Cities

A small Henderson County city on the western shore of Cedar Creek Reservoir. Eight years of unresolved audit findings, a general fund that collapsed into the negative, five mayors in five years, and a water system drawing TCEQ fines tell a story of systemic financial mismanagement and governance failures.

• Financial Mismanagement
• Water Quality
• Leadership
• Transparency
• +2 more

Seven Points caught my attention after a news story about the city failing to pass its budget in 2025. Attending my first council meeting there sent me down a rabbit hole I never expected. All of the latest controversy here seems to surround the Police Department.

• Leadership
• Finances
• Transparency
• Bad History

A Henderson County community of roughly 2,000 residents on Cedar Creek Lake. When the local ESD moved to terminate the volunteer fire department's contract, the community packed the fire station and fought for their department. The ESD and VFD agreed to a 90-day renegotiation. My coverage is expanding to Tool's city council.

• Emergency Services
• ESD Governance
• Financial Accountability
• Transparency

Questions about why cameras were not permitted at a Town Hall meeting about the upcoming datacenter project led to me being blocked from the city's Facebook page. The city has a history of municipal theft and has been under scrutiny for its handling of public funds.

• Municipal Theft
• Datacenter
• Infrastructure
• Civil Rights

A Navarro County city that got my attention after I was assaulted by a local resident and yelled at by the Chief of Police while attempting to have conversations after a council meeting. That kind of reception tends to make me curious.

• Transparency
• Governance
• Civil Rights
• Police Conduct

One of the smallest incorporated communities in Navarro County. I started asking questions because of local property disputes and court cases involving public officials, and later discovered that the city has not completed its annual audit obligations since 2001.

• Property Disputes
• Audit Obligations
• Transparency
• Lack of Resources

The Panola County seat in East Texas. Carthage came onto my radar after a U.S. military veteran sued the city, the city manager, and a police sergeant in federal court over a September 2024 encounter at City Hall in which he was trespassed from city property for holding a sign that read 'God Bless Our Homeless Vets.'

• Civil Rights
• Police Conduct
• Transparency

A Hunt County city of a few hundred residents carrying a federal USDA loan on its sewer system that the city's own attorney says the lender is done being patient about. Council members stated on the record that they are shut out of city information, and a 2023 set of ordinances places control of every council agenda item with an appointed administrator who also serves as chief of police.

• Transparency
• Finances
• Federal Loan Default
• Open Meetings
• +1 more

A Henderson County city on Cedar Creek Lake that collects no property tax and runs almost entirely on sales tax. My coverage opened with a viral June 2026 council moment and a 55-minute on-record conversation with the mayor, and continues with the city manager and EDC director both departing, the stalled Pier 334 waterfront project, and a 2026 animal-ordinance referendum headed to the ballot.

• Leadership
• Open Meetings
• Accountability
• Economic Development
• +2 more

The Navarro County seat, a home-rule city of about 25,000. My coverage opened in October 2026 with a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a former Precinct 1 councilmember against the City, its former mayor, its elected city attorney, its city manager, and its former police chief.

• Civil Rights
• Public Records
• Transparency
• Police Conduct