NPR spot on seeing the 2024 eclipse from Texas Hill Country.

2024 - 04 - 08 Final NPR Eclipse Spot

2 Way Stayton McGaughy On Shooting Suspect 121423

2024 - 01 - 18 Paxton Lawuit

There’s yet another update in the whistleblower saga involving Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Last year, the Republican A-G beat impeachment charges based on corruption allegations brought by these four whistleblowers. But the wrongful termination lawsuit they filed against Paxton's office isn't over yet.

The Texas Newsroom’s Lauren McGaughy reports Paxton is trying to avoid answering questions under oath.

2024 - 07 - 12 KP TxSC Spot

Audio of start of Texas House Committee on General Investigation. Includes gavel in, prayer and gaveling out into executive session.

2024 - 07 - 17 House GI Hearing START

Texas prisons officials insist no inmates have died from extreme heat behind bars for more than a decade. But we got autopsies that show the heat was a possible (or likely) contributing factor to in least three deaths just last year.

I asked the state prison agency how it can say the heat hasn't killed anyone in state prisons given these autopsies. A spox told me they only count the deaths where heat was the *primary* cause of death. 

Experts told me that ignores how heat can hasten death. Tomorrow, the state of Texas will be back in federal court fighting a lawsuit over the lack of A/C in prison.

FEATURE: Texas Prison Heat Deaths

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has banned more than 10,000 books over the years. I requested lists of which books are and are not allowed inside state prisons under public information laws and analyzed them for patterns. I published the list in full during Banned Books Week.

FEATURE: Banned Books in Texas Prisons

Attorney General Ken Paxton addresses a meeting of the Northeast Tarrant County Tea Party on April 23, 2016.

Ken Paxton - April 23, 2016 NE Tarrant County Tea Party Event Audio

Lauren McGaughy is an investigative reporter and editor for The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration of NPR stations in Texas. She focuses on criminal justice, governmental ethics and LGBTQ issues. In 2020, the Headliners Foundation honored her work on how police use hypnosis to investigate crimes. Lauren previously worked for The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle and New Orleans Times-Picayune. She loves cats, cemeteries and comic books. Ask about her wig collection!

Investigative Reporter Lauren McGaughy