Texas Tribune
Trans Texas student drops out after new gender policy
by Miranda Dunlap, Houston Landing, The Texas Tribune – 2024-03-14 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Kadence Carter, a 17-year-old transgender male, endured daily bullying at Mayde Creek High School in Katy and left in September 2023 after the school district passed a gender identity policy. The Katy ISD policy required staff to disclose students' gender identity to parents and allowed staff to refuse to use preferred pronouns. Kadence experienced increased hostility, including a teacher reverting to his deadname, leading him to drop out and take online classes. His mental health suffered without the structure of in-person learning. The school board passed the policy 4-3 despite significant community opposition, arguing it centered on parental information rights, not discrimination. Kadence's father supports his son's choice in the face of an unsupportive environment, and they have since moved to League City, hopeful for a fresh start.
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Despite the air of confidence he typically wore through the halls, 17-year-old Kadence Carter suffered through most days at Mayde Creek High School in Katy.
Several of his classmates constantly bullied and misgendered Kadence, a transgender male. He wore multiple chest binders every day to school, which dug aching craters into his shoulders and stained his skin with bruises. He avoided drinking water the entire eight-hour school day so he wouldn't need to use the boys' bathroom, where he worried about getting beaten up.
The unrelenting struggles Kadence faced came to a head in August 2023, when the Katy Independent School District board of trustees passed a controversial gender identity policy opposed by many LGBTQ+ students and advocates. One day after the policy went into effect, a teacher held up the attendance roster in front of Kadence, pointed to his deadname and said, “We're going back to this one now,” he recalled.
Two weeks later, Kadence walked out of Mayde Creek High for the last time.
“I feel like I've missed out on a big part of growing up,” Kadence said. “I'm not gonna graduate. I'm not gonna get my cap and gown. I'm not gonna go to prom. … I keep telling myself that I don't care. But at the end of the day, I'm missing out on something that most kids get.”
Kadence and his former school district sit at the center of a national, politically-infused divide over how schools should support children as more young people than ever come out as transgender.
Earlier this school year, Katy's conservative school board became one of the first in Greater Houston to pass a policy that requires staff to disclose students' gender identity to parents and allow employees to reject students' requests to use different pronouns, among other protocols.
But for opponents of the policy and LGBTQ+ advocates, Kadence's story embodies one of the worst fears about the impact of such guidelines: that they can drive transgender children out of school systems entirely. As of mid-January, district officials had contacted the parents of 23 children to notify them of name or pronoun changes, records obtained by the Houston Landing show.
Katy board members narrowly passed their policy, 4-3, during a seven-hour meeting, where the overwhelming majority of nearly 100 community members testified against it. Katy's board president, Victor Perez, said in an interview that it's “not the school's business to be keeping secrets from parents.”
“The policy wasn't intended to be hostile at all, to any group,” Perez said. “The last thing a teacher would want to do is be hostile.”
But that wasn't the case for Kadence, who described an even-more hostile school environment immediately after the policy went into effect, leading him to drop out.
“They haven't been through the experience of feeling alienated,” Kadence said. “When someone's telling you every day that you aren't who you say you are, you start to question yourself. You start to believe the things that they tell you, that you're inherently a bad person because you were born a certain way.”
Acceptance, then defeat
Kadence began questioning his identity when he was in sixth grade. Over the next few years, he came out as bisexual, and then nonbinary. Something still didn't feel right. Then, when he was 14, the realization came swiftly: I'm transgender.
It scared him into a short spell of secrecy.
“There was a time where I felt like I physically couldn't say it. I would try and find a good time to tell my parents and when that time finally came, I couldn't get the words out,” Kadence said. “Not because I thought my dad wouldn't support me, but because I was afraid of what that would mean for me, if I stopped denying it.”
Nowadays, when his grandpa sends him cards with “Mr. Kadence” scrawled across the envelope, it feels like everything has finally clicked into place. “Mr. Kadence” is who he was always meant to be.
