“Put on a jacket, or you’ll catch a cold.” How many times have you heard that?…
Category: Politics
Strangest State: Petty Drama, Electric Trucks and Hungry Bears
Austin Drue Wagner / Texas Observer The unreliable Texas grid could not stop one man’s pursuit…
Meet the Latest Wingnuts to Join the State Board of Ed
A newly elected band of bankrupt, bought, and criminal-abetting representatives joined the Texas State Board of…
Mexico’s Testosterone Shortage Puts Trans Men at Risk
This story was originally published by Global Press Journal. Global Press Journal is an award-winning international news…
Meditations on Life and Death at Houston’s Rothko Chapel
In a part of Houston famous for its giant live oaks, museums, and million-dollar homes, 3900…
Conspiracy-Peddling Mayor Who Fondled Drunk Stepsister Loses Defamation Lawsuit
The far-right mayor of Colleyville, Bobby Lindamood, has cemented a number of deeply embarrassing facts about…
A Question with No Easy Answers
Why would the book club I participate in at a Texas church choose to read a…
A Hot, Dry 2022 by the Numbers
Last year, Texas experienced climate change not as a single disaster like Hurricane Harvey or Winter…
‘Striking Does Work’: Fort Worth Journalists Win Only Newspaper Union Contract in Texas
On the heels of an unprecedented 24-day labor strike late last year, around 20 journalists at…
Naked Man Shot In Hospital By Houston Cop Gets $900K Settlement
When Alan Pean drove himself to Houston’s St. Joseph Medical Center in August 2015, he got…
Climate Advocacy’s Elder Statesman
An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 documentary featuring former Vice President Al Gore, ignited what was previously…
Texas Cities Prioritize Police over People
If city budgets are a reflection of what a community holds precious, one thing is glaring…
2022 Must-Reads From TXO
There is a point in every Texas Observer magazine production cycle—usually after the first, sometimes second,…
The Uncounted: People of Color Are Dying at Much Higher Rates Than COVID Data Suggest
This investigation was conducted by the Documenting COVID-19 Project at Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media…
RGV Punk Rocker Makes It Big on the Silver Screen
When Raul Castillo saw Elegance Bratton’s name on the script for The Inspection, it sent him…
Biden Is Still Separating Immigrant Kids From Their Families
The persecution for her work as a lawyer in Colombia had gotten so bad that Victoria…
Texas Is Becoming a Bitcoin-Mining Capital. Can the Grid Handle It?
While the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX earlier this month dominates national headlines, the Texas blockchain…
Far-Right Lawyer Drops Neo-Nazi Lawsuit, Celebrates Fascist Thanksgiving
In a quaint, sparsely populated neighborhood in Decatur, a small town of fewer than 7,000 people…
Texas Wants to Save Community Colleges From Sinking
Moss often felt depressed and frustrated as a homebound high school student in Ellis County. They…
Unions Fight to Make Good Jobs Out of Texas’ Solar Boom
This story originally appeared in The American Prospect. Gary Bylander has spent the last four years…
Trey Martinez Fischer Will Helm the Democratic Opposition
For what feels like the hundredth year running, Democrats in 2023 will hold no positions of…
Texas Democrats After Beto
In the fall of 2021, a national reporter from Politico was in Austin writing another profile…
Trump to meet with Orthodox Jewish group on heels of Fuentes, Ye dinner
The former president will speak before the annual President's Conference of Torah Umesorah at his club…
GOP lawmakers accuse investment firms of breaking a law that prohibits divesting from oil and gas
At a senate committee hearing in Marshall, Texas Republican lawmakers accused investment firms of pulling back…
Months after Massacre, Uvalde County Turns Out for Greg Abbott
Skip to content Five and half months after the worst school shooting in Texas history took…
Lina Hidalgo Prevails Against Republican Offensive in Harris County
Once again, Lina Hidalgo overcame the odds with a narrow reelection win for Harris County judge—the…
‘Red Wave’ Makes Modest Splash in South Texas
In deep South Texas, where Republicans have spent two years foretelling a red tsunami, Tuesday night’s…
The Age of Abbott Continues Unfettered
Heading into his reelection bid, Republican Governor Greg Abbott appeared more vulnerable—from the left, right, and…
Voters Reinforce Republican Stronghold on State Board of Education
Republicans will hold onto power at the highest level of education policymaking in Texas after Tuesday…
Course Corrections: The Return of Prison Education
On a lower level of the Wynne Unit, a state prison in Huntsville, about 20 men…
Elon Musk’s Tesla Gigafactory Built on Wage Theft and Safety Violations, Texas Workers Allege
On Tuesday, the Austin-based nonprofit Workers Defense Project announced it was filing complaints with the federal…
Blue Havens in Red States
Red and inherently conservative. That’s the assumption many people have about the South. While there’s an…