Articles tagged: East Texas
What the Black Lives Matter Protests Mean for East Texas
Protests where I grew up–where lynchings and KKK marches have occurred in my lifetime–could signal a shift in the region long plagued by racial terror.
The first time I thought I knew someone famous was when I saw a man we called Byrd on television. I lit up. Byrd, a Black man I recognized as a friend of my dad...Read More
COVID-19 Has Infected Workers at a Tyson Beef Plant in Amarillo, Employees Say
The infections are the latest in the surge of coronavirus cases at Texas meatpacking plants and in the Panhandle.
COVID-19 has spread inside a Tyson beef processing facility in Amarillo, marking the latest apparent outbreak of the virus at a Texas meatpacking facility. Plan...Read More
Workers at Tyson Poultry Plant in East Texas Say the Company Put Them at Risk of COVID-19
Tyson employees interviewed by the Observer say that as the coronavirus spread through the facility in April, the company failed to notify them of the danger in a timely manner so they could protect themselves.
Officials at Tyson’s poultry processing plant in Shelby County may have waited weeks to tell workers that an employee had tested positive for COVID-19, preven...Read More
COVID-19 Cases Now Tied to Meat Plants in Rural Texas Counties Wracked with Coronavirus
The outbreaks, which are being investigated by the state health agency, represent the first reported cases of the virus inside Texas meatpacking plants, and are in rural areas where medical resources are already stretched thin.
A meatpacking plant in Deep East Texas appears to be connected to an outbreak of COVID-19 in a rural part of the state where the number of coronavirus cases has...Read More
Rapper TTBBY on How Growing Up in East Texas Shaped His Music
Tobias Traylor has overcome poverty, hurricanes, displacement, and mental health challenges, experiences reflected in his music.
Hailing from the north side of Beaumont—known to locals as Big Money Texas—26-year-old Tobias Traylor wants to make sure the world knows him as someone “r...Read More
ACLU Sues East Texas Towns Over ‘Sanctuary City for the Unborn’ Ordinances
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two abortion access groups that were named “criminal organizations” by the local ordinances.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against seven East Texas towns that recently passed anti-abortion ordinances declaring themselves “sanctuary cities for th...Read More
East Texas Rivers Could Become a Boiling Pot for Mussels
The humble bivalves may not look like much, but they act as crucial natural filters across the state's waterways—and they're severely threatened by climate change.
Where the Sabine River becomes shin-deep about 20 minutes north of Tyler, three biologists dismount midstream from a narrow metal boat. Lance Williams, a profes...Read More
A Dying Town
When a rural hospital dies, the community around it starts to follow suit.
Critical Condition: part 1 A Dying Town When a rural hospital dies, the community around it starts to follow suit. + + + by Christopher Collins and Sophie Novac...Read More
The Creature of Martin Creek Lake Won’t Die
The Martin Lake coal plant in East Texas is the biggest sulfur dioxide polluter in the nation. And unlike other regional super-polluters, this one is still chugging along.
From above, the Creature takes the shape of a spider: Its eyes are smokestacks, its legs spindly railways stretching from the semicircle of clearcut pines into ...Read More