William Carter has supported his son from the second he found the courage to come out. Their bond is strengthened through the small things — the long drives they take together, the at-home Pride celebrations William throws, the way William uses his hand to sign “I love you” when Kadence is overwhelmed. Nothing is more important to Kadence than his dad.
At school, several of Kadence's peers routinely bullied him, but teachers were generally more supportive. He sent an email about his identity to all of his teachers at the beginning of each semester, asking them to call him Kadence, not the name listed on the attendance sheet. The extra step protected him from being deadnamed, and also helped him identify which teachers were most accepting of him.
But that changed when Katy trustees introduced their gender policy last August.
Kadence planned to spend the evening of August 28, 2023, like he does most others: playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, watching TV with his dad or working on an art project. Instead, he stood outside Katy's at-capacity boardroom, furiously typing a scathing, last-minute speech in his iPhone Notes app.
Like the nearly 100 people before him, he approached the podium to warn trustees of the policy's potential harmful impact. He projected confidence while anxiety swelled inside. He'd never advocated for something so publicly. It was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating.
Trustees engaged in a heated debate about the policy, a few eager to delay its adoption due to questions surrounding how it would impact students and teachers. Trustee Rebecca Fox said board members were wasting time better spent on other academic issues, and she worried it could open the district up to legal risk. (In November 2023, a local advocacy group filed a federal civil rights complaint against the district, citing a Houston Landing report about how often the policy had been employed.)
The dispute gave a brief feeling of hope to critics.
“It was surreal. For a moment, I felt like I was actually heard,” Kadence said. “I felt like my voice was actually going to mean something. But it didn't do anything.”
Ultimately, the policy passed by the slimmest possible margin.
“There's no hunting”
When Kadence returned to school and one of his teachers pointed to his deadname, he made a beeline for the library, where he often took refuge. As he calmed himself by sorting a pile of books, he decided: I can't do this anymore.
It all had gotten to be too much. The constant bullying, the intolerance, the physical and mental energy it took to make it through each day. Kadence couldn't envision a world in which school got easier — it only seemed to be getting worse, and fast.
That night, Kadence and his father made plans to enroll him in online classes. He left Mayde Creek High in mid-September.
Perez, the Katy board president, said the policy boils down to one key priority: informing parents about what their kids are going through. Perez said he isn't aware of any issues with unaccepting parents.
“It's not like, ‘OK, I think that this person is transgender, so I'm gonna call their parents.' … There's no hunting,” Perez said. “If the student decides to keep that a secret, nothing happens. It's not like an outing. … We have to assume that most parents are good, loving parents and are gonna do what's best for the child.”
Perez said the policy also protects teachers from making uncomfortable decisions regarding students' gender identity, such as keeping it a secret from parents.
“What does the teacher do if you have a parent-teacher conference or you run into them at the grocery store?” Perez said. “Is the teacher then supposed to engage in deceiving the parent?”
Perez added that teachers in other districts have been “threatened to lose their job if they don't abide by the request of a name change.” Public school administrators in Florida, Ohio and Virginia have disciplined teachers who refused — often on religious grounds — to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns, though such cases are rare.
But while Perez said the policy isn't meant to persecute students for being transgender, Kadence and his father argue it's done just that. William said the policy stating teachers don't need to obey a child's pronoun or name change gave Kadence's teacher permission to reject his identity in a malicious manner.
“(The policy) just empowered people to be cruel,” William said. “It's basically saying, ‘I don't have to respect anything about you if I don't want to, and I'm not going to, because I don't agree with your identity (and) who you are.' That's wrong.”
Trial and error
After dropping out, Kadence enrolled in an online school. But when his bedroom became his classroom, he floundered.
Kadence's mental health suffered for several months. He spent many of his days at home from dawn to dusk. He stayed awake until the early morning hours and slept for much of the day. At the end of the day, he felt numbness toward nearly everything.
“The routine of actually getting up to go to the school, interacting with people more frequently and things like that — it's pretty much gone out the window,” William said.
