A staffing crisis and the surge from the omicron variant have pushed the number of Texas ICU beds to a new record low. The shortage affects not just patients with the coronavirus, but every Texan seeking serious medical care.
Chris Essig
Chris Essig is the data visuals editor at The Texas Tribune. Based in Austin, he leads a team of developers who build charts, maintain public databases and analyze data to help reporters hold elected officials accountable. Chris has been a newsroom developer for 10 years and has worked in several local newsrooms. As a native of the Midwest, Chris received his journalism degree from Eastern Illinois University and spent six years in Iowa working at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids and at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier in Waterloo.
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Graphics and data reporting
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of Jan. 1. It includes detailed data for the 112 agencies in state government and positions at each of those agencies.
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Graphics and data reporting
Top stories from our data visuals team in 2021
In 2021, the Tribune’s data visuals team helped tell the biggest stories affecting Texans. Here’s a roundup of our most impactful work.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Holidays and at-home tests mean omicron’s spread will be harder to track in Texas
The Texas Department of State Health Services, which tracks the number of coronavirus vaccinations, cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the state, won’t be updating its daily dashboard Friday through Sunday both this week and next over the holidays.
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Coronavirus in Texas
We’ve been tracking COVID-19 trends in Texas for 20 months. Take our survey to help inform what we do next.
Our tracker presents the latest on tests, cases, hospitalizations, people who died and vaccinations. We want to know how this information can be more valuable to readers.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Public Education, State Government
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation has been updated to represent salaries as of Sept. 30. This update also includes new job descriptions and salary ranges for many positions.
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Redistricting Texas
People of color make up 95% of Texas’ population growth, and cities and suburbs are booming, 2020 census shows
The state’s Hispanic population is now nearly as large as the non-Hispanic white population, with Texas gaining nearly 11 Hispanic residents for every additional white resident since 2010. Those trends set up a pitched battle for political control when state lawmakers redraw legislative districts.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Polling places for urban voters of color would be cut under Texas Senate’s version of voting bill being negotiated with House
Voters in some urban, Democratic areas of Harris and Tarrant counties would see a drastic drop in polling places under the Senate version of Senate Bill 7, a Texas Tribune analysis shows.
Posted inState Government
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation has been updated to represent salaries as of April 1. It includes detailed data for the 111 agencies in state government and positions at each of those agencies.
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Coronavirus in Texas
One year ago, the first Texan was killed by COVID-19. 47,000 deaths followed — and it’s not over.
This timeline tracks COVID-19’s rampage through Texas over the last year: the growing death toll, the policy decisions made in response to the pandemic that often influenced its course, and the stories of some of the Texans claimed by the virus.