Articles tagged: rural
One Researcher’s Quest to Quantify the Environmental Cost of Abandoned Oil Wells
Unplugged wells could be quietly leaking millions of pounds of methane in West Texas.
This story is one installment of a larger project by Grist and The Texas Observer. Support comes from the Pulitzer Center. Amy Townsend-Small has been chasing...Read More
Waves of Abandonment
The Permian Basin is ground zero for a billion-dollar surge of zombie oil wells.
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‘No Teeth and No Funding’: How Regulators Failed to Police the Oil Industry
Budget cuts and long term disinvestment in local environmental agencies have hobbled the states’ ability to oversee fracking.
This story is one installment of a larger project by Grist and The Texas Observer. Support comes from the Pulitzer Center. The fracking boom in the Permian Ba...Read More
How Flawed Death Investigations Can Leave Texas COVID-19 Deaths Uncounted
According to a new study, undercounts of COVID-19 deaths appear worst in rural and suburban areas served by elected justices of the peace.
Rick Hill, a retired high school principal, plays a key role in tracing deaths linked to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As an elected justice of the peace (JP) ...Read More
‘The Last Cowboys’ is a Wild Ride All the Way Home
Pulitzer Prize winner John Branch takes a fascinating dive into what it's like to make a living by horseback, both on the range and at the rodeo.
Confession: I’ve never ridden a horse. I’ve never baled hay or branded a steer or helped a cow give birth. Perhaps you think this should disqualify me from ...Read More
Top 1 Percent of Texas Commodity Farmers Get Quarter of $1.6 Billion in Subsidies
Subsidy program reforms were supposed to save taxpayers billions, but corn and sorghum farmers in Texas are getting more money than they have in a decade.
Jen Reel Last year in Nueces County, sorghum farmers raked in $10.9 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies. Corn farmers in Castro County took $12.6 million. In D...Read More
Despite ‘Hardship’ Funding, Rural Texas Schools Face Difficult Financial Future
Education advocates don’t think the funding will be enough to avoid staff layoffs and cuts to student services.
Education advocates don’t think the funding will be enough to avoid staff layoffs and cuts to student services....Read More
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...Read More
‘Everything Is Gone’: Family-Planning Clinics Disappear From Rural Texas
State budget cuts to family planning hit hardest in rural areas, where low-income women had fewer options to begin....Read More