Online school became so overwhelming it felt pointless to even try. At Mayde Creek High, his individualized education plan, or IEP, ensured teachers gave him extra reminders and kept him on track. At home, his mind never stopped wandering from his laptop screen — until hours passed and his assignment sat untouched. As the weeks went on, his incomplete work piled up insurmountably.
“Personally, I need in-person learning,” Kadence said. “And unfortunately, I can't have that.”
So in December, for the second time that year, he submitted un-enrollment forms. William knows his son needs more structure and accountability, so they are now exploring GED programs. What comes after that, however, is unclear.
“I was originally planning on going to college, but I don't know if I'm gonna do that anymore because I haven't had a good experience with the school system in general,” Kadence said. “I don't want to put myself through that again.”
Still, William breathes easier knowing Kadence is at home. He no longer worries about Kadence's safety every day. He'd rather his son take an unconventional path to his future than be unsafe or unhealthy in the present.
Mayde Creek High English teacher Anita Wadwha believes her former student will succeed no matter what route he takes, because he is strong-willed and well-supported.
But Kadence's vacant desk in the back of her seventh-period class was dispiriting for bigger reasons, Wadwha said.
“This school district has failed him,” Wadwha said. “I think it's a shame that this policy throws out one of my most promising students. … This is now yet another way to push those (transgender) students out of the school district.”
Cautiously optimistic
For now, Kadence is focused on finding contentment in the little things that make up each day — not the overwhelming bigger picture.
Kadence and William moved in February to League City, the Galveston County suburb where Kadence spent his early childhood, aiming for a fresh start. The change ignited Kadence's artistic inspiration. As he wanders through the house in mid-February, he announces his vision for its decor: a line of candles along the sill of a tall arched window, a little nook with a desk tucked inside of his bedroom closet.
He's also taking better care of himself. He said he's trying to get more comfortable going out in public without binding his chest “to an unsafe point,” like he did every day at school.
“Since coming to the conclusion that (online school) wasn't working and making the change there, things have gotten better,” William said of his son. “He's less stressed out. I think his mental health is a bit better. He seems, I'll guardedly say, optimistic about the future.”
Still, Kadence longs for some parts of his old life in Katy — before the gender policy, before that teacher delivered the final blow. He wishes things didn't end up the way they did.
“In a perfect world, my story would be the last of its kind,” Kadence said.
He knows that's not likely. School boards and education leaders are starting to implement similar policies across the nation. Kadence fears for transgender kids with unsupportive parents. For kids who haven't figured out who they're meant to be. For those now scared to try.
“There are kids in my position who are being affected by this policy who can't speak out about it,” Kadence said. “It affects those I care about. And it affects people that I don't even know that I care about, because they've been through similar things.
“That's something that I wish people would feel more often — even if something doesn't affect you directly, still care.”
This article first appeared on Houston Landing and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
The post Trans Texas student drops out after new gender policy appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Ted Cruz files bill to protect IVF
by By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 09:45:47
SUMMARY: U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Katie Britt have introduced the IVF Protection Act to safeguard access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) amid changing anti-abortion laws. The bill aims to make states ineligible for Medicaid funding if they ban IVF. This legislative effort follows an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that classified embryos as protected human life, prompting some IVF providers to pause services. The Texas Supreme Court may also consider a case impacting IVF. Cruz, seeking reelection against Democrat Colin Allred, emphasizes IVF's importance for families. Texas Governor Greg Abbott supports clarifying state laws to protect IVF, while Senate Democrats and House Speaker Mike Johnson diverge on federal versus state jurisdiction.
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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is leading a charge to protect access to in vitro fertilization as conservative states scramble to figure out where IVF fits in the new anti-abortion legal landscape.
On Monday, Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, both conservative, anti-abortion Republicans, filed the IVF Protection Act, which would make states ineligible to receive Medicaid funding if they ban IVF.
This bill comes in response to a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court earlier this year that said embryos are protected human life when it comes to the state's wrongful death statute. After that ruling, many IVF providers paused those services until the Alabama Legislature passed temporary protections.
