Political Intelligence
Inside the Coordinated Attack on a North Texas Wind Farm
How Anti-Abortion Activists are Training Their ‘Next Generation of Pro-Life Leaders’
College students descended on Houston to learn how to "convert" their peers to oppose abortion and how to "dismantle" Roe v. Wade.
This summer, nearly 30 college students gathered in Houston for a weeklong summit on how they could be the generation to end abortion in America. One day, after...Read More
On Gun Safety, Democrats are Steeled
Texas Democrats are becoming more sure-footed in their call for gun reform legislation.
For years, the Gun Owners Caucus had a regular presence at Texas Democratic Party conventions. The group’s message: “Texas Democrats do not want your guns; ...Read More
In Texas, 3 Out of 4 County Jail Inmates Haven’t Been Convicted of a Crime
Pretrial detainees — legally innocent people who have been charged but not convicted of a crime — now occupy more beds in jails than any other group.
Three years after a Texas state trooper ripped her out of her car and slammed her to the ground over a traffic violation, Sandra Bland’s name still evokes ima...Read More
Fringe Factor: CJ Grisham and the Paranoid Heart of Texas’ Gun Rights Movement
After video of Grisham getting slammed against a police car went viral in 2013, he took the lead in Texas’ gun deregulation movement. Now, he’s aiming for constitutional carry.
With the far right ascendant in Texas politics, once-marginal ideas and people have found a place in the political mainstream. Fringe Factor is an introduction ...Read More
Sinking Land and Climate Change Are Worsening Tidal Floods on the Texas Coast
More than 10,000 homes along the Texas coast will flood at least 26 times a year by 2045, researchers say.
For many folks who call the Texas Gulf Coast home, the coming and going of the tides is just part of the rhythms of salt life. There are high tides and there ar...Read More
Can Texas Oil Money Stop a Blue Gusher?
The PACs responsible for defending GOP majorities in the U.S. House and Senate are already gushing with money from Lone Star energy giants.
In June 2017, Tesoro Corp., a major oil refiner based in San Antonio, bought El Paso-based Western Refining for $5.8 billion and rebranded itself as Andeavor, b...Read More
‘We Love Our Neighbors, but It’s a Sin’: A Dispatch from a ‘Sex Ed Sitout’
Even though a majority of Texans support evidence-based sex education, religious right advocates have lobbied against teaching contraception in schools.
On a Monday morning in late April, Marcia Lamb’s 6-year-old son, Braeden, is running around the playground at Austin’s Zilker Park, making the most of an un...Read More
Despite Trump, Water Agency Fosters Cross-Border Cooperation Between U.S. and Mexico
A binational agency is working to transcend the immigration, trade and border wall battle between the two countries.
In early March, Ed Drusina and Roberto Fernando Salmón Castelo sat at the back of an almost empty auditorium with plates of food, talking amiably and strugglin...Read More
Who Are the People Still Marching for Trump in Texas?
At a march in Austin, an odd coalition of out-of-staters, white supremacists and the ordinary supporters who maintain his GOP approval ratings.
More than a year into Donald Trump’s scandal-plagued tenure, what sort of person would show up to march in the streets in support of the president? On a Satur...Read More