It was also revealed at a special Texas Senate committee meeting that the Texas foster care worker who allegedly sold nude pictures of girls is also accused of dating a child trafficker.
Reese Oxner
Reese Oxner was the product manager for The Texas Tribune. He oversaw the product development lifecycle and product operations across The Tribune’s product portfolio. He previously was the Tribune’s breaking news reporter. Before arriving at the Tribune, Reese interned on NPR’s news desk, was a summer reporting fellow at the Tribune and worked part-time covering Arlington for the Dallas Morning News. He was the editor in chief of The Shorthorn, the University of Texas at Arlington’s student-run newspaper, where he earned the 2019 editor of the year award from the Texas Collegiate Press Association. He studied web design in college and really, really likes Korean BBQ. (Photo: Tom Fox, The Dallas Morning News)
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Foster Care in Texas
Texas Rangers confirm investigation into nude photos of children at Bastrop shelter but find “no evidence” of sex abuse
An attorney representing foster care children in a suit against Texas said Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw’s conclusion that there was no evidence of sexual abuse despite the investigation into the photos was “both surprising and extremely troubling.”
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Foster Care in Texas
Texas’ child welfare agency ordered to investigate trans kids’ families has been in crisis for years
The Department of Family and Protective Services has been under federal court monitoring for over a decade for violating the civil rights of kids in foster care. Now, the short-staffed agency has to investigate parents who provide their children with gender-affirming care.
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Foster Care in Texas
State-licensed shelter where sex trafficking victims were reportedly abused ordered to close
The Refuge, which closed Friday, said it fired an employee accused of coercing the victims to sell nude photos as soon as it found out. The Bastrop-based shelter has not addressed the other eight staff members also accused of causing harm to the girls.
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Foster Care in Texas
Kids in foster care who’d been victims of sex trafficking endured fresh abuse at a state shelter, report says
The children were sexually abused and neglected while at The Refuge, a facility located in Bastrop contracted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, according to a report from a current employee.
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Texas 2022 Elections
Many voting locations throughout Texas did not open because of staff shortages
In some voting locations where a party’s appointed polling judge didn’t show up, election officials allowed the other party’s judge to operate both parties’ voting machines in an effort to keep the polling place running.
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Public Education
ACLU wants North Texas school district to apologize for removing over 100 library books
Most of the titles focus on LGBTQ, race or identity issues. Though Granbury ISD said most of the books have been returned, the ACLU called on the district to affirm its commitment to inclusivity.
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Foster Care in Texas
Over 1,000 Texas foster children have been allowed to refuse COVID-19 vaccines, despite the state requiring other vaccinations
Around 40% of the foster children in the state’s care who are ages 5 and older have not received a COVID-19 vaccine despite being eligible.
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Criminal Justice
19 Austin police officers accused of excessive force during 2020 protests are indicted
Austin officials also agreed to a $10 million settlement with two men who were injured by police with beanbag rounds during the protests.
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Winter Storm 2021
Texas could connect to national power grids without losing autonomy, former grid regulator says
Texas has long refused to connect its decentralized grid to two national power networks, but Hunt Energy Network CEO Pat Wood said the state could do so without additional oversight — and without state Legislature approval.