News
Where the Bodies are Buried
Forgotten in the Fields
Labor trafficking hides in plain sight across Texas, disproportionately affecting the thousands of farmworkers who visit the state on H-2A guest worker visas.
Labor trafficking hides in plain sight across Texas, disproportionately affecting the thousands of farmworkers who visit the state on H-2A guest worker visas. &...Read More
Strangest State: May 2019
Weird news from far-flung Texas.
ATASCOCITA // A man tested the limits of Petco’s “all leashed pets allowed” policy by walking his 1,600-pound steer into the store. A Facebook video shows...Read More
Warning Signs
Rural East Texas has some of the highest suicide rates in the state. But the safety net for people who need help is being stretched thin, and some Texans are falling through.
Rural East Texas has some of the highest suicide rates in the state. But the safety net for people who need help is being stretched thin, and some Texans are fa...Read More
Sunk Costs
The border wall is more expensive than you think.
When the federal government builds a border wall, the taxpayer foots two bills. First, there’s the cost to get the thing built, a figure proclaimed in preside...Read More
The Flood Next Time
In the floodplain of the Rio Grande, Trump's wall threatens to inundate communities on both sides of the border.
by Gus Bova May 6, 2019 In July 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice shelled out $12,000 for a 1.71-acre strip of land along the Rio Grande’s north bank i...Read More
‘Do Something with This Grief’: Mom of Santa Fe Shooting Victim Turns to Politics
Rhonda Hart, a gun reform advocate whose daughter was killed in the Santa Fe High School shooting last May, is running for school board in her bright red Texas district.
by Sophie Novack April 23, 2019 UPDATE: Rhonda Hart lost the school board race on May 4 with 33 percent of the vote, but she continues to advocate for gun viole...Read More
Texas Observer/Audm Audio Stories
Audio versions of Texas Observer stories, brought to you by Audm. – In 1910, East Texas saw one of America’s deadliest post-Reconstruction racial purges...Read More
Is a Dam Failing in Your Neighborhood?
How to use this map: You can sort dams by their condition — satisfactory, fair or poor — and whether they’re regulated by using the menu to the left o...Read More
Dammed to Fail
An Observer investigation finds that unregulated dams across Texas are increasingly failing — putting people and property in jeopardy.
An Observer investigation finds that unregulated dams across Texas are increasingly failing — putting people and property in jeopardy. by Naveena Sadasivam Ap...Read More