The Texas Supreme Court is considering taking up a case that could “upend IVF in Texas,” experts say. A woman has asked the court to overturn previous court rulings that awarded her ex-husband their three frozen embryos in their divorce, arguing that Texas' new abortion laws require embryos to have the same rights as living children.
Almost as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in summer 2022 and allowed states to ban abortion, questions emerged about the legal status of IVF.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed announcing this legislation, Cruz and Britt said Republicans want to “protect both life and IVF.”
“IVF has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children,” Cruz said in a statement. “I'm proud to partner with Sen. Katie Britt to ensure that couples in Texas and across the country have the opportunity to be loving parents, by ensuring that IVF is fully protected at the federal level.”
IVF is “profoundly pro-family,” the pair wrote in the op-ed. “Our bill will honor and support families seeking to welcome a new baby into their lives through IVF.”
Cruz is up for reelection this year, facing Democratic Congressman Colin Allred, who has made Cruz's support for Texas' abortion laws a key part of his campaign. In a statement after the Alabama court ruling, Allred said Cruz had done nothing to protect IVF, and his “dangerous record” on abortion and fetal personhood issues puts Texas families “rights and freedoms at risk.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed his support for IVF, saying he believes the Legislature will clarify state law to protect the procedure.
Meanwhile, in D.C., Senate Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to pass two bills to protect IVF access, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he believes this is an issue best left to the states.
Pointing out that 86% of Americans believe IVF should be legal, Cruz and Britt say this should be a bipartisan bill that protects “life, family and personal liberty.”
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Trump says Paxton would make good U.S. attorney general
by By Jasper Scherer, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 08:47:03
SUMMARY: Former President Donald Trump is considering Ken Paxton, Texas' Attorney General, for the role of U.S. Attorney General if re-elected. Trump commended Paxton's abilities and loyalty, highlighting his legal challenge to the 2020 election results and his support during Trump's impeachment defense. Paxton was impeached for bribery allegations but acquitted, with Trump claiming credit for the outcome. Recent polls show Trump leading President Biden in key states. Paxton's legal issues have diminished following the dropping of securities fraud charges, although federal investigations continue. If nominated, Paxton's Senate confirmation faces partisan challenges and opposition from notable Republicans.
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Former President Donald Trump said he would consider tapping Ken Paxton for U.S. attorney general if he wins a second term in the White House, calling his longtime ally “a very talented guy” and praising his tenure as Texas' chief legal officer.
“I would, actually,” Trump said Saturday when asked by a KDFW-TV reporter if he would consider Paxton for the national post. “He's very, very talented. I mean, we have a lot of people that want that one and will be very good at it. But he's a very talented guy.”
Paxton has long been a close ally of Trump, famously waging an unsuccessful legal challenge to Trump's 2020 election loss in four battleground states. He also spoke at the pro-Trump rally that preceded the deadly U.S. Capitol riot in January 2021.
Paxton's loyalty was rewarded with an endorsement from Trump in the 2022 primary, which helped the attorney general fend off three prominent GOP challengers.
Trump also came to Paxton's defense when he was impeached last year for allegedly accepting bribes and abusing the power of his office to help a wealthy friend and campaign donor. After Paxton was acquitted in the Texas Senate, Trump claimed credit, citing his “intervention” on his Truth Social platform, where he denounced the proceedings and threatened political retribution for Republicans who backed the impeachment.
“I fought for him when he had the difficulty and we won,” he told KDFW. “He had some people really after him, and I thought it was really unfair.”
Trump's latest comments, delivered at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Dallas, come after a series of recent polls have shown the presumptive Republican nominee leading President Joe Biden in a handful of key battleground states.
Paxton has also seen his political prospects rise in recent months, after prosecutors agreed in March to drop three felony counts of securities fraud that had loomed over Paxton for nearly his entire tenure as attorney general. The resolution of the nine-year-old case, along with Paxton's impeachment acquittal in the Senate last fall, has brought him closer than ever to a political career devoid of legal drama.
