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Jennifer Berry Hawes

Large group of school kids raising their hands to answer the teacher's question on a class at elementary school. (Getty Images/skynesher)

Barns, go-karts and strip malls: The wild west of private schools that collect taxpayer dollars

Jennifer Smith Richards, Megan O’Matz, Mollie Simon, Jennifer Berry Hawes
A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, the site where more than 20 girls went missing after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, on July 5, 2025. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Alerts ignored: Texas floods echo tragedy of Hurricane Helene

Jennifer Berry Hawes