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!
-
The federal agency determined that more frequent launches at SpaceX’s rocket site, Starbase, would have no significant impact on the local environment if the company takes the proper mitigation steps. The FAA has not issued a final decision. -
A small group of mostly SpaceX employees voted to incorporate the area around the SpaceX rocket testing and launch site near Brownsville as the City of Starbase. -
The City of Starbase would encompass the SpaceX rocket testing and launch complex in South Texas. It could lay the groundwork for similar towns Musk plans to create here in the future. -
Elon Musk is asking the state to give him the power to close Boca Chica Beach on SpaceX’s schedule just as rocket launches there may spike. Local leaders and environmentalists stand in opposition. -
Plans for the “riverfront eco-park” include hike and bike trails, a waterfront and a Tesla expo. -
Paxton, who was accused of abusing his office to help a campaign donor, also beat impeachment charges based on these same corruption allegations. -
Judge Robert Pitman says inmates who sued the state could win their case but that the fix is not easy or cheap. -
The investigation was triggered by a federal judge, who questioned the state’s recordkeeping. Inmates are suing the state, alleging the heat inside the state’s dozens of un-air conditioned prisons is dangerous.
-
Internal agency records show employees with the Department of Public Safety, which issues driver’s licenses, reported each time someone requested to update the sex listed on their state ID. -
Paxton, a vocal opponent of LGBTQ rights, issued an opinion Friday declaring court orders to change sex on driver’s licenses and birth certificates "void" and saying altered documents must be changed back.