Still, Paxton's critics say he is far from vindicated. He remains under federal investigation for the same allegations that formed the basis of his impeachment, and he continues to face a whistleblower lawsuit from former deputies who said they were illegally fired for reporting Paxton to law enforcement. A separate lawsuit from the state bar seeks to penalize Paxton for his 2020 election challenge, which relied on discredited claims of election fraud.
If nominated, Paxton would need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The chamber is narrowly divided along party lines, with Democrats holding a 51-49 majority. One of the most prominent Republican members, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, has been an outspoken critic of Paxton, while Paxton has openly entertained the idea of challenging Cornyn in 2026.
Paxton is not the only Texan Trump has floated for a high-profile spot in his potential administration. In February, he said Gov. Greg Abbott is “absolutely” on his short list of potential vice presidential candidates. Abbott has since downplayed his interest in the job.
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Texas Tribune
These Texans aren’t taking buyouts despite repeated floods
by By Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Recent floods in Harris County, Texas, have devastated homes along the San Jacinto River. Tom Madigan, who owns multiple properties, quickly started repairs without knowing the Harris County Flood Control District aims to buy out such flood-prone properties. The region has a longstanding buyout program to remove homes from high-risk flood areas, with about 800 out of 2,400 targeted properties purchased. However, buyouts are voluntary and often insufficient for low-income residents. Despite the program, many choose to stay due to affordability and community ties, while others like Madigan remain skeptical of receiving a fair offer.
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HARRIS COUNTY — After the floodwaters earlier this month just about swallowed two of the six homes that 60-year-old Tom Madigan owns on the San Jacinto River, he didn't think twice about whether to fix them. He hired people to help, and they got to work stripping the walls, pulling up flooring and throwing out water-logged furniture.
What Madigan didn't know: The Harris County Flood Control District wants to buy his properties as part of an effort to get people out of dangerously flood-prone areas.
Back-to-back storms drenched southeast Texas in late April and early May, causing flash flooding and pushing rivers out of their banks and into low-lying neighborhoods. Officials across the region urged people in vulnerable areas to evacuate.
Like Madigan's, some places that were inundated along the San Jacinto in Harris County have flooded repeatedly. And for nearly 30 years, the flood control district has been trying to clear out homes around the river by paying property owners to move, then returning the lots to nature.
The recent floods show why buyout programs can be important. These spots typically flood first and worse. Gov. Greg Abbott reported that hundreds of rescues took place in the state while the floods destroyed homes. A man drowned and a child was swept away into the floods. One Harris County resident described climbing on top of his motor home as the water rose before first responders rescued him.
But the disaster and its aftermath also illustrate why buyouts are complicated to carry out even in Harris County, home to Houston, which has one of the most robust buyout programs in the country. The flood control district has identified roughly 2,400 properties as current buyout candidates around the San Jacinto; the district and county have bought about 800 of them.
Nearly all of the district's buyouts are voluntary. If an owner doesn't want to sell, the district can't force them out.
Buyouts make sense for some people who can't be protected from floods, said Alessandra Jerolleman, director of research for the Center on Environment, Land and Law at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.
But buyouts might not provide lower-income people enough money to get somewhere safer, she said, and they could lose important support like child care from nearby family or neighbors.
“It's not as though it's a guarantee of reducing risks to that family,” Jerolleman said.
People who live near the river and who have endured repeated floods explained that they've stayed because it's affordable and, most of the time, peaceful. Where else would they be able to buy anything like it? Some said they didn't think the government would offer them what they consider a fair price to sell their land. Some didn't know the buyout program existed.
Madigan started buying homes more than 15 years ago in the unincorporated River Terrace neighborhood because they were cheap. On Tuesday, the Houston firefighter drank a Heineken and grilled hamburgers for his work crew outside his most damaged house, which he rents to his brother. Sodden rugs baked in the sun on the driveway.
Madigan said he might have taken a buyout if it was a reasonable offer — but he doubted it would be. He said he needed to get the properties ready again for his renters. “I can't wait,” he said.
