As a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin, each day feels like a…
Category: Politics
Brownsville Elected Officials Are Doing PR for Embattled LNG Megaproject
Local elected officials in the border city of Brownsville are receiving talking points and media strategy…
Uvalde’s Darkest Hour
Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted with permission from Uvalde’s Darkest Hour (Texas A&M University Press,…
Editorial Moves at the Observer
I’m pleased to announce some good internal news at the Texas Observer. Two of our writers…
Trans in the Heart of Texas
One night last summer, I went out with my wife. Through the restaurant windows, we could…
Bearing Witness
As we at the Texas Observer were racing to finish proofreading of our November/December 70th anniversary…
Will Texas Finally Wind Down Border Security Spending?
Two days before Thanksgiving, Texas Governor Greg Abbott jetted around deep South Texas to brag about…
TEA Exoneration of Mike Miles’ Charter Schools Leaves Questions Unanswered, Raises New Ones
On October 15, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) released a Special Investigation Report of Findings stating…
The Questions the Death Penalty Cannot Answer
When the end credits rolled on I Am Ready, Warden at the Austin Short Film Festival,…
The Phones Are Still Ringing
In June of 2000, the Texas Observer’s longest tenured editor, Lou Dubose, bade farewell with a…
The Trump Picks Who Could Decide Our Climate Future
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.…
Texas Uranium Mining Portends Nuclear Revival
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate,…
Revealed: the Operators Behind Four Major Neo-Nazi X Accounts
Under owner Elon Musk, the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, has become a…
What Trump 2.0 Could Mean for Public Education
From McCarthyism to public school desegregation to Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs, and now to…
When the Prophetic City Fails
“Loose dogs” on Houston’s Northside were roving the streets in small bands, sowing chaos. At least,…
Riding the Pines in Palestine and Rusk
I pulled up to the train depot in the East Texas city of Palestine, $220 poorer…
Strangest State: Snacks, Scents, and Rays in the Bay
The post Strangest State: Snacks, Scents, and Rays in the Bay appeared first on The Texas…
Texas’ Hotbed of Taiwanese Nationalism
Dai wan wei. The sounds of the Taiwanese Hokkien language don’t resemble Mandarin Chinese, which drifts…
To the CEO of Centerpoint Energy, Who Smirks Next to a Thermostat that Reads 70 Degrees
I am here on the cold tiled floor with my son who is stripped who is down…
Seeing the Unseen
Since the publication of his 1985 chapbook of stories, Winners on the Pass Line, Dagoberto Gilb…
‘Not Everyone Can Leave’: Survival Advice from Trans Teens in Texas
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Deceleration, coproduced with Truthout, and is republished here with…
How Texas Jails Built Migrant Incarceration
In 1926, the Galveston League of Women Voters wrote to their U.S. senator to express concern…
The Vet, the Cattle Prod, and the ‘Guttural Wail’
Ashlee Watts, a veterinary equine surgeon and Texas A&M University faculty member, referred to the draft…
Taxpayers Fund Post-‘Roe’ Business Boom for Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers in Texas
If you had the means to provide diapers to a struggling new parent, what would you…
Announcing the Texas Observer’s Editor-in-Chief
Dear friends, I’ve been struggling to put into words my feelings from the last week: anger,…
She Fled Mexico as a Child. Now, She Teaches Migrant Kids in Tamaulipas.
Under various and ever-shifting policies curtailing access to asylum, dating back to the Trump administration and…
The Deep Roots of Deportation
Editor’s Note: This story was co-published with Puente News Collaborative in partnership with palabra. An unrelenting…
Pride and Prejudice in Princeton, Texas
Rowan Hunter, 15, stepped up to the lectern at Princeton City Hall in July 2021. It…
For Texas Democrats, a Lost Decade
There is a room with three doors. Each bears a label: “Latino Vote,” “Purpling Suburbs,” and…
“They Bought a Legislature”: What the GOP’s Gains Mean for Vouchers in Texas
Since the Kingdom of Life Academy moved from its location at the Colonial Hills Baptist Church…
Texas Will Be on the ‘Front Lines’ of Mass Deportation
In Texas and across the country, immigrants and their advocates are now bracing for a second…
Loon Star State: November 2024
(Ben Sargent) To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section or…
Texas House Dems Trip Over Their Own Low Bar
After coming up empty in a well-funded, highly ambitious, and not-slightly hubristic effort to flip the…
Texas Goes All Red for Ted
Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has officially walked away with his election to a third term…
In the Rio Grande Valley, the Red Wave Makes Landfall
Four long years ago, much ado was made about the inroads made by then-President Donald Trump…
GOP Clawing Back Dem Judicial Seats with Big Money and Big Red Wave
A massive investment by a conservative PAC appears to have paid off in key down-ballot judicial…
‘No Trust, No Bond’: Houston School Bond Appears to Fail amid State Takeover Backlash
At the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston’s Third Ward, the writing appeared to be already…
Is Rep Nate Schatzline Misusing Nonprofit to Play Partisan Politics?
