Alexa Ura
covers politics and health care for The Texas Tribune, where she started as an intern in 2013. While earning her journalism degree at the University of Texas at Austin, she was a reporter and editor for The Daily Texan. A Laredo native, Alexa is a fluent Spanish-speaker and is constantly seeking genuine Mexican food in Austin.
Recent Contributions
Enlarge
photo by: Cynthia Goldsmith
Ebola virus virion. Created by CDC microbiologist Cynthia Goldsmith, this colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion.
A representative of the Dallas hospital under scrutiny for its handling of the first Ebola case in the United States apologized on Thursday for mistakes he said the facility made when it initially misdiagnosed the patient.
Full Story
Dan Patrick, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, is shown at the Texas Republican Convention in Fort Worth on June 7, 2014.
Dan Patrick, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, has made clear that he wants to lower property taxes. What he has left unclear — both to voters and to prominent business groups that have endorsed him — is exactly how he'll do that.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Todd Wiseman / Callie Richmond
A provision of the Texas abortion law that closed all but eight abortion facilities in the state almost two weeks ago was put on hold Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Todd Wiseman / Callie Richmond
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to reconsider a March ruling that allowed Texas to require physicians who perform abortions to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion facility.
Full Story
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins during "All Transportation is Local," part of The Texas Tribune Transportation Symposium on Oct. 17, 2013.
After the first case of Ebola in the U.S. was confirmed in Dallas, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has been thrust into the national spotlight.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: 2011 Facebook photo
Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States diagnosed with the Ebola virus, died in Dallas, Texas on Oct. 8, 2014.
A week after the first Ebola case in the U.S. was confirmed at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, died Wednesday morning, hospital officials said.
Full Story
Claiming that ISIS terrorists are threatening to enter the U.S. and "kill Americans," state Sen. Dan Patrick, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, says in his first TV ad that border security would be his top priority if elected in November.
Full Story
Texas Sen. Charles Schwertner, Dr. Brett Giroir and Gov. Rick Perry at the Ebola press conference at the Texas Capitol on Oct. 6, 2014.
In the wake of what some have called a botched response to the first known case of Ebola in the United States, Texas lawmakers will meet Tuesday afternoon in Austin to examine the state's public health infrastructure.
Full Story
While many Texas women now live hundreds of miles away from abortion facilities, some may still have another option: their doctor’s office.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
A day after a federal appeals court allowed Texas to begin enforcing new abortion restrictions, a group protested the ruling on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol building.
After a federal appeals court ruled that the state could temporarily enforce new requirements for abortion facilities, Texas abortion providers are looking to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Full Story
A large crowd of abortion rights advocates gathered Thursday at the Texas capitol to protest strict abortion regulations lawmakers that approved in the 2013 special session and the lingering affects of 2011 cuts to family planning services, Feb. 20, 2014.
As it hears arguments in an appeal of a federal judge’s decision overturning new requirements for Texas abortion facilities, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Texas could enforce the requirements in the meantime.
Full Story
Enlarge
graphic by: Todd Wiseman / Phil Moyer
State officials have characterized the response to an Ebola diagnosis in Dallas as top-notch, but medical experts argue that the state’s public health infrastructure may be vulnerable.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Cynthia Goldsmith
Ebola virus virion. Created by CDC microbiologist Cynthia Goldsmith, this colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion.
Texas health officials have expanded to 100 their list of people who may have had contact with a man in the Dallas area confirmed to be infected with the Ebola virus. Eighteen people are already under observation.
Full Story
An exterior view of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas on Oct. 1, 2014.
As many as 18 individuals in the Dallas area are under observation by Dallas County health officials after coming in contact with a patient confirmed to be infected with the Ebola virus, officials said on Wednesday.
Full Story
Enlarge
graphic by: Todd Wiseman / Phil Moyer
On Tuesday, federal and state health officials confirmed the first U.S. case of Ebola in a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Here's what you need to know about the case.
Full Story