Christopher Connelly

The coronavirus outbreak has coincided with a surge in domestic violence calls, launching what some have called a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence across the world. 

The Trump Administration is planning to severely limit approvals of new H-1B visas. Companies use that type of visa to bring in temporary guest workers to fill specialized roles, and Texas could be the state most affected by the changes.

Years after she left her abusive husband, Jasmine was completely out of options. She had tried to create a new life with her kids, but she’d left the relationship with no job and only $78 dollars in her pocket.

The last time Stacey’s boyfriend strangled her, she nearly died.

“I woke up, I just felt numb. My whole body was just like, am I here? Am I dead?” she recalled thinking after she regained consciousness.

In the booming suburbs north of Dallas, the city of Frisco grew faster than any other large city in the country over the last decade. That’s according to a new analysis from the Census Bureau.

The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is staggering: More than 90,000 Americans have died of the disease and more than 38 million people have filed for unemployment since March. While the pain is widespread, it hasn’t been equal.

The Supreme Court of Texas put a temporary moratorium on some court-ordered debt collections in response to the coronavirus. But before that, the number of debt collection lawsuits in Texas courts was on the rise, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trust.

Each time Clay Jenkins steps to the podium for a press conference, the Dallas County judge begins with a grim duty: An update on new cases of COVID-19 and a list of the dead. No names are given, but the age, gender and hometown are identified.

Annie Quasnitschka was supposed to start her new job in March. She’d left her job at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth, and was planning a new life as a traveling freelancing nurse anesthetist. She’d landed her first contract. Then, all elective surgeries were cancelled.

Last month, as Texas began to shutter businesses and cancel public events, counties across the state began cutting the number of people in local jails, concerned that the facilities offered a particularly deadly breeding ground for the pandemic. On March 1, there were more than 68,000 people in Texas jails, including people being held pre-trial and those who’d been convicted and sentenced. On April 1, there were just over 58,000.

Texas state parks reopened this morning – albeit with some limitations, and retail stores can re-open Friday for delivery and pickup orders. These are the first steps in Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to re-open the Texas economy and begin easing back on social distancing.

Update 4/12/2020 at 8:57 pm:

Since KERA first reported this story, Mendy Forbes ⁠— an inmate at Federal Medical Center Carswell ⁠— was put into administrative segregation, more commonly called solitary confinement.

Her father, Gene Estes, says it was punishment for speaking to the media about conditions inside the prison and the fears she and other inmates have about coronavirus spreading. He says the news is upsetting, and that his daughter wasn’t trying to make the prison look bad.

As Texas' two largest counties are struggling to contain outbreaks of coronavirus in their jails, local officials everywhere are hoping to keep COVID-19 out of their local lockups.

Now, no city in Texas requires employers to provide paid time off for sick workers. The City of Dallas can no longer enforce its paid sick leave mandate, at least for now. That’s after a federal judge blocked the ordinance requiring the time off while a lawsuit proceeds.

Two weeks ago, Emilie and Tim Sherrod received a letter from the Denton State Supported Living Center. It said visitation had been suspended due to concerns about coronavirus, so they wouldn’t be visiting their identical twin sons, Ty and Tate, any time soon.

Five inmates at the Dallas County Jail have now tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. 

Billy Bob’s Texas is best known for bull riding, boot scooting, country singing and beer drinking. But like everywhere these days, when crowds of more than 10 people are a public health concern, the party’s on pause at the world’s largest Honky Tonk. This weekend, though, the entertainment complex is taking on a critical role for North Texas: helping replenish the region’s blood supply.

Of the 193 countries that in the world, 179 offer some form of paid sick leave so workers can stay home when they’re unwell. The U.S. is not one of those countries. 

This story is part of the KERA One Crisis Away series, Coronavirus And Life On The Financial Edge.

The fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic is putting into sharp focus the ways inequality makes responding to disease outbreaks more challenging. As public health and other officials seek to limit the spread of the virus, the decisions they make and the guidance they offer may be undermined by the large number of Texans living on the financial edge.

Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger declared victory Tuesday night over challenger Chris Putnam in the Texas 12th Congressional District primary. She had nearly 60% of votes at the end of the evening.

Democrats are targeting ten Texas House districts in North Texas in 2020 that are held by Republicans, and perhaps no race is more hotly contested as the one in House District 92.

The district centers on northeast Tarrant County’s H-E-B suburbs – that’s Hurst Euliss and Bedford, not the grocery chain.

The suburbs throughout North Texas are some of 2020’s premiere political battlegrounds. With the primary vote underway, Republicans are picking their nominees to run in the November general election – for local offices, and for seats in the Texas House and in Congress. 

Democrats see more opportunity in Tarrant County than any other to flip seats in the state capitol in Austin. They need to pick up nine seats to win control of the state House for the first time in 20 years, and are targeting five seats in Tarrant, the state’s third-largest county. 

These days, when Ashley Bryant drives around in her black Nissan, she does it without the anxiety she carried for six years whenever she got behind the wheel.

Tim O’Connell has won three world championships in bareback bronc riding. Last week, he stepped into Dickies Arena at the beginning of this new season to try to claim another. 

Since 1992, Ed Kraus has been a Fort Worth cop. In May, he was named interim police chief. Last month, he was given the job permanently. 

More than one million people have moved to North Texas since 2010, making it the fastest growing of the large metropolitan areas in the U.S. 

The congregation of West Freeway Church of Christ gathered in the sanctuary Monday night – the first time since a gunman opened fire during a service Sunday morning, killing two church members. Outside, dozens gathered at a candlelight vigil.