Lise Olsen
Texas Health Officials Undercount COVID-19 Cases by Excluding Some Prisoners Who Tested Positive
The Observer identified at least nine Texas counties where current prison cases make up more than 10 percent of the total COVID-19 cases in the county.
COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed in Texas prisons in recent weeks, with the virus infecting and killing incarcerated people and staff, and likely spreading into nearby communities through the thousands of workers who travel back and forth each day. Yet some … Read More
The Disappeared
Genetic genealogy is helping to crack cold cases and identify victims left nameless for decades. The process is surprisingly effective—and controversial.
Genetic genealogy is helping to crack cold cases and identify victims left nameless for decades. The process is surprisingly effective—and controversial. By Lise Olsen May 4, 2020 For nearly 30 years, Dianne Gonsoulin Hastings tried to discover what befell her … Read More
Demand for Plasma Therapy for the Sickest COVID-19 Patients Far Outpaces Donations
Texas blood banks and the Red Cross are actively recruiting donors but remain thwarted by a lack of antibody tests.
A few weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration dropped a huge project in the lap of the American Red Cross: Help sign up enough people to donate plasma rich with COVID-19 antibodies to treat more than 6,500 patients clamoring … Read More
Dozens of COVID-19 Cases Have Been Reported in Rural Texas Counties With No Hospitals and No Licensed Physicians
So far, more than 100 cases have been reported in counties with only one—or no—licensed physician.
The first reported COVID-19 death in Texas arrived unexpectedly in a rural hospital with just six beds in its tiny ICU. Eddie Roberts, a 97-year-old funeral home owner and World War II veteran, died March 15 at Matagorda Regional Medical … Read More
Houston Is Ground Zero for a Potentially Lifesaving COVID-19 Treatment
A plasma treatment trial is now rolling out nationwide, but a lack of tests remains a roadblock.
Houston attorney Troy Chandler is a big guy—6-foot-2 and 250 pounds—but on March 12 he felt as though he’d been hit by a truck. The first time he went to the emergency room at Houston Methodist Hospital, doctors “looked at … Read More
A Day in the Harris County Eviction Court
Harris County evictions increased dramatically from 2015 to 2016, and then remained higher from 2017 to 2019. No one knows why.
Each Wednesday, the wooden benches in the Harris County courtroom of Justice of the Peace Jeremy L. Brown fill with particularly tense people—most are landlords or lawyers bearing folders of unpaid bills. Meanwhile, defendants shift nervously in their seats, quietly … Read More
Democratic Voters Surge in Texas Primary, Waiting in Punishingly Long Lines as Officials Struggle to Keep Up
Grueling wait times stretched hours past closing time at polling locations across Texas. One voter in Houston waited nearly seven hours to cast his ballot.
One of the biggest and most disturbing storylines to emerge on Super Tuesday wasn’t about any top-of-the-ticket race, but rather the shockingly long wait times as some Texas polling locations struggled to keep up with increased turnout. According to the … Read More
What You Need to Know About Voting on Super Tuesday
A record number of Texans are registered to vote. But will they? And why should you?
Ahead of the March primaries, the number of registered voters in Texas hit a record 16 million—a million more than 2018 and almost 2 million more than the 2016 presidential race. This week, we’ll find out if they will actually … Read More
Researcher Jeremy Slack on the Horrors that Await Immigrants Deported from the U.S.
Slack led a massive research effort to learn what happens to those whom immigration authorities deport and dump all along the Mexican border.
As an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Arizona, Jeremy Slack began crossing the border into Mexico not to down shots of tequila, but to interview the displaced. Tall, blond, and at first speaking only high school Spanish, the Virginia … Read More