Topics
How Earl Campbell Changed Football in Texas
Texas’ Presidential Candidates Break Out Briefly During the Democratic Debate
But it’s probably not enough to challenge the frontrunners.
by Amal Ahmed, Gus Bova, and Andrea Valdez September 13, 2019 The third Democratic presidential debate and all its attendant hullabaloo stampeded into Texas Thu...Read More
The Trump Administration Blows Its Border Wall Budget in South Texas
A Texas Observer review of federal documents found that Congress gave CBP $445 million to build 25 miles of border wall in Hidalgo County. The money only paid for 13 miles.
The border wall contains multitudes. It’s a monument to racism, a minor inconvenience for would-be border crossers, and a hydrological threat to floodplain co...Read More
Rent By Another Name
As rent continues to rise across the state, an increasing number of Texas tenants are also saddled with mandatory fees for everything from doorstep trash collection to cable television.
On July 1, Mario Queroz came home to find a notice on the door of the one-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife in north Dallas. They’d lived at Three Fou...Read More
Journalists Blocked from Attending Secretive Immigration Tent Courts
Normally, the press can observe immigration court proceedings. But journalists are being turned away from the first asylum hearings in Laredo under the Migrant Protection Protocols.
The Trump administration is conducting asylum hearings in makeshift tent facilities by the ports of entry in Laredo and Brownsville for migrants who have been f...Read More
Ken Burns’ New Documentary Builds a Bigger Tent for Country Music
Co-opted by whites, country music was largely shaped by black and immigrant musicians.
As a filmmaker, Ken Burns sees himself as a uniter and not a divider—an admirable endeavor in these polarized times, but not always a successful one. His 2017...Read More
American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?
Physician Marty Makary’s new book shows how sky-high medical bills can ruin patients’ lives—but puts the burden on individuals to demand change.
Add yet another first place health care ranking no one wants for Texas: We have the highest hospital bills in the country. A new study has found that Texas pr...Read More
Texas Leads in Polling Place Closures Since 2013
750 polling places in Texas have been shuttered since Shelby v. Holder, the Supreme Court decision that released the state from federal oversight in changing its voter laws and practices.
If you’ve been on the voting rights tour bus in Texas, what a ride it’s been—especially since 2013. Prior to then, the state was beholden to the Voting Ri...Read More
‘Owned’ Explores the Racist Foundation of Homeownership in America
Giorgio Angelini, the film’s director and a native Houstonian, discusses the movie ahead of a showing in Austin on September 10.
After Giorgio Angelini graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005, he toured the country with his two bands, playing in the same bars and clubs ye...Read More
‘El Paso Firme’ Music Festival Calls on Texans to Peacefully Resist White Supremacy
A month after the largest massacre of Latinx people in U.S. history, 1,200 El Pasoans and numerous world-class musicians gathered for a hopeful, healing night.
About 1,200 people attended the El Paso Firme Music Fest on Saturday, a call to action against white supremacy through “the healing power of music.” The all...Read More
