an economic development trip.
Residents should be gassing up their vehicles and making sure they have food and water for themselves and their pets, Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said.
“A lot of people are out having fun right now, and that's a good thing, and we want them to continue to do that, but we also want them to prepare,” Kidd said. “We need a prepared community, not a panicked community.”
Boarded windows at the H-E-B Plus! grocery store in Brownsville on July 5, 2024.
Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
Officials in the Rio Grande Valley and Corpus Christi have been distributing thousands of sandbags to help people prepare for potential flooding. South Texans have been eager for rain because the two major reservoirs on the Rio Grande have reached near or record lows in June.
Forecasters on Friday expected Beryl to make landfall anywhere from northern Mexico to the mid-Texas coast. The storm appeared likely aimed for South Texas but experts warned its path could shift north to Corpus Christi or Matagorda Bay.
Tropical storm-level winds would likely arrive Sunday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. Areas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi faced the greatest wind threat under the current forecast.
Heavy rain could begin Sunday and last through Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center predicted four to eight inches to fall along the South Texas coastline, with higher amounts in some spots, and up to six inches from Corpus Christi to Matagorda Bay. Forecasters expected the storm to slow over land, which would increase the risk of flooding.
Rip currents and high seas starting late Friday will make coastal conditions dangerous.
In the Rio Grande Valley, officials were preparing for possible flooding.
The eastern part of Hidalgo County tends to be hit the hardest during heavy rains, but the county was taking steps to mitigate flooding there, said Ricardo Saldaña, Hidalgo County's emergency management coordinator. Officials have placed water pumps near flood-prone areas and worked with contractors to prevent flooding at drainage project sites by covering up excavation holes.
Saldaña warned residents to make their own preparations by stocking up on food and water, preparing an emergency kit, and making arrangements with friends and family to relocate if necessary.
Sandbags at a county facility in Brownsville on July 5, 2024.
Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. recommended that people in recreational vehicles leave county parks.
“If you don't feel safe, evacuate,” said Tom Hushen, Cameron County's emergency management coordinator.
If there is flooding, Hushen said they were prepared to mobilize fire trucks and ambulances to help people evacuate. But high winds could pose another threat. Winds of more than 90 miles per hour could cause those vehicles to topple over. In that scenario, county officials would have to deploy larger vehicles like dump trucks.
Hushen said any power outages would prompt the opening of emergency shelters. He also advised residents to tie down any loose items in their yards and to bring in all patio furniture because high winds could turn those objects into projectiles.
“Listen to the warnings,” Hushen advised residents. “Things could change at a moment's notice.”
Beryl has astounded meteorologists with its strength so early in the summer. Warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures helped Beryl rapidly strengthen into a Category 4 storm in late June — becoming the first recorded Category 4 storm to form in June, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Beryl strengthened into a Category 5 and tore across the Caribbean, causing devastation in Grenada and Jamaica. It pushed onto the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday as a Category 2 storm.
“Beryl is so out of place historically given how early in the season it is and how strong it got,” said Houston-based meteorologist Matt Lanza, who helps write a blog on tropical weather called The Eyewall. “Typically you don't see that sort of thing until August — not the end of June, beginning of July.”
Federal forecasters expect this hurricane season, which began June 1, to be a bad one. They predicted to see 17 to 25 named storms form, which was more than they had ever forecast before a season's start. They believed four to seven of those would be Category 3 storms or stronger.
Climate change driven by people burning fossil fuels is causing oceans to warm and makes hurricanes more likely to be stronger. Scientists also say climate change may make rapid intensification of storms more likely — as happened with Beryl.
“To look at a satellite on June the 30th or July the 1st and to see a storm of Beryl's magnitude is almost unbelievable,” said Michael Lowry, a hurricane expert for WPLG TV in Miami.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Texas cities lost 88 billion gallons of water in 2023
by By Juan Salinas II, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Texas' major cities reported losing approximately 88 billion gallons of water in 2023 due to aging infrastructure and extreme heat, leading to substantial financial losses and strained water supplies. The largest losses were in Houston (31.8 billion gallons), San Antonio, and Dallas, attributed mainly to leaks and main breaks. Efforts to address this include Houston Public Works' pursuit of funding, Fort Worth's advanced metering and water management, and San Antonio Water System's new conservation plan. The state now has a $1 billion Water Fund for infrastructure, though experts like Jennifer Walker argue that significantly more investment is needed.
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Texas' most populous cities lost roughly 88 billion gallons of water last year because of aging water infrastructure and extreme heat, costing them millions of dollars and straining the state's water supply, according to self-reported water loss audits.
