Economy
Coronavirus is Exposing the Faulty Foundations of the Texas Fracking Industry
Seven Austin Workers on How They’re Scrambling After the SXSW Cancellation
Gig workers reported more than $2 million in lost wages after the festival was called off.
Thousands of Austinites depend on South by Southwest for income, and many are still reeling after the event was officially canceled last week due to coronavirus...Read More
In Big Spring, a Rural Community Braces for Another Oil Bust
As oil prices plummet, the petroleum industry’s benefits and drawbacks for small towns are on full display.
Sometimes Big Spring is a boomtown. Sometimes it’s a bust. And usually, the defining factor is one simple number: the price of a barrel of crude. The commun...Read More
A Day in the Harris County Eviction Court
Harris County evictions increased dramatically from 2015 to 2016, and then remained higher from 2017 to 2019. No one knows why.
Each Wednesday, the wooden benches in the Harris County courtroom of Justice of the Peace Jeremy L. Brown fill with particularly tense people—most are landlor...Read More
Off the Texas Gulf Coast, Tugboat Crews Are Stuck on Their Boats Without Pay
Bouchard Transportation, a massive shipping firm, hasn’t paid docking fees or worker salaries, leading to a rare quandary in U.S. waters.
They haven’t drawn a paycheck in months. Some haven’t set foot on dry land since January. But at least 10 crew members stuck aboard three tugboats near the ...Read More
The Architecture of Gentrification
Exploring the architecture of gentrification.
Baffled City Exploring the architecture of gentrification. Text by Allyn West Photos by Spencer Selvidge March 5, 2020 “Ugly,” Maria Nicanor says, “is a c...Read More
In Amarillo, Copper Workers’ Strike Enters Fourth Month with No End in Sight
Laborers in the Republican-dominated Texas Panhandle find themselves in a protracted fight with one of the world’s largest copper producers.
It’s a February evening in the Texas Panhandle, and it’s cold as hell. Five men stand on the shoulder of Highway 136 northeast of Amarillo, huddled around a...Read More
Advocacy Groups Say Lubbock’s 2040 Land Use Plan Violates the Fair Housing Act
Texas Housers and the Lubbock NAACP filed a federal complaint alleging that industrial zoning in East and North Lubbock disproportionately burdens black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
A couple of years ago, Dianna Thomas spent a week away from her home in Lubbock’s Chatman Hill neighborhood. When she returned, she got into her car, which ha...Read More
The Fight to Make Austin Affordable
Austin is one of the most segregated and sprawling cities in Texas. A new land development code aims to change that.
On a brisk Saturday morning in November, a group of two dozen cyclists pauses in front of a four-story apartment complex in East Austin. The Terrace at Oak Spri...Read More
I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore
As gentrification reshapes my neighborhood, I fear we’re losing something of real value to our city.
As the cost of living in Texas’ cities continues to climb, gentrification is reshaping neighborhoods across the state. These changes might be starkest in East...Read More
