2025 was a busy year for news coverage, and KERA was no exception. Our top headlines this year were dominated by ICE detentions, immigration fears and a noteworthy legislative session.
Here are the top 10 most read stories on KERA News for 2025.
Feds to collect personal info of people exchanging, sending money from U.S.-Mexico border
This story from April detailed the beginnings of a year marked by intense immigration enforcement. Former Texas Newsroom reporter Stella Chavez reported that federal law enforcement was collecting the social security numbers or other identification information of people who exchanged or sent money along the U.S.-Mexico border for transactions between $200 and $10,000. Those who were not U.S. citizens or residents had to present a passport, green card or other official document.
Chavez further reported that the new policy had business owners along the border worried about the effect it would have on their businesses. It was also a privacy concern for immigrants, both with legal or illegal status, who regularly sent money to relatives in Mexico.
ICE begins immigration raids across Texas, dozens arrested
This year, immigrant communities all over the country saw a spike in immigrant arrests. Soon after Trump took office, former Texas Newsroom reporter Stella Chavez reported in January that ICE raids in Texas had begun, arresting individuals in North Texas, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley. In North Texas alone, 84 individuals had been arrested.
The Trump Administration noted that the priority was targeting immigrants without legal status who had criminal histories, but members of the administration also noted that anyone in the country illegally could be arrested.
'Yes, it was just me': Dallas ICE shooter left notes detailing motives, DOJ says
In September Fairview resident Joshua Jahn, 29, opened fire at a Dallas ICE field office early in the morning and hit three detainees being transferred. One died and two were taken to a nearby hospital. Afterward, Jahn turned the gun on himself.
KERA’ s Penelope Rivera reported that after the shooting, law enforcement discovered detailed notes from Jahn, saying he intended to shoot and terrorize the ICE agents. U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson called the fact that he instead hit and killed three detainees a “tragic irony.”
Streets in Deep Ellum to close at 10 p.m. on weekends indefinitely after public safety concerns
Dallas neighborhood Deep Ellum was the subject of a lot of controversy in 2025. During the Fourth of July, business owners and patrons reported people were throwing large fireworks at buildings, cars, police and patrons while fights also broke out during the night. Additionally, a shooting left one person dead and multiple people injured.
KERA’s Megan Cardona reported that the safety concerns led the police to close the streets of Deep Ellum at 10 p.m. on weekends indefinitely. However, the decision was not a popular one among the business owners, some who said it wouldn’t make much of a difference and instead impede business.
Fort Worth Rep. Nicole Collier refuses to leave Texas House, protesting state trooper escorts
This year’s state legislative session was a busy one. Donald Trump asked Gov. Greg Abbott to pass a new legislative map that would give Republicans in the U.S. House an advantage.
State Democrats protested the creation of the new map by fleeing the state until the end of the regular session. When they came back, a special session was called and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ordered state troopers to escort all the truant Democratic lawmakers.
Fort Worth-based lawmaker Nicole Collier protested her state trooper escort by refusing to leave the floor of the Texas House. Fort Worth Report’s David Montgomery reported Collier would not agree to the round-the-clock supervision. Her actions drew not only national attention but also praise from her colleagues.
Why doesn't Texas law regulate police chases? State lawmakers, experts explain
KERA’s Toluwani Osibamowo has been covering the issue of police chases for years now, and in one of the installments of the series Deadly Pursuits, she reported the difficulties facing the regulation of police chases in Texas. One of the issues is a lack of information: No one keeps an accurate number of how many fatalities result from police chases. But another issue, especially in 2025, was a lack of organization on the part of victims and a lack of prioritization on the part of lawmakers.
“The way things get changed around here is families that are upset, they form organizations, they build networks, and they grow those organizations, and they come up here and advocate and say, 'hey, there's a lot of people here who want change,'” said Gene Wu, a Houston-based Democratic lawmaker.
Austin Metcalf's father has angry exchange with 'Protect White Americans' protest organizer
In April, 17-year-old Austin Metcalf was fatally stabbed at a high school track meet in Frisco. Karmelo Anthony, 17, was charged with first-degree murder in the case. Metcalf was white while Anthony is Black.
KERA’s Caroline Love reported the case drew national attention, becoming a racialized instance of crime against white people, mostly thanks to chatter on social media. Two weeks after the murder, a group called “Protect White Americans” organized a protest to condemn the murder as an act of racial violence. However, Anthony’s family condemned the politicization of the case, and Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, said it was inappropriate for the group to use his son’s death as a means to further its political agenda.
Robert Morris pleads guilty to child sex abuse, gets 10 years but will spend 6 months in jail
In the summer of 2024, Gateway Church founder Robert Morris was accused of the sexual abuse of Cindy Clemishire in the 1980s, when she was 12 years old. Since then, Morris has gone through a prolonged legal battle over the case.
In October, the battle came to an end. KERA’s Penelope Rivera reported Morris pleaded guilty to five charges of lewd or indecent acts to a child. He was subsequently given a 10-year sentence but would only serve six months in Osage County Jail in Oklahoma, where the abuse took place and where the case was tried. Morris was also required to register as a lifetime sex offender and pay Clemishire $270,000.
Southwest Airlines announces layoffs as company faces turmoil
It was a rough year for Southwest Airlines. In the aftermath of the disastrous holiday travel season of 2022, the company faced lawsuits and federal challenges, on top of overall consumer dissatisfaction, resulting in lower-than-expected earnings in the third quarter of 2024.
As a result, KERA’s Caroline Love reported Southwest would lay off 15% of its corporate employees, meaning 1,750 employees would be affected. Southwest CEO Robert Jordan said the layoffs were an “extremely difficult decision,” but one that was necessary for the future of the company.
Arlington woman detained by ICE after her honeymoon speaks publicly for the first time
Earlier this year, Arlington resident Ward Sakeik was detained by ICE in Miami on her way to her honeymoon. Sakeik was born in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian refugees, and her husband is a U.S. citizen. The Department of Homeland Security alleged Sakeik had overstayed her visa.
KERA’s Toluwani Osibamowo reported Sakeik had been in custody for five months, and Sakeik’s lawyers said ICE attempted to deport her to the Israel border twice: on June 12 and June 30.
“I did lose five months of my life because I was criminalized for being stateless,” Sakeik said. “Something that I absolutely have no control over. I didn't choose to be stateless, I didn't do a crime that made me stateless. I had no choice.”
