Nestled about a foot deep in a makeshift well of sand on the no-man’s-land of shoreline between dunes and waves, about 75 eggs laid bare, vulnerable to the dangers of the Texas coast. But not for long. Within hours of the nest’s arrival, members of the Nueces County Coastal Parks Turtle Patrol cordoned the area […]

The post How Trump’s ‘God Squad’ Could Devastate Endangered Species Along Texas’ Gulf Coast  appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Fifteen years ago, in May 2011, dozens of newly inducted Teach for America (TFA) corps members gathered at Trinity University in San Antonio to prepare for a five-week summer training institute, which would be hosted at Rice University in Houston. It was the first time I had ever been selected for anything exclusive—TFA’s acceptance rate […]

The post How Teach for America Helped Set Up James Talarico’s Political Rise  appeared first on The Texas Observer.

What would’ve been school-choice proponents’ triumphant publicity tour after the application period closed on Texas’ shiny new voucher program, in mid-March, was instead consumed by catty finger-pointing between two top state officials over who’s to blame for the state seemingly botching its attempt to religiously discriminate against some program participants. It’s the sort of comedic […]

The post Who Accounts for Freedom? appeared first on The Texas Observer.

The elusive lady caught my eye from across the cul-de-sac on the street of my childhood home, her brilliant orange-and-black wings fluttering. The monarch butterfly sailed through the breeze, searching for a spot to land amid the manicured green lawns of North Texas suburbia. This fuzzy memory and others like it were a cornerstone of […]

The post The Plight of the Monarch appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Under threat of possible takeovers by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), nine school districts are set to hand over 15 public schools to Third Future Schools-Texas (TFS-Texas), a charter school operator previously run by state-appointed Houston ISD superintendent Mike Miles.  In recordings of school board meetings and interviews with the Texas Observer, some leaders of […]

The post Mike Miles’ Former Charter School Network Expands Its Footprint in Texas appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Around Jim Wells County, dwindling levels in main reservoirs have triggered a rush on local aquifers as cities, towns, chemical plants, and ranchers drill for water. The nearby city of […]

The post Corpus Christi Water Crisis Spurs Stampede on South Texas Aquifers appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Though journalism remains an unlicensed profession, and standards do vary across news outlets, some rules are very broadly accepted. The most common reference point is the code of ethics of the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ), which compiles guidelines that aim to keep practitioners honest, minimize unintended harm, and build trust. For example, journalists are […]

The post ‘Gossip and Sleaze’: Dallas Express Smears State Rep’s Son Under Fake Byline appeared first on The Texas Observer.

For years, climate scientists have projected that South Texas would grow hotter and drier—that drought cycles would lengthen, that rainfall would become less reliable, and that the water systems built for a wetter century would eventually face conditions they were never designed to absorb. In Corpus Christi, that projection has become a daily operational reality. […]

The post The Corpus Christi Water Crisis Isn’t Exceptional. It’s Early. appeared first on The Texas Observer.

When a teenager in Texas is pushed out of their home because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, foster care is supposed to help. It is meant to offer safety, stability, healing, and the chance to begin again. But for many LGBTQ+ youth, rejection does not end when the state steps in. It simply […]

The post Foster Care Repeats Rejection for LGBTQ+ Texans appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Over the course of filming two documentaries about the fathers of transgender and nonbinary children, Luchina Fisher has watched these families’ rights rapidly erode.  “In [2023], we thought things were bad: we were having conversations around safety for our children,” she told the Texas Observer. “This is another level that we haven’t ever seen before.” […]

The post ‘Proudly Claiming Our Tears’: Fathers Stand Together for Their Trans and Nonbinary Kids appeared first on The Texas Observer.

After Democrat Taylor Rehmet beat the GOP’s Leigh Wambsganss in the January 31 special runoff election for state Senate District 9 , Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called the loss “a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas.” It’s been a common sentiment in the Republican Party in recent days, especially since a Democrat hasn’t won that […]

The post Does Taylor Rehmet’s Victory Foreshadow an Anti-MAGA Wave?  appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Poems are selected by Poetry Editor Lupe Mendez, the 2022 Texas poet laureate and author of Why I Am Like Tequila. To submit a poem, please send an email with the poem attached to poetry@texasobserver.org. We’re looking for previously unpublished works of no more than 45 lines by Texas poets who have not been published […]

The post Oh, Texas Our Texas, appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Editor’s Note: The author of this article is currently one of eight Democrats running in the March 3 primary for state House District 49, the seat vacated by gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa. You can read more about the candidates here. I grew up undocumented in this country. From an early age, I learned how fear […]

The post When Local Police Collaborate with ICE, Children Pay the Price appeared first on The Texas Observer.

The world’s largest artificial intelligence data center complex is being built in Amarillo, and it’s almost seven times the size of Central Park.  On June 26, 2025, Fermi America, an AI development firm cofounded by former Texas Governor Rick Perry, announced that it will partner with the Texas Tech University System to transform 5,800 acres […]

The post The Texas AI Boom is Outpacing Water Regulations appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Let’s begin with a definition, by example, of dysfunctional governing: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the United States Health and Human Services Secretary. In 2000, the World Health Organization determined that according to its criteria, the United States had eliminated measles. But 2025 saw sustained outbreaks, notably […]

The post How to Cause a Dysfunctional Government appeared first on The Texas Observer.

