JASPER SCHERER AND ALEJANDRA MARTINEZ

Jasper Scherer is a politics reporter for The Texas Tribune. He previously covered Texas politics and government for Hearst Newspapers’ Austin bureau, which he joined after stints covering City Hall for the Houston Chronicle and Bexar County for the San Antonio Express-News. A native of San Francisco, Jasper graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in journalism and political science. He is based in Austin. Alejandra Martinez is a Fort Worth-based environmental reporter. She’s covered the impacts of petrochemical facilities on Black and brown communities, including investigating a chemical fire at an industrial complex and how the state’s air monitoring system has failed Latino communities. Her work on climate change includes exploring the health effects of extreme heat and how extended droughts affect water resources. Before joining the Tribune in 2022, Alejandra was an accountability reporter at KERA, where she began as a Report for America Corps Member and then covered Dallas City Hall.