William Melhado | The Texas Tribune
William Melhado is a Poynter-Koch fellow for 2022-23 and a general assignment reporter on The Texas Tribune’s breaking news team. Originally from Colorado, William graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in chemistry and then taught science at a public high school in the Bronx, New York, while completing a master’s in secondary science education at CUNY Lehman College, also in the Bronx. He then taught science at schools in Tanzania and Nepal before changing careers. He has also received fellowships from the Education Writers Association and The Hechinger Report.
-
A document obtained by The Texas Tribune and Army Times shows that the Vietnam-era M113 armored personnel carriers will be sent to 10 locations along the Texas-Mexico border.
-
In announcing his third run for president, Donald Trump said Gov. Greg Abbott called to congratulate him for winning “every single area along the border.” Democrats won many of those counties in 2016 and 2020.
-
Department of Public Safety Sgt. Juan Maldonado is the first state police officer fired in the aftermath of a botched police response to the shooting. He was the highest-ranking state trooper to initially respond to Robb Elementary School.
-
Although there are laws on the books preventing certain people from possessing guns, there are few places in the state where the criminal justice system has programs to hand over firearms to law enforcement — leaving survivors at a heightened risk for gun violence.
-
Ramirez was sentenced to death for murdering Corpus Christi convenience store clerk Pablo Castro. After a previous execution was halted, Ramirez won a Supreme Court case over death row inmates’ religious rights.
-
A recent analysis of Oath Keepers’ membership rolls leaked last year found that Texas had more members of the far-right extremist group than any other state — and the most who worked as elected officials, law enforcement officers or members of the military.