In Hindu folklore, the goddess Durga appears with her dark eyes serene, wearing a billowing scarlet sari, and riding atop a lion as she battles the half-beast, half-human demon Mahishasura, who seeks world dominance. For nine long days and nights, Durga manifests in different forms, her power growing with each, to prevail where male gods […]

The post A Reporter’s Religious Quest in Houston Suburbia appeared first on The Texas Observer.

The post Strangest State: Escaped Exotics, Tariffs, Trickery, and Guns appeared first on The Texas Observer.

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Texas’ environmental regulator this week issued the largest air pollution permit in the country to an enormous planned complex of gas power plants and data centers near the oilfields […]

The post Country’s Largest Air Pollution Permit Issued to Power Plant for Data Centers in West Texas, Developer Says appeared first on The Texas Observer.

On the back porch of his Southeast Austin home, Willy Baltazar displays a vibrant Día de los Muertos-style altar that honors more than just ancestors. Lined up are portraits of legends who have shaped Mexican culture and beyond: Vicente Fernández, Paquita la del Barrio, Frida Kahlo, Bob Marley, and Michael Jackson. Each icon is paired […]

The post Austin’s Willy Baltazar Is a Man of Many Masks appeared first on The Texas Observer.

The ascent of Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old socialist Muslim, to New York City’s mayoralty once seemed an almost absurdist dream. Yet, propelled by an army of 100,000 volunteers who took on the city’s political machine from below, the question now is not whether someone like Mamdani can win but whether his victory can carry beyond […]

The post In Texas Cities, Let a Hundred Mamdanis Bloom appeared first on The Texas Observer.

On a hilltop overlooking the Rio Grande, just below a picnic area along Highway 83 in San Ygnacio, there’s an unmarked grave. The river—as well as its new razor-sharp decorations—stretches as far as the eye can see in either direction. Occasionally a car passes, but mostly there’s a quiet stillness. The riverine border between Texas […]

The post The River and the Fever Dream appeared first on The Texas Observer.

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Editor’s Note: This story illuminates potential push factors that could influence future immigration at the Texas border. There is a sense of deja vu in the jungles of South America to […]

The post Trump’s Plan for Venezuelan Oil Raises Prospects of Paramilitary Violence appeared first on The Texas Observer.

In September, two new Shakespeare adaptations used the Bard’s canonical plays as jumping-off points to bring stories infused with Hispanic culture to Dallas audiences.  Echo Theatre’s world-premiere production of El Rey del Pollo by Anna Skidis Vargas, an adaptation of King Lear, and Shakespeare Dallas’ The Taming of the Shrew used the Spanish language to […]

The post In Dallas, Spanish-Inflected Shakespeare Adaptations Experiment with Language appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Earlier this month, a few dozen police officers, school district representatives, and one pro-Trump candidate for Congress crowded together in a room above the cafeteria at Samuel V. Champion High School in Boerne. School was cancelled for the day, but there was activity in the hallways, which was being shown on large TV screens at […]

The post Uvalde Trial Raises Question of Whether Police Stop School Shootings appeared first on The Texas Observer.

As a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill works its way through Congress, Congressman Marc Veasey, a Democrat who represents part of Dallas, introduced an amendment in committee Wednesday aimed to reduce the salary of James Rodden, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assistant chief counsel who acts as a prosecutor for ICE […]

The post Congressman Tries to Cut Pay of ICE Prosecutor with Racist X Account to $1 appeared first on The Texas Observer.

The rolling grounds of the UMLAUF Sculpture Garden and Museum near Austin’s Barton Springs are dotted with bronze pieces, their patinas letting them almost blend in with the scenery. But up close, they’re vividly detailed. A refugee holds a baby in gnarled hands, molded by American artist Charles Umlauf—the garden’s benefactor and namesake—in 1945. John […]

The post ‘Black Bird Redemption Song’: A Fort Worth Artist’s Work on Confinement, Freedom, and Fred Rouse appeared first on The Texas Observer.

At 4:50 p.m. on May 25, 2024, a security camera in a Hutchins State Jail dorm catches Jackie Wiley standing in his white jumpsuit at the back of the large communal room he shares with dozens of other men. The 52-year-old Dallas native, known around the lockup for his bubbly humor, is talking with others […]

The post In Texas State Jails, a Rising Death Toll and a Broken Promise appeared first on The Texas Observer.

In the realm of Texas newspapers, one media mogul now rules them all—or close to it at least. Last February, Hearst Communications acquired the Austin American-Statesman. Seven months later, the privately held New York-based conglomerate bought up the Dallas Morning News, one of the country’s last locally owned metro papers, for just over $80 million—outbidding […]

The post In Ink and on Airwaves, Texas Media Grows Ever More Concentrated appeared first on The Texas Observer.

After last year’s deadly Hill Country flood took at least 135 lives over the July 4 weekend, volunteers flocked to the area to support disaster relief efforts. Among those volunteers were members of Patriot Front, a neo-Nazi organization that is one of the nation’s largest and most influential white nationalist groups. On July 23, Patriot […]

The post Revealed: Four Businesses with Ties to Patriot Front Operating in North Texas appeared first on The Texas Observer.

In February of last year, the Texas Observer reported that James “Jim” Joseph Rodden—an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assistant chief counsel who acts as a prosecutor for ICE in immigration court in Dallas—operates a white supremacist X account named GlomarResponder, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details that the Observer matched through publicly […]

The post ICE Prosecutor Who Runs Racist X Account Returns to Dallas Immigration Court  appeared first on The Texas Observer.