Penelope Rivera
Tarrant County Accountability ReporterPenelope Rivera is KERA’s Tarrant County accountability reporter. She joined the newsroom in 2024 as an intern before becoming a full-time breaking news reporter. In 2025, she received a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for her continuous coverage of North Texas church scandals. Penelope was born and raised in Fort Worth.
In her free time, she enjoys painting, creative writing and trying new local restaurants and coffee shops.
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This includes ending the Cesar Chavez holiday in Tarrant County and removing street toppers with his name in Fort Worth. -
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn gave a briefing to commissioners about the statistics related to Tarrant County Jail inmates in 2025. -
Tarrant County received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation with legal concerns over its Ten Commandments monument installed on the courthouse lawn. -
Dario Sanchez, 32, shared in interviews with KERA News his perspective on the charges he's facing related to a shooting that occurred outside the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4, 2025. Sanchez was not at the shooting but has been arrested three times in connection. -
The results point to an O’Hare-Simmons election in November for the county judge seat that could be one of the most crucial races in Tarrant County. -
Anthony Johnson Jr. died in Tarrant County Jail custody in 2024 after officers pepper sprayed him in the face. Rafael Moreno, one of the officers on trial, knelt on his back for 90 seconds. -
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in an opinion the Texas Commission on Jail Standards has the authority to hire an independent investigator to look into all custody deaths. The opinion is in response to a letter sent by Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells last year. -
Tuesday marked the start of jury selection in the trial for nine defendants charged in the July 4 Prairieland shooting. -
Two Democratic candidates and two Republican candidates are on the ballot for next month’s primary election. -
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the probe Friday. -
The Tarrant County jail has 388 inmates with a federal immigration hold, officials said Tuesday. -
A Dallas County judge on Friday denied requests from two former Gateway Church elders to be dismissed from the lawsuit.
