Economy
If You Can Buy It, By All Means Do That
Five years ago, facing significant rent increases and, in some cases, eviction, residents at the North Lamar Mobile Home Park organized. Now, they own the park.
If You Can Buy It, By All Means Do That Five years ago, facing significant rent increases and, in some cases, eviction, residents at the North Lamar Mobile Home...Read More
‘Heroes’ No More: Grocers Are Already Clawing Back COVID-19 Worker Benefits
Kroger revoked its “Hero Pay” in May, while public health experts warn of COVID-19 surges as Texas reopens.
Appreciation Pay, Proud Pay, Service Pay. The kaleidoscope of PR names all amount to one thing: a small raise for the poorly paid food retail workers who risk t...Read More
In the COVID-19 Economy, Texas’ Commercial Fishermen Are Barely Treading Water
If restaurants crater, it’s unclear what that might mean for Lone Star commercial anglers. Will the tradition of small-scale fishing scrape by—or has the industry sprung a fatal leak?
On Bolivar Peninsula’s bay side, just beyond Delino Comeaux’s small bait camp, all that’s left of the boat stalls across the canal are jagged shambles, cr...Read More
7 Texas Arts and Culture Causes to Consider on Giving Tuesday
Today is #GivingTuesdayNow. If you’re looking for causes to donate to, consider supporting the individuals and organizations that make Texas’ art, culture, and media great.
As Texas has had to shut down in the past two months due to the novel coronavirus, many of those in its iconic arts and culture industries have taken a big econ...Read More
Will Grocery Workers Still Be ‘Heroes’ When COVID-19 Subsides?
In Texas, grocery employees labor for low wages and few benefits. Now they’re part of a nationwide struggle in which workers are fighting for their lives.
For Joshua Cano, every cough “sounded like a gunshot.” Twenty-four years old, Cano works as a vitamin clerk at a Sprouts grocery store in the Texas border c...Read More
State Employees Criticize Texas’ Uneven Approach to Worker Safety Amid COVID-19
A slow, patchwork response to COVID-19 has jeopardized worker safety for some of Texas’ lowest-paid public employees.
Last week, an El Paso TV station broke the news: A longtime worker at the city’s state-run psychiatric center had died after being diagnosed with COVID-19. It...Read More
Abbott Puts Cabal of His Billionaire Donors, Industry Lobbyists in Charge of Restarting Texas’ Economy
The governor’s ‘strike force’ is composed of some of the most powerful moguls in the Lone Star State. In a time of pandemic, critics say it’s reckless pay-to-play politics.
Even as it’s still far from clear whether Texas has seen the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Greg Abbott is gearing up to restart the state’s econom...Read More
Building Trust
As Texans face the skyrocketing cost of housing, community land trusts offer the promise of permanent affordability. You just have to give up ownership of your land.
Building Trust As Texans face the skyrocketing cost of housing, community land trusts offer the promise of permanent affordability. You just have to give up own...Read More
Construction Workers Labor on, Vulnerable and ‘Essential’
While white collar professionals work remotely, and laid-off service workers seek unemployment, construction laborers are still reporting to job sites.
On Wednesday morning, as America’s COVID-19 death count neared 5,000 and workers flooded state agencies with a record-shattering deluge of unemployment claims...Read More