Politics
Three Things the Judge Says He’ll Consider in Ruling on Texas Fetal Burial Law
How Pete Sessions Lives the High Life on Corporate Donors’ Dime
For years, the powerful Dallas congressman has used a largely unregulated political fund to court powerful special interests with luxurious perks.
Golf outings at an exclusive country club. A catered suite at a Dallas Cowboys game. Swanky ski resort getaways in the mountains of Utah. Life is good for Congr...Read More
Texas Farmers are Fed Up With Trump’s Trade War, but Most Stop Short of Blaming Him
The state’s dominant ag products, valued at $18 billion, are in the crosshairs of retaliatory tariffs. Still, most farmers here are hesitant to criticize Trump.
Russell Boening, a Texas farmer and rancher who’s also president of the Texas Farm Bureau, is starting to feel the effects of escalating trade conflicts betwe...Read More
Tom Steyer’s Impeachment Show Comes to Texas
The liberal California billionaire is spending tens of millions in an effort to impeach Trump. Is it starting to gain momentum?
At the historic Sunset Station building just east of downtown San Antonio Wednesday night, a couple hundred people gathered to see Tom Steyer in a town hall set...Read More
Deal Finalized to Revive Notorious 1,000-Bed South Texas Immigrant Detention Facility
Willacy County officials have yet to release the details of the deal, which comes less than two years after the county sued the same company over mismanagement of the facility.
On Wednesday, private prison company MTC announced it had finalized a deal to revive the notorious immigrant detention facility once known as “Ritmo,” in th...Read More
‘Shamed and Stigmatized’: Austin Woman Forced by Hospital to Bury Fetal Remains Testifies Against State Law
Blake Norton, who shared her experience publicly for the first time with the Observer earlier this year, testified in federal court that the forced fetal burial left her “shocked, upset, confused.”
On the first day of the trial over Texas’ fetal burial law, abortion providers had a rejoinder to the claim that they don’t know how patients feel about the...Read More
Is the Realm of Possibility Expanding for Texas Democrats Running for Congress?
From the swingiest seat to one of the most conservative, Democratic congressional challengers are raising big money — and big questions about the boundaries of a potential blue wave.
Halfway through the summer, Texas Democrats’ impressive fundraising efforts show no signs of cooling down. Beto O’Rourke has attracted the most attention wi...Read More
Legislation to Abolish ICE Indicates Movement is Gaining Mainstream Traction
After agents ask to leave ICE, three Democratic lawmakers filed legislation to abolish the agency.
Three Democratic lawmakers gave a boost to the “Abolish ICE” movement Thursday, seizing on an effort by the agency’s criminal investigative division to sp...Read More
‘Recipe for Disaster’: New Family Detention Center Could Open in South Texas
The proposed facility — a shuttered nursing home in San Diego, Texas — would be run by a British private prison company with a history of alleged abuses in Australia and England.
Trump’s desire to jail thousands of immigrant families for months at a time has rekindled an economic romance between a tiny South Texas county and a British ...Read More
Could Private Prison Cash Become a Liability for Texas Democrats?
Two candidates in a San Antonio special election are beefing over contributions from a private prison firm linked to Trump’s family separations.
Trump’s family separations scandal has reared its head in the San Antonio race to replace disgraced former state Senator Carlos Uresti. On Tuesday, Democratic...Read More