Forrest Wilder
By Forrest Wilder:
Introducing the Texas Observer’s Rural Reporting Project
Texas has the biggest rural population in the nation, yet many journalists treat much of the state as flyover country.
Trump’s election taught the nation many painful lessons. Among them: the traditional divide between town and country has become a chasm. People in blue, urban enclaves discovered, or rediscovered, the depth of anger and resentment felt in forgotten, mostly rural, … Read More
The Texas Legislature’s Chainsaw Massacre
In the name of “liberty,” Senate Republicans are hacking down local rules protecting trees — except when they’re making exceptions for themselves.
At least 90 cities and counties in Texas have ordinances protecting trees. San Antonio has an ordinance. Weatherford has an ordinance. Austin has an ordinance. So do the verdantly named North Texas burgs of Little Elm, Mesquite and Oak Point. … Read More
Never Say Sine Die: Legislature Returns to Ideological Special Session Agenda
As if the regular session wasn’t terrible enough, Governor Greg Abbott has called lawmakers back for another 30 days of hell.
If your town suddenly seems emptied of crooks, scoundrels and liars, it’s probably because state lawmakers are trickling back into Austin for a very special legislative session that begins Tuesday. One sign that they’re back in town: political fundraisers involving … Read More
Greg Abbott’s Latino Problem
The governor is looking strong in his re-election bid but his support for Senate Bill 4 may be doing serious damage to the Texas GOP.
Greg Abbott announced his re-election campaign in San Antonio on Friday. Despite my eternal mystification as to why Abbott wants to be governor (he seems to be largely animated by fears of his base and Dan Patrick), there’s little doubt … Read More
Why We Hired a Civil Rights Reporter
Introducing Michael Barajas, the Observer’s new civil rights reporter
Over the last five years, federal courts have repeatedly ruled that the Texas Legislature intentionally discriminated against racial minorities. That’s a high bar. Courts are often reticent to impute motives to lawmakers, but the racial animus is evidently impossible to … Read More
Joe Straus and the House Moderates Could’ve Stopped the ‘Show Me Your Papers’ Bill
Who's to blame for Senate Bill 4? For my money, there is no better place to start than Speaker Joe Straus and the so-called moderates in the Texas House.
Many believed it wouldn’t happen, but on Thursday, the Texas House passed legislation that in spirit and letter is awfully similar to SB 1070, the “show me your papers” law that properly branded Arizona an anti-Latino pariah. As Chris Hooks … Read More
Greg Abbott’s Plan to Drown Government (And Spend More Money!)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott laid out a vision of government that is basically a libertarian state with lots of cops in his State of the State address. Read More
Trump’s Wall Will Be a More Inept Version of George W. Bush’s
A border wall from the Pacific to the Gulf is unviable, but Trump and his people will settle for less.
A border wall from the Pacific to the Gulf is unviable, but Trump and his people will settle for less. Read More
The 10 Best Observer Stories of 2016: ‘Just Like Every Other Kid’
Under attack from Texas politicians, trans kids and their parents talk back.
Editor’s Note: If there was a collective “Person of the Year” for the Texas LGBT community in 2016, it was undoubtedly the parents of transgender children. Faced with a seemingly endless barrage of hateful, anti-trans “bathroom” rhetoric from Republican state … Read More