Families and individuals donate about 2,800 bodies to Texas higher education institutions every year so medical, dental and physical therapy students can learn anatomy by seeing and handling actual human tissue. The universities say they handle the corpses with dignity, keeping strict track of the remains to return them to the family for burial. They strive to follow the individual wishes of donors.“We assume that everyone who donates a body to A&M wants to be at A&M,” said John Hubbard, a physical therapy professor who directs Texas A&M University’s willed-body program. “These...…Families and individuals donate about 2,800 bodies to Texas higher education institutions every year so medical, dental and physical therapy students can learn anatomy by seeing and handling actual human tissue. The universities say they handle the corpses with dignity, keeping strict track of the remains to return them to the family for burial. They strive to follow the individual wishes of donors.“We assume that everyone who donates a body to A&M wants to be at A&M,” said John Hubbard, a physical therapy professor who directs Texas A&M University’s willed-body program. “These...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateLate last year, as winter approached and power companies prepared for cold weather, Gov. Greg Abbott’s hand-picked utility regulators decided they no longer wanted to work with a nonprofit organization they had hired to monitor and help Texas enforce the state’s electric reliability standards.The multiyear contract between the Public Utility Commission and the obscure monitoring organization, the Texas Reliability Entity, was trashed. Over the next months, right up until the crippling storm that plunged millions of Texans into the...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateLate last year, as winter approached and power companies prepared for cold weather, Gov. Greg Abbott’s hand-picked utility regulators decided they no longer wanted to work with a nonprofit organization they had hired to monitor and help Texas enforce the state’s electric reliability standards.The multiyear contract between the Public Utility Commission and the obscure monitoring organization, the Texas Reliability Entity, was trashed. Over the next months, right up until the crippling storm that plunged millions of Texans into the...WW…

WASHINGTON - Ten years ago, plunging temperatures forced rolling blackouts across Texas, leaving more than 3 million people without power as the Super Bowl was played outside Dallas.Now, with a near identical scenario following another Texas cold snap, Texas power regulators are being forced to answer how the unusually cold temperatures forced so much of the state’s power generation offline when Texans were trying to keep warm.To start, experts say, power generators and regulators failed to heed the lessons of 2011 — or for that matter, 1989. In the aftermath of the Super Bowl Sunday...…WASHINGTON - Ten years ago, plunging temperatures forced rolling blackouts across Texas, leaving more than 3 million people without power as the Super Bowl was played outside Dallas.Now, with a near identical scenario following another Texas cold snap, Texas power regulators are being forced to answer how the unusually cold temperatures forced so much of the state’s power generation offline when Texans were trying to keep warm.To start, experts say, power generators and regulators failed to heed the lessons of 2011 — or for that matter, 1989. In the aftermath of the Super Bowl Sunday...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateLast year, more than 600 Texas law enforcement officers received a dishonorable discharge from their agencies for misconduct. Yet more than a quarter of them were rehired to work as sworn officers.To qualify for a peace officer license, Texas cops need fewer hours of basic training than licensed cosmetologists and less than half the education required of air-conditioning and refrigeration contractors. While the basic training requires officers to spend 48 hours on the firing range, it demands only two hours of “civilian...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateLast year, more than 600 Texas law enforcement officers received a dishonorable discharge from their agencies for misconduct. Yet more than a quarter of them were rehired to work as sworn officers.To qualify for a peace officer license, Texas cops need fewer hours of basic training than licensed cosmetologists and less than half the education required of air-conditioning and refrigeration contractors. While the basic training requires officers to spend 48 hours on the firing range, it demands only two hours of “civilian...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateA decade ago, after an Arctic cold spell knocked out power and left millions of Texans shivering in the dark, the Public Utility Commission’s enforcement apparatus swung into action. Their aim: punish the companies that had promised but failed to deliver electricity in an emergency.Specialists contracted by the state agency worked with an enforcement team the utility commission created four years earlier. More recently, it had added lawyers whose only job was to pursue wrong-doing. The energy companies eventually paid fines and...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateA decade ago, after an Arctic cold spell knocked out power and left millions of Texans shivering in the dark, the Public Utility Commission’s enforcement apparatus swung into action. Their aim: punish the companies that had promised but failed to deliver electricity in an emergency.Specialists contracted by the state agency worked with an enforcement team the utility commission created four years earlier. More recently, it had added lawyers whose only job was to pursue wrong-doing. The energy companies eventually paid fines and...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateFor Jason Medrano, it meant being stopped and grilled at Fort Sam Houston when he tried to enter the San Antonio post to apply for a job. For Patrick Vaden, it resulted in getting arrested in Milam County and charged for unlawfully possessing a gun — even though he had a valid Texas carry permit.The reason, both men learned, was that their names appeared on a list of motorcycle gang members kept in a secretive state database. Police don’t have to inform those added to the list. Once on it, it is nearly impossible to challenge,...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateFor Jason Medrano, it meant being stopped and grilled at Fort Sam Houston when he tried to enter the San Antonio post to apply for a job. For Patrick Vaden, it resulted in getting arrested in Milam County and charged for unlawfully possessing a gun — even though he had a valid Texas carry permit.The reason, both men learned, was that their names appeared on a list of motorcycle gang members kept in a secretive state database. Police don’t have to inform those added to the list. Once on it, it is nearly impossible to challenge,...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWhen Thomas Kost saw the red lights pulsing behind him he figured he probably deserved a ticket. It was the kind of T-shirt-warm May evening that exists for motorcycle riding and he’d gotten carried away with the throttle.Yet right off, Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Rick Cotto seemed to suspect Kost of more than just speeding.“How much you had to drink tonight?” he asked Kost. “Your eyes are kind of glassy, that’s why I’m asking.” Kost said he hadn’t had alcohol in days.“You ever been arrested?” the trooper asked,...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWhen Thomas Kost saw the red lights pulsing behind him he figured he probably deserved a ticket. It was the kind of T-shirt-warm May evening that exists for motorcycle riding and he’d gotten carried away with the throttle.Yet right off, Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Rick Cotto seemed to suspect Kost of more than just speeding.“How much you had to drink tonight?” he asked Kost. “Your eyes are kind of glassy, that’s why I’m asking.” Kost said he hadn’t had alcohol in days.“You ever been arrested?” the trooper asked,...WW…

In the fall of 2018, Dr. John Hellerstedt described a nightmarish scenario for fellow members of a panel tasked with preparing Texas for a pandemic.Before taking over as director of the , Hellerstedt was a pediatrician at a children’s hospital in Austin. He said that as H1N1 swept through Texas in 2009, hospital administrators scrambled to erect tents outside to treat patients, fearing they’d be overwhelmed.Luckily, the virus proved mild. But what if a new and far more dangerous bug arrived? One that jumped easily from person to person?“That’s the thing that we all fear,” he said.Would...…In the fall of 2018, Dr. John Hellerstedt described a nightmarish scenario for fellow members of a panel tasked with preparing Texas for a pandemic.Before taking over as director of the , Hellerstedt was a pediatrician at a children’s hospital in Austin. He said that as H1N1 swept through Texas in 2009, hospital administrators scrambled to erect tents outside to treat patients, fearing they’d be overwhelmed.Luckily, the virus proved mild. But what if a new and far more dangerous bug arrived? One that jumped easily from person to person?“That’s the thing that we all fear,” he said.Would...WW…