Human Rights
Instead of Fighting ‘Tent City,’ Amarillo Decides to House Its Homeless
Valeria Luiselli’s Third Novel Reckons with the Trauma Inflicted on Migrant Kids
Lost Children Archive is not only an indictment of U.S. immigration policy, but a requiem memorializing every child who has ever lost their right to a childhood.
Early in Valeria Luiselli’s virtuosic new novel, Lost Children Archive, the narrator realizes she has entered an ethical minefield. She makes radio documentar...Read More
Faith Groups: Texas ‘Ignored and Disrespected’ Religious Freedom in Passing Fetal Burial Law
The requirements “purportedly honor dignity of the unborn at the expense of the dignity of the women whose religious and personal freedom they curtail,” a collection of religious organizations wrote in a recent court filing.
It’s been years since Dr. Karen Swenson stopped doing miscarriage management at Seton, a Catholic hospital in Austin. That’s because of Seton’s longtime b...Read More
The Poor in Texas Have Been Vastly Undercounted, New Report Finds
The federal poverty level fails to take into account 2.6 million struggling Texas households.
It ain’t cheap living in the oil boomtown of Midland, where the fracking frenzy sweeping through West Texas has led to an eyeball-popping spike in rent. In 20...Read More
‘Last Woman Standing’ Tackles Toxic Masculinity and Keeps the Pages Turning
Amy Gentry’s second crime novel shines with meticulous plotting, complex characters and a subversive feminist message.
Ask any member of the local comedy scene, and they might tell you they’re surprised it’s taken so long for the annual Funniest Person in Austin stand-up con...Read More
Texas Border Sheriffs: There is No Crisis and We Don’t Want Trump’s Wall
Despite Trump’s attempt to paint the Texas-Mexico border as a war zone, border counties are safer than the president’s own backyard. And local lawmen don’t believe a wall will do any good.
President Trump visited McAllen earlier this month to drum up support for spending $5.7 billion to build more border wall segments on the U.S.-Mexico border. He...Read More
Trump’s Wall Is Coming to Texas. Meet Its First Victims.
As soon as February, the border wall is headed for a state park, a butterfly refuge and the land of a Hispanic family who’s called the Rio Grande Valley home since before it was the United States.
As soon as February, the border wall is headed for a state park, a butterfly refuge and the land of a Hispanic family who’s called the Rio Grande Valley home ...Read More
‘Ignored to Death’ in the Bexar County Jail
Janice Dotson-Stevens' death is another tragic example of how bad the criminal justice system is at dealing with mentally ill people who enter it.
by Michael Barajas January 4, 2019 – Three days after Christmas, family and friends of Janice Dotson-Stephens packed into pews inside the Lewis Funeral Ho...Read More
The Texas Observer’s Best Features of 2018
Our favorite longreads of the year.
The Texas Observer’s Best Features of 2018 Our favorite longreads of the year. – by Rose Cahalan and Forrest Wilder December 26, 2018 Like children, it...Read More
Four Texas Abortion Court Cases to Watch in 2019
The lawsuits could eventually end up at the Supreme Court, where the future of Roe v. Wade is now in question.
The Texas Legislature’s zeal for passing anti-abortion legislation has created an endless cycle of court challenges that’s frustrated lawmakers and judg...Read More