Christopher Connelly
Christopher Connelly is a KERA reporter based in Fort Worth. Christopher joined KERA after a year and a half covering the Maryland legislature for WYPR, the NPR member station in Baltimore. Before that, he was a Joan B. Kroc Fellow at NPR – one of three post-graduates who spend a year working as a reporter, show producer and digital producer at network HQ in Washington, D.C.
Christopher is a graduate of Antioch College in Ohio – he got his first taste of public radio there at WYSO – and he earned a master’s in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley. He also has deep Texas roots: He spent summers visiting his grandparents in Fort Worth, and he has multiple aunts, uncles and cousins living there now.
-
New research looking at data from millions stops made by police in Texas in 2020 found that officers search Latino people more than any other racial or ethnic group. But, those searches turn up far less contraband than searches of white people.
-
In February, Texas launched a program to help people who had missed rent payments because of the pandemic. By the end of March, only 250 people had actually got help paying for rent out of 72,000 completed applications.
-
After years in the headlines for suing local law enforcement agencies for violating the civil rights of Black people, Lee Merritt decided this week to try a new approach to justice: Become the state’s top lawyer.
-
Texans who managed to keep the lights on during the winter storm are getting sky-high electric bills, the product of a deregulated industry that allows power companies to charge variable rates.
-
These spikes can be attributed to higher electricity usage during the cold, or dripping faucets and burst water pipes. For those already stretched thin by the pandemic, higher bills could be a big burden.
-
Most Texans have gotten power back, but water remains a challenge.
-
Hospitalizations in North Texas due to COVID-19 have already set new and dismal records in the New Year.
-
The new stimulus bill passed by Congress late Monday will avert a potentially catastrophic and historic wave of evictions, at least temporarily. Lawmakers agreed to a $900 billion relief deal that would, among its provisions, send another $25 billion in rental assistance and extend a nationwide eviction moratorium.
-
The Capital Good Fund offers an alternative to payday and auto title loans, and other credit services that come with high costs and a lot of risks for borrowers.
-
Researchers at Tarleton State University will focus on how data can be used to improve the quality of policing in Texas. The Institute for Predictive Analytics in Criminal Justice will dig into hot button issues in policing and try to find answers using science.