A Texas Austerity Crisis Is Playing Out City by City, School by School
Texas' local governments are facing growing fiscal pain. What’s that mean for the 2026 elections—and the 2027 session?
Dallas
Civil Rights Activists Push Lawmakers to Confront Texas’ Dark History of Convict Leasing
Convict leasing, which historians have called “slavery by another name,” was used to build the Capitol and earn profits for the state and private companies for decades.
Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan
The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, who died at 91 last week, liked pausing by roadsides everywhere in Texas to examine plants, pocket seeds and smell the air.
New Documentary Reveals the Deadly Cost of Texas’ Anti-Worker Agenda
As the Legislature ponders yet another crackdown on labor, Building the American Dream explores the stakes of labor policy in the country’s largest red state.
Botham Jean’s Death Could Lead to an Overhaul of Police Oversight in Dallas
The outrageous shooting of a man in his own apartment has triggered calls to reform Dallas’ toothless, decades-old system of police oversight.
Strangest State: December 2018
Weird news from far-flung Texas.
The GOP Machine in Texas Seems to Finally Have Slipped a Gear
Over the last few years, something has been stirring in Texas. The midterm elections may signal a seismic shift in state politics.
Casey Gerald’s Memoir Isn’t the Inspirational Tale You Think It Is
By his mid-20s, Casey Gerald — who grew up poor in Dallas — had an eye-popping résumé and an impressive career. So why did he walk away from the “circus of success”?
