Speaker Burrows Remodels Texas House With All-Republican Chairs

Nearly a month after his contentious election as the new Speaker of the Texas House, Dustin…

Strangest State: Makeovers, Critters, and Friday Night Lights

The post Strangest State: Makeovers, Critters, and Friday Night Lights appeared first on The Texas Observer.…

‘It’s Demoralizing’: Trump’s Climate Funding Freeze Has Left Tribes and Community Groups in Limbo

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. When the…

Molly Ivins on School Vouchers (1997)

Editor’s Note: The Observer published this column in its April 11, 1997, edition under the headline:…

Trans Texans are Under Attack (Again), But Advocates Aren’t Giving In

When Emmett Schelling first moved to Texas, it wasn’t to become an advocate. It was for…

Remembering Boca Chica Beach—Before Elon Musk Came to Town

One Saturday late last summer, Boca Chica Beach was cloudy and oppressively humid. An incoming thunderstorm…

When a Death Penalty ‘Volunteer’ Changes His Mind

Richard Tabler, 45, is the second person scheduled to be executed in Texas this year, with…

New DEA Chief’s Background Includes Surveillance Tech and Border Misinformation

Derek Maltz, Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, served in a leadership role at…

Counting Hate: At Least 61 Anti-LGBTQ+ Incidents in Texas Last Year

A national project tracking anti-LGBTQ+ hate found dozens of homophobic and transphobic incidents in Texas during…

Who Really Benefits from School Vouchers?

Editor’s Note: The following is adapted from Boulton’s written testimony against Senate Bill 2, which was…

The ‘Texas Three-Step’: Defund, Demonize, and Privatize Public Schools

Chloe Latham Sikes is deputy director of policy at the Intercultural Development Research Association, a San…

Abbott’s Familiar Priorities Include Property Taxes, Vouchers, Cracking Down on Bail

Governor Greg Abbott declared seven emergency items during his biennial State of the State address, including…

Trans Children Are God’s Gifts

Editor’s Note: The following is by Molly Carnes, as told to Nico Lang, the author of…

Loon Star State: Send In the Clowns

(Ben Sargent) To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section. Find Observer political…

ICE Agents in Churches ‘Does Not Bode Well for the Future of Religion’ in America

Last week, the federal Department of Homeland Security reversed longtime policies restricting Immigration and Customs Enforcement…

‘Drill Baby Drill’: Arlington Approves New Site for Fracking Near Daycare and Schools

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy,…

Cartels Are Not ‘Foreign Terrorist Organizations,’ but Terror in Mexico Is Real

Editor’s Note: An earlier Spanish version of this article appeared in La Opinión. I have always…

Public Education Bills: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In recent years, Texas public education has become a battleground for right-wing ideologues aiming to embed…

Death in the Desert

When I moved to El Paso in 2016, there were fewer than 10 migrant deaths in…

Name Games: Trump’s ‘Gulf of America’ Move Flouts History, International Cooperation 

Dubbed the Gulf of New Spain by the conquistadors, the vast body of water that borders…

Corpus Christi Launches Emergency Water Projects as Reservoirs Dwindle and Industrial Demand Grows 

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate,…

‘How Innocent Do They Have to Be?’: Texas’ First Scheduled Execution of 2025 Raises Thorny Questions

The crime that landed Steven Nelson on Texas’ death row took place 14 years ago in…

In Austin, a Rare Prosecution over Worker Death in Trench Collapse

Three years and three months ago, Rosa Isela Batalla Morales learned that her son had been…

Cecile Richards Isn’t Giving Up the Fight

Editor’s Note: This interview, which first appeared in our January/February 2025 print issue, was originally scheduled…

Is Mexico Prepared for Mass Deportations?

Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will operate in 2025 with 700 million fewer pesos than in…

Her Body Was 126 Degrees After She Died, Bexar County Medical Examiner Blames Drugs

This article was originally published by Deceleration, a nonprofit online journal of environmental justice. Sign up…

Lost in Transit: Russian Dissenters’ Perilous Path to America

My second semester at Texas State University began last January. I remember the morning of January…

Texas Foresees Strong Revenue, Full Rainy Day Fund. Who Will Benefit?

With the 89th legislative session kicking off this week, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar delivered a cautious—yet…

The Border Propagandist

Editor’s Note: This report is part of “Seeds of Distrust,” an investigative collaboration between Lighthouse Reports, the Arizona…

From Houston to Lebanon, Seeking Truth and Music

Filmmaker, journalist, podcast producer, record collector, and DJ Jackson Allers has lived an eclectic life. The…

Texas Gave $1 Million in Expert Contracts to Defend Border Buoys in Court

The full cost of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande near…

This Aspiring Social Worker Should Not Be Blacklisted

Families in crisis trust Katherin Youniacutt, a grandmother who lives a quiet life with her husband…

Texas’ War on Drug Users

Listen to an auto-generated audio version of this article. Over the last weekend of April 2024,…

Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our January/February 2025 Issue

Texas Observer readers, Last month, we at the Observer officially celebrated our 70th year of continuous…

Booked Up in 2024: What to Read from a Strong Year in Texas Letters

Winding up your year by the fire (or by the pool) as the temperature rises and…

Our Most-Read Stories of 2024

Web traffic is a fickle thing, somewhat subject to the whims of tech overlords. And an…

Our Best Longform Stories of 2024

Yes, I am aware that the world today runs largely on TikTok, YouTube, some combination of…

Monopoly Tycoons in a Game of Jenga: The Censorship of Bodies, Protest, and Speech at UT-Austin

As a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin, each day feels like a…

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…

Suspension of disbelief

I picked up my first fantasy book when I was twelve It was called day of…

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,…

The Fairies Fiasco

The post The Fairies Fiasco appeared first on The Texas Observer.    

‘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…

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