Lauren McGaughy
Investigative Reporter and EditorLauren McGaughy is an investigative reporter and editor for The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration of NPR stations in Texas. Got a tip? Email her at lmcgaughy@kut.org or tips@kut.org. Find her on X @lmcgaughy and Instagram @laurenmcgaughy.
Lauren's specialty areas include criminal justice, transparency and ethics and LGBTQ issues. She is a leading reporter in the area of government accountability, consistently breaking stories about alleged misconduct by elected and appointed officials.
In 2020, Lauren and reporting partner Dave Boucher published a two-part series revealing how police in Texas used hypnosis to investigate crimes for decades, sending dozens to prison — and some to their deaths. After their series published, the state police shuttered their decades-old hypnosis program and Texas lawmakers gutted the practice.
The series won the Headliners Foundation Showcase Silver Award.
Lauren won a Texas Associated Press Managing Editors award for her coverage of the 2017 mass shooting at a rural church in Sutherland Springs. Lauren's personal essay about covering Sutherland Springs spurred a national conversation about media treatment of communities in the wake of tragedies.
As a survivor of the 2013 Mother's Day Second Line mass shooting in New Orleans, Lauren was awarded a breaking news photography award by the Louisiana Associated Press Managing Editors for a picture she took at the event using her iPhone. She was also part of the team that received IRE (Investigative Reporters & Editors) and other honors for a series on Louisiana campaign finance violations.
In 2024, the national LGBTQ Journalists Association awarded her the Randy Shilts Award, which honors the body of work of journalists who consistently bring stories of the LGBTQ+ community to life in mainstream media outlets.
Before joining public radio in late 2023, Lauren spent 15 years working for newspapers. She covered state politics and policy for The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle and New Orleans Times-Picayune. She got her start in news as a foreign affairs reporter for The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.
Lauren loves cats, cemeteries and comic books. Ask about her wig collection!
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For years, experts in Houston have been studying the idea of building massive tunnels under the area to divert floodwaters and save lives and property. Now, Elon Musk wants a piece of the project. -
Police records reveal Ethan Nieneker, the suspect of the Target store shooting in Austin, was accused of violently attacking at least two girlfriends and one roommate, but that he spent little time behind bars. -
Ethan Nieneker, a 32-year-old white man, spent time behind bars in 2016 and 2017 for family violence, driving while intoxicated and for violating the terms of his bond or protective order, according to court records. -
The case of Senator E.L. Alford, who was expelled from his seat in 1870, provides lessons for today. -
U.S. Sen. Cornyn, a Republican, wants the FBI to use tools he says it has to track lawmakers who “cross state lines.” The president says the federal agency "may have to" get involved. -
Gov. Greg Abbott says the dozens of Democrats who fled the state to block a redraw of the state’s congressional maps could also be charged with bribery or be removed from their seats. Ethics experts question his threats. -
Paxton, a Republican, is challenging John Cornyn for his seat in the U.S. Senate while undergoing divorce proceedings with his wife, Angela. -
State Sen. Angela Paxton, the attorney general’s wife, asked last week for the records to be sealed. A new judge brought on after the initial judge recused herself granted the request. -
When we asked for the emails, the governor’s office said some of the correspondence with the billionaire and his companies contains “intimate” information that isn’t of “legitimate concern to the public.” -
In her divorce petition, Paxton accused her husband of adultery. Ken Paxton is challenging John Cornyn in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