On August 20, state Representative Nate Schatzline took the stage inside a black box-style room at…
Loon Star State: Ken Paxton’s Voting Police
To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section or find Observer political reporting…
Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our November/December Issue
Texas Observer readers, I was flitting about the intersection of Lamar and Rundberg in north Austin,…
A Lawman’s Change of Heart?
Editor’s Note: This report is part of “Seeds of Distrust,” an ongoing investigative collaboration between Lighthouse Reports, the Arizona Center…
A Real Race or a Red Redux?
Last Friday evening, more than 20,000 attendees packed a stadium in downtown Houston for a Kamala…
In the Rio Grande Valley, a Humbled GOP Battles with Democrats for the Center
On a warm, late September evening in downtown Harlingen, members of the Cameron County Republican Party…
A Cuban Journalist Adjusts to Service-Sector Precarity in North Texas
Editor’s Note: Jesús Jank Curbelo described his harrowing journey from Cuba to Texas in the Observer’s…
In San Antonio, House Races Could Determine Future of Public Ed and Vouchers
As Principal Joaquin Hernandez shows me around the sprawling campus of MacArthur High School in San…
Border 911: The Misinformation Network Profiting Off the ‘Invasion’ Narrative
Editors’ Note: This report is part of “Seeds of Distrust,” an ongoing investigative collaboration between Lighthouse…
How Mass Deportations Would ‘Devastate’ Texas
Former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised, if elected, to implement the “largest…
The Billionaire Behind the Bid to Break Dallas City Government
At the August 21, 2024, meeting of the Dallas City Council, Joseph Porter stood at the…
Legislators, Attorneys Urge State to Halt Execution of Potentially Innocent Man
Robert Roberson, whose controversial execution is scheduled for today, could have his life spared by state…
Speaker Boxing: Is Phelan Failin’, or Will the Far Right Fall Short Again?
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan escaped a May primary runoff defeat by the skin of his…
Did the First American in Space Take an Extra Golf Ball to the Moon?
Editor’s Note: The Barber, The Astronaut, and The Golf Ball by Barbara Radnofsky and Ed Supkis…
Texas Is Taking Back the State Highway 288 Tollway—at a Steep Price
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is set to take back ownership of the State Highway…
How Texas Diminished a Once-Rigorous Air Pollution Monitoring Team
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate,…
Reclaiming ‘Friendship’ Across Borders
A friend will help you move; a best friend will help you move a body. This…
Generous Guests: Undocumented Immigrants Subsidize Our Healthcare
Former President Donald Trump’s bumbling responses on healthcare in his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris…
Greg Abbott’s Border ‘Theatrics’ Now Include Acting Like the State Department
Governor Greg Abbott is, once again, using the border to test the bounds of his authority.…
A Houston Storyteller Finds the Humor in Hard Knocks
Ali Siddiq sits on stage, mic in hand, in front of a theater full of people,…
‘This Weird, Messy State We All Love in Spite of Ourselves’
Abby Rapoport has the rare distinction of having served as a Texas Observer staff writer, publisher,…
Confessions of a Beaumont Vegan
The number and proportion of vegans, as well as the general acceptance of veganism, are slowly…
Lost in Austin: Climate Change, Displacement, and Race in the Texas Capital
Editor’s Note: Lost in Austin: The Evolution of an American City, by longtime Observer contributor Alex…
Solidarity from Solitary and Beyond
Julio “Alex” Zuniga ends the messages he sends from his prison cell with the signoff “Solidarity…
Strangest State: Robbers, Witches, and Sharks
The post Strangest State: Robbers, Witches, and Sharks appeared first on The Texas Observer.
