Read, Watch or Listen

After a deadly flash flood in Kerr County, Texas, rescuers searching the Guadalupe River struggled with busy signals, garbled audio and little to no coverage at Camp Mystic, where 25 children died. Temporary towers were eventually brought in—despite the county’s recent $7 million radio overhaul. Records reviewed by The New York Times show the Motorola Solutions network design excluded about a quarter of the county from reliable portable coverage, including river areas. A nonprofit utility, the Lower Colorado River Authority, proposed broader, higher-capacity, potentially cheaper coverage, yet Motorola won through a process tilted in the company’s favor.

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.