The documents show that bigger municipalities are not immune to water issues often seen in smaller, less-resourced communities around the state. All but one big city saw increased water loss from last year's audits.
While cities are losing water because of inaccurate meters or other data issues, the main factors are leaks and main breaks.
Here's how much each of Texas' biggest cities lost last year, according to their self-reported audits:
- Houston: 31.8 billion
- San Antonio: 19.5 billion
- Dallas: 17.6 billion
- Austin: 7.1 billion
- Fort Worth: 5.9 billion
- El Paso: 4.8 billion
Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso must submit water loss audits to the Texas Water Development Board yearly. Other water agencies must do audits only every five years, unless the city has over 3,300 connections or receives money from the board.
“What we have right now is not sustainable [or] tenable,” said Jennifer Walker, National Wildlife Federation's Texas Coast and Water Program director.
The cities of Houston and Dallas saw the biggest increase in lost water reported. Houston saw a 30% jump from last year's audit, while Dallas saw an increase of 18%.
Houston is the largest populous city in the state, home to roughly 2.3 million Texans; it lost around 31 billion gallons of water last year.
Houston Public Works blames the region's long drought from June 2022 to December last year for the increase. Droughts cause clay in soil to dry up and shrink, stressing older water lines and making them more likely to break and leak. Officials said this, combined with aging infrastructure, led to a significant increase in water leaks across the city.
“HPW will continue to pursue all funding options available to help replace aging infrastructure,” the Houston spokesperson said.
Aging infrastructure isn't only a Houston problem. Dallas officials said they only expected a roughly 4% increase in water loss in 2023. They saw a double-digit increase instead.
A Dallas Water Utilities spokesperson said the city is investigating the cause of the increase and “reviewing records to ensure all allowable unbilled/unmetered authorized uses were properly accounted for in the 2023 calculation.”
On the other side of North Texas, Fort Worth saw an increase from 5.6 billion gallons lost in 2022 to 5.9 billion gallons in 2023, losing Cowtown more than $8 million.
Walker, from the National Wildlife Federation, said numbers are also rising because cities are getting more accurate in reporting water loss.
Fort Worth has a “MyH2O program” that replaced all manual read meters with remote read meters and implemented a Real Water Loss Management Plan in 2020 to focus the city efforts related to leak surveys, leak detection and the creation of district metering areas.
“It is actually a testament to how we are using available data to make better decisions and improve reporting with a higher level of confidence,” said Fort Worth Water Conservation Manager Micah Reed.
Last year, voters passed a proposition that created a new fund specifically for water infrastructure projects that are overseen by the Texas Water Development Board.
The agency now has $1 billion to invest in projects that address various issues, from water loss and quality to acquiring new water sources and addressing Texas' deteriorating pipes. It's the largest investment in water infrastructure by state lawmakers since 2013.
Walker calls the $1 billion a “drop in the bucket.”
Texas 2036, an Austin-based think tank, expects the state needs to spend more than $150 billion over the next 50 years on water infrastructure.
While some of the Texas Water Fund must be focused on projects in rural areas with populations of less than 150,000, Walker said the bigger cities could also receive some funding.
In San Antonio, the San Antonio Water System isn't “waiting for [the state] to come and tackle the problem for us.”
The city lost around 19 billion gallons of water in 2023 and has seen an increase over the last five years.
“We're in a state that doesn't even fund public education,” said Robert Puente, president and CEO of the San Antonio Water System. “So good luck to us getting some money from the state on these issues.”
Earlier this week, the SAWS board of trustees unanimously approved a new five-year water conservation plan.
The city of Austin lost around 7 billion gallons of water in 2023.
Austin has hired a consultant to review it's water loss practices and metrics, according to city officials. The capital city is also in the process of replacing water mains around Austin.
Walker said while Texas lawmakers should invest more money in water infrastructure, city officials also need to hire more staff and better planning to address water loss.
The one city that lost less water in 2023 was El Paso, which reported losing 475 million fewer gallons last year. Since El Paso is in the desert, water conservation and having a “watertight” infrastructure is the city's main focus, said Aide Fuentes, El Paso Wastewater Treatment Manager.
“That makes us a little bit different from the rest of Texas in that sense,” Fuentes said.
El Paso Water officials aim to reduce water loss by 10%.
Walker said the data shows that cities should make the case to state lawmakers to continue addressing water infrastructure in the next legislative session. She added this issue isn't going away.
“We really need [to] try to live with what we have and not lose the water that we already have in place and make sure that it's reaching its intended destination,” Walker said.
Disclosure: San Antonio Water System and Texas 2036 have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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