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The Wasteland Underwater
On the central Texas coast, Lavaca Bay is already poisoned by mercury. Climate change will only make matters worse there—and at 944 other hazardous-waste sites across the country.
On the central Texas coast, Lavaca Bay is already poisoned by mercury. Climate change will only make matters worse there—and at 944 other hazardous-waste site...Read More
Researcher Howard Henderson on Reimagining Policing in the U.S.
Henderson says policing in the U.S. perpetuates systems of inequality that mirror the nation’s history of colonialism.
The uprising sparked by the police killing of George Floyd on May 25 has pushed the debate around public safety into territory that would have seemed unthinkabl...Read More
Texas Has the Widest Digital Divide in the Nation. What Does that Mean for the School Year?
As schools reopen, some families face potentially life-threatening options.
Before COVID-19, Jeanette Mathews was a single mother who relied on her son’s school schedule to help balance two jobs. In the mornings, the Mississippi trans...Read More
Austin and America’s Thirty-Year War on the Homeless
Cities have spent three decades criminalizing homelessness. Last year, Austin bucked the trend—and sparked a firestorm that still hasn’t gone out.
No Place to Be Cities have spent three decades criminalizing homelessness. Last year, Austin bucked the trend—and sparked a firestorm that still hasn’t gone...Read More
Loon Star: Trampled Liberty
The latest cartoon from Ben Sargent.
To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section, or find Observer political reporting here. Read more from the Observer:...Read More
5,000 People Contract COVID-19 While In ICE Custody, Including This Father Of 5
ICE officials have released some medically vulnerable detainees, but one woman is struggling to get her sick husband out of ICE detention.
This story originally appeared on Texas Public Radio. Jessica and her five children haven’t seen Hilder Lainez-Alvarez—their husband and father—in several...Read More
Death in Dalhart
After a farmworker in the rural Texas Panhandle died of complications from COVID-19, his family and federal investigators want answers.
Death in Dalhart After a farmworker in the rural Texas Panhandle died of complications from COVID-19, his family and federal investigators want answers. By Dana...Read More
Conception Deception
An East Texas doctor who allegedly used his own sperm to impregnate patients remains in practice. Why has the Texas Medical Board let him keep his license?
In 1984, Pauline Chambless went to Dr. Kim McMorries in Nacogdoches for help after she struggled for more than a decade to have a child. After multiple attempts...Read More
Voting Begins in a Month. Here’s What Is at Stake in Texas.
In an election that will chart the state’s political future for a generation, Democrats are waging an unprecedented offensive against embattled Republicans.
In late November 2018, just weeks after U.S. Senator Ted Cruz eked out a win against Democratic phenom Beto O’Rourke, Texas’ senior U.S. Senator John Cornyn...Read More