Robert Downen is a reporter covering democracy and the threats to it, including extremism, disinformation and conspiracies. Before joining The Texas Tribune in 2022, he worked for five years at the Houston Chronicle. As a Hearst Media fellow, he developed what would become "Abuse of Faith," a landmark investigation into child sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention that prompted a Department of Justice investigation. Before coming to Texas, Robert was a business reporter in New York's capital region, and the managing editor of six newspapers in his home state of Illinois. He is a 2014 graduate of Eastern Illinois University.
Oath Keepers militia founder and former Granbury resident Stewart Rhodes was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy after playing a leading role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in an effort to keep Donald Trump in office. Rhodes and other members of the right-wing Oath Keepers played a crucial part […]