Two blocks away, water had swept through a yellow house Madigan rents to a family with a teenage son. One of the workers fixing the property, 21-year-old Omar Reyna, watched the family throw out pretty much everything they had. Piecing together new laminate flooring with his dad, Reyna kept thinking about a trash bag of Teddy bears and stuffed toys he tossed out for them.
He wondered if the parents had been saving the toys for another kid they might have in the future.
“The faster we get it done, the faster they can come back in here,” Reyna said.
Some people choose to live with the risk of flooding
The San Jacinto is the largest river in the state's most populous county. For years before Harris County's first floodplain maps were drawn up in the mid-1980s, people built homes near its banks. Even today, people can still build in the vast floodplain if the houses are high enough and have enough stormwater detention.
The flood control district tries to buy out homes in pockets of the floodplain that are deepest, said James Wade, manager for the district's property acquisition department. Those are places where engineers can't easily fix flooding problems.
Buyouts are meant to get people out of flood zones before their property floods again, not to help in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. The process is slow: In some cases, it can take 18 months or longer to approve a buyout application, Wade said. The district pays owners the market value or pre-flood value for their house, determined by a third-party appraiser, plus moving expenses and a supplement to help them get into a house out of the floodplain, Wade said.
“It's a very equitable, fair program,” Wade said — but still some people don't want to leave.
Those who stay learn to adapt. They build homes on stilts. They monitor the river level and watch for releases of water from the Lake Conroe dam upstream. Some know intimately the routine of rebuilding: gut the house, clean it, put it back together.
The floor of 49-year-old Sean Vincent's house in the Forest Cove neighborhood in northeast Houston is 15 feet above the ground. Three feet of water flooded it when Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017. This month, the floods reached five feet high on Vincent's property. He cleaned out his waterlogged ground-level shed with help from church members. On Tuesday, he was building new shelves for it.
But most of the time Vincent, who works in railroad traffic control, said he enjoys the space surrounded by tall trees with room for his three kids.
“It's just really not a major part of our life,” Vincent said of the flooding. “Yes, it's inconvenient. Yes, it's now happened to us twice in seven years … It's sort of a trade-off for us. And it is lovely out here.”
“Where are you going to go?”
Then there are those who stay because they don't see anywhere else to go.
Jack St. John, 67, a retired long-haul truck driver, moved to Northshore 43 years ago and has had to clean up after two floods. He worries any time flooding threatens, but the neighborhood's advantages keep him there: He has no water bill because he has a well. His taxes are reasonable. The neighborhood has a fish fry in the spring and a barbecue in the fall.
“You know, when you leave, where are you going to go?” he said. “What's it going to cost to buy into another place?”
Farther northeast, in the Idle Wild and Idle Glen neighborhoods, the floods forced some residents to sleep under tarps. On one largely forested street, boats were turned sideways or flipped upside down. A small building was lodged in the trees. A car was in the ditch.
For several years, Elvia Bethea, 68, has driven from her home in Humble to check on people and pets here, and pick up stray animals. On Tuesday, she and other volunteers gave John Gray, 50, bamboo yard torches to fight the many mosquitoes, plus two trays of chocolate-covered strawberries.
Gray said he couldn't afford to fix up his destroyed house. He earns a living printing labor law posters for businesses. His printers at home were destroyed.
Gray said he had never heard of the buyout program but would consider taking one.
“Who do I call?” Gray asked. “I don't have a clue.”
From the back of a white SUV, Bethea handed some hot dogs to Jose Tabores, 68, who lives on Gray's land in a trailer now filled with mud.
“I'm coming for dinner, remember!” Bethea teased him.
Nearby, 51-year-old Veronika Scheid had been sleeping in a wet tent. The flood washed the shipping crate she lived in down the road and into the trees — along with her and her neighbors' belongings.
At a low point, when Scheid was crying over all she lost, she found a pink-and-white beaded necklace with stitching in the shape of a “V,” like her name. At the end was a charm shaped like a house.
She was grateful the person who owned the land where she stayed hadn't taken a buyout. Otherwise she would have nowhere to go.
“At least we have this,” Scheid said.
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The post These Texans aren't taking buyouts despite repeated floods appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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