Loon Star State: ‘When You Assume…’
To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section or find Observer political reporting…
Bipartisan Legislators Join Calls for Clemency for Robert Roberson
A bipartisan majority of the Texas House of Representatives is calling for clemency for Robert Roberson…
Pipeline Explosion in Deer Park Reveals Hidden Hazards Texans Face
One of the biggest explosions and fires in recent Texas pipeline history was apparently sparked by…
Lawmen Above the Law
Mark Lamb decided to run for sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, after his pest control business…
The Company You Keep
Listen to an audio version of this article. For the past decade, James Frinzi was a…
A Slice of Life in Watermelon Country
East Davis Street in Luling is lined with low-slung brick mom-and-pop shops. One, a cafe, is…
Junk Science, ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome,’ and the Fate of Robert Roberson
The hearing on the innocence claims of a condemned man began on August 14, 2018, with…
The Far Right Wants to End Out-of-State Abortion. Amarillo Is in the Way.
When Amarillo resident Courtney Brown came across a social media post last July that announced anti-abortion…
Rice Farmers on the Brink
Daniel Berglund, a rice farmer for almost 40 years, climbs into his green-and-yellow 2014 John Deere…
The Woman Who Died in the Heat on a San Antonio Sidewalk Was My Friend
This article was originally published on August 24 by Deceleration, a nonprofit online journal producing news…
When Will Texas Workers Finally Get Protections from Heat Exposure?
For more than a decade, Democratic U.S. Representative Greg Casar, an ex-Austin City Council member now…
What Trump 2.0 Would Mean for Texas
Democrats underwent a dramatic change in their 2024 presidential ticket ahead of their convention, going from…
The ‘Untranslatable Palestinian Flesh’
Mahmoud Darwish died in Houston. The Palestinian poet, as monumental to his nation’s literature as Gabriel…
Texas Is Arming Mexico’s Gunmen
Firearms were used to commit 1,799 homicides in Texas in 2023—a devastating human toll. Yet guns…
After Hurricane Beryl, Cooling Centers Were Few and Slow to Arrive for Houstonians of Color—Some Died of Heat Exposure
Carol Samuel, 76, was born, raised, and educated in Third Ward, a sprawling and storied community…
Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our September/October Issue
Texas Observer readers, As we were wrapping up edits on the stories in this issue, a…
Announcing Our Executive Director: Loren Lynch
Texas Observer readers and supporters, The board of directors of the Texas Democracy Foundation is thrilled…
How Can You Tell If Soil Is Healthy? Just Listen to It.
This story was originally published by Grist, and it is republished here with permission. Sign up for…
The Mexican American Story
Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted with permission from Borderlands and the Mexican American Story, out…
In El Paso, a Migrant Death Crisis Emerges amid Extreme Heat
One May afternoon, the temperature was already approaching 99 degrees fahrenheit when the first call came.…
A Visionary in the Borderlands
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Border Chronicle, a weekly newsletter that publishes original…
how to admire wildflowers
rub your eyes & see nothin’ more than the flicker of candle flames burnin’ dry grass…
Observing the Borderlands
After stints at the McAllen Monitor and as a Lege staffer, Melissa del Bosque worked at…
The Walls Prison Break–50 Years Later
Fifty years ago last month, prisoner Fred Gomez Carrasco and an accomplice, Rudolfo Dominguez, died in…
DPS Dodges Transparency in Uvalde—Again
By reinstating Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell in early August, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)…
Stories from Deep in the Heart
Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted from Native Texan: Stories from Deep in the Heart, a…
Turning Trauma Into Activism: She’s Fighting for Reproductive Rights in Texas and Beyond
When I talked to Amanda Zurawski in early August, she had just finished: a Women For…
A Rough Road to the Christmas Mountains
Dawn was spreading like a giant egg yolk on the horizon when we reached the gate.…
Bringing Home the Story of Ben Spencer
Barbara Bradley Hagerty is an eclectic journalist: In her working life at NPR and later at…
When Summer Heat Hits My Texas Prison
At Huntsville Unit, a prison situated on the edge of a vast national forest 70 miles…
Nancy Pelosi Demands MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell If JD Vance Ever Saw Combat
As our own Doug Powers reported earlier, when you’ve lost CNN, you know you’re in…
A Legal Fight over Legacy Oil Industry Pollution Heats Up in West Texas
In the small town of Monahans, a dozen people huddle around a 10-foot deep hole in…