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 [email protected] or [email protected]. Find her on X and Instagram .
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 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 and .
The series won the .
Lauren won a for at a rural church in Sutherland Springs. 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 for a picture she took at the event using her iPhone. She was also part of the team that received and other honors for a series on Louisiana campaign finance violations.
In 2024, the national LGBTQ Journalists Association , 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, and comic books. Ask about her wig collection!
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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.
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After agreeing to some concessions, Musk got the OK from the West Lake Hills City Council to keep the fencing around his local home � with some changes. -
Elon Musk built a fence at his Austin-area home. His neighbors are not happy. -
Local officials have not answered questions about when and how they utilized the CodeRED system, which has been in place since 2009. -
Musk's lobbyists spent thousands to wine and dine elected officials. But exactly how they accomplished Musk's goals is more of a mystery. -
While Elon Musk took Washington, D.C., by storm, his company representatives and lobbyists were notching up big political wins in the heart of his vast business empire: Texas. -
Only San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, have more gay people per capita than Austin. So why doesn't the city have any lesbian bars? -
Starbase is figuring out how to become a city. In doing so, city leaders are proposing new land-use rules.
