Observer Masthead Additions and a Farewell

I’m proud to announce that the Observer has hired Mary Tuma, a freelance contributor since 2020, as a staff writer covering reproductive rights and politics starting late next month. Mary has been a leading reporter on repro rights in Texas for more than a decade, including during her years on staff at the Austin Chronicle. See her story from this week about the state’s maternal mortality commission to get a sense of what’s to come:

Texas Maternal Mortality Committee’s Next Report Will Skip Post-‘Roe’ Deaths. Lawmakers Suspect Political Influence.

After nearly four years as a McHam investigative fellow and then a staff writer at the Observer, Josephine Lee has returned to working as an educator. The body of work that Josephine put together here was ambitious, creative, empathetic—and she made a concrete difference through her reporting in the lives of Texas public school kids. You can find all her stories here to see an example of the Observer at its best.

Last, I’m excited to welcome Jason Buch, another longtime contributor, to the masthead as a special investigative correspondent covering border affairs, criminal justice, and civil rights. In this freelance role, he’ll regularly contribute the kind of hard-nosed reporting for which Observer readers already know and appreciate him.

See Jason’s work for the Observer here.