They lost homes and summer cabins to the July 4 flood in Kerr County. Now they are weighing whether it makes sense to rebuild.
Travis Swicegood
Travis Swicegood was the first News Apps and Data Editor, where he worked from 2010 to 2014. He previously spent nearly a decade and a half in the technology industry with a focus on the web. Originally from El Paso, he has worked for startups targeting everything from electronic medical records to customer relationship management to social networks. He came to the Tribune after a year and a half of running his own consulting company that focused on helping not-for-profits and political activists use technology to expand their reach. Before joining the Tribune, he led the technology department as Director of Technology and spearheaded development efforts on the Tribune's Armstrong Project, a Knight Foundation-funded project to create an open source news platform.
Posted in
Environment
The guerilla campaign to save a Texas prairie from “silent extinction”
Students and naturalists have been sneaking onto private land to extricate threatened native plants: “This is a war between us and the developers, and nobody’s calling uncle.”
Posted in
Environment
The Rio Grande Valley was once covered in forest. One man is trying to bring it back.
The Tamaulipan thornforest once covered 1 million acres on both sides of the border with Mexico. Restoring even a fraction of it could help the region cope with the ravages of a warming world.
Posted in
Environment
A billion-pound problem: How unchecked “excess emissions” ballooned in Texas
Over the last two decades, state regulators have allowed companies to release more than a billion pounds of excess pollution.
Posted in
Environment
Mandatory home buyouts are dismantling a flood-prone Houston community
Harris County’s mandatory program to buy homes in six neighborhoods that have found themselves under flood waters over and over is quickly tearing apart the community fabric of Allen Field.
Posted in
Transportation
Texas accused of skirting federal environmental law to push for Austin’s Interstate 35 expansion
A group of activists is suing the Texas Department of Transportation, saying the agency split the Interstate 35 project in Austin into segments to obscure its full impacts and “circumvent” federal requirements.
Posted in
Environment
As Houston plots a sustainable path forward, it’s leaving this neighborhood behind
While Houston works to overcome its image as a dirty oil town, neighborhoods like Manchester remain solidly dominated by the petrochemical industry.
Posted inPolitics
Map: Comparing Nondiscrimination Ordinances in Texas Cities
On Monday, the Plano City Council voted to extend its nondiscrimination policy to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. Use our map to see what nondiscrimination policies other major Texas cities have on the books.
Posted inState Government
News App: Government Salaries Explorer
Our new Government Salaries Explorer reimagines our flagship salary database app. Use the explorer to review the compensation of hundreds of thousands of state and municipal employees in Texas. We will update and expand this database periodically.
Posted inPolitics
Interactive: A Look at the Returns on Investments in Primary Campaigns
In competitive races, a candidate will ideally get the best bang for his or her buck. Use our interactive to see how much each candidate for a state office spent (or did not spend) for each vote he or she received in the March 4 primary.