Human Rights
From Crystal City to Carrizo Springs, When Will We Stop Locking Up Kids?
Citing the Bible, Federal Lawsuit Challenges Houston’s Ban on Feeding the Homeless
A local ordinance that prohibits providing free food to more than five people is an infringement on free speech and religious liberties, the lawsuit alleges.
On a recent evening in April, a few dozen people experiencing homelessness lined up outside Central Library in downtown Houston for a free — and illegal — m...Read More
Religious Exemption Bill Could Leave LGBTQ Texans Scrambling for Health Care
About a quarter of Texas counties have two or fewer primary care doctors and pharmacists. What happens if they refuse service?
Matthew Glass said the first red flag was when the pharmacist called across the room, loud enough for other customers to hear, “What’s the Truvada for?” T...Read More
Uncaged Art
Finding life and light in art from detention.
Uncaged Art Finding life and light in art from detention. – by David Dorado Romo April 22, 2019 When I first saw the art of the children of the Tornillo d...Read More
Instead of Fighting ‘Tent City,’ Amarillo Decides to House Its Homeless
The city sued a landowner in 2018 for allowing about 30 homeless folks to set up tents. After a change of heart, city staff asked a camp advocate to help guide a "housing first" pilot program.
When Amarillo temperatures dip into the teens, like they did in early January, 36-year-old Dominic Baldivia simply turns up the heat in his two-bedroom duplex n...Read More
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