Travis Bubenik
All Things Considered Host & Big Bend ReporterTravis has waltzed across Texas throughout his career in journalism, covering everything from pipeline protests in the Big Bend and oilfield flaring in the Permian Basin to Gulf Coast hurricanes and courtroom battles all over the state.
A Houston native and University of Texas alum, he got his start in public radio as an intern at Marfa Public Radio, where he later served as the station’s first full-time Morning Edition host and reporter.
Travis’ reporting on the Texas energy industry and its environmental footprint has frequently appeared on NPR and public radio’s Marketplace. During his time at Courthouse News, a national outlet focused on the courts and litigation, he closely followed legal battles prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the pandemic’s toll on communities across West Texas.
His dog Valentine is indeed named after the town.
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The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to revisit its 2023 decision to block a years-long plan to ship highly radioactive nuclear waste to rural Andrews County, Texas.
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In West Texas, many local-level races with only one party participating are being essentially decided in the Super Tuesday primary elections.
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Local organizers had urged Marfa officials to approve a resolution that calls on lawmakers in Congress to demand an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza amid a war that has now left more than 30,000 Palestinians and over 1,200 Israelis dead.
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Incumbent 83rd District Attorney Ori White is seeking a second term in office in the March 5 Republican primary, while challenger Jesse Gonzales is hoping to win back a position he held in the late 2000s. Big Bend Sentinel reporter Sam Karas has been following the race.
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Oklahoma-based ONEOK is looking to build a major new natural gas pipeline from the Permian Basin through Far West West to the U.S.-Mexico border. Regulators issued a federal permit for the project on Thursday, rejecting complaints from area landowners and environmental groups.
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A Reeves County grand jury has decided not to indict multiple police officers who were involved in the November 2023 shooting death of 37-year-old Adam Ybarra in his Pecos, Texas home. The man’s brother has criticized the officers’ actions, saying they should have known Ybarra was suffering from mental health issues and that they were too quick to use deadly force.
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Some border sheriffs in the Big Bend area say their small departments don’t have the resources to arrest migrants under a new Texas law set to take effect in March.
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The front is expected to plunge temperatures into the teens in the Permian Basin and the low-30s in the Big Bend by Sunday morning. Monday and Tuesday mornings will be even colder.
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A story from the Big Bend Sentinel explores a complicated legal battle between landowners that could impact a memorial site for Hernandez, whose killing is one of the most infamous moments in the history of U.S. border policy.
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An Austin-based tech firm was supposed to help the county fix a growing problem of short-term rental owners not paying lodging taxes, but officials have decided the effort is not worth continued funding.