Politics
Civil Rights Activists Push Lawmakers to Confront Texas’ Dark History of Convict Leasing
Under Mindy Brashears’ Leadership, USDA Will Let Swine Slaughter Facilities Go Hog Wild
An inspector at a special deregulated hog plant told the Observer that the USDA’s new pork slaughter proposal that eliminates maximum line speeds is a “recipe for disaster.”
On March 15, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s top food safety official delivered good news to the pork industry. The official was Mindy Brashears, a forme...Read More
‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’
A former Secret Service agent pledges to do whatever it takes to secure schools in Texas City ISD — and he couldn’t care less what you think.
by Justin Miller March 25, 2019 – When Texas City Independent School District Superintendent Rodney Cavness heard about the shooting at Santa Fe High Scho...Read More
How Silicon Valley Lobbyists Secretly Pushed Texas Regulators to Rewrite the Rules of the Gig Economy
Documents show that lobbyists for Handy.com dictated a rule to the Texas Workforce Commission that would give legal shelter to gig economy companies who don’t want to treat workers like employees.
In December, seemingly out of nowhere, the Texas Workforce Commission tentatively approved a new rule that looked like a favor to giant on-demand companies such...Read More
How Trump’s Tax Cuts Could Accelerate Gentrification and Inequality in Houston
Tucked inside Trump’s 2017 tax cuts is a tax break for real-estate investors worth $1.5 billion. Critics say it could become a gentrification accelerant.
Once a crown jewel of Black Houston, the Third Ward is no longer affordable for many longtime homeowners and tenants. High-end townhomes have subsumed many part...Read More
Civil Rights Groups Call ‘Election Integrity’ Bill a ‘Dangerous New Assault on Voting Rights in Texas’
A coalition of civil rights groups warns that SB 9 would “sharply escalate an ongoing campaign of voter suppression.”
A coalition of civil rights groups is warning that a new GOP bill winding its way through the Texas Legislature imposes substantial and unnecessary burdens on v...Read More
Texas Lawmakers Propose Funding Increase to Eliminate Waitlists at Rape Crisis Centers
One-quarter of the state’s crisis centers, which provide free services to survivors of sexual assault, have waitlists between two and five months.
Requests for services at rape crisis centers in Texas have increased by around 25 percent since 2016, driving waitlists for counseling up to eight months in som...Read More
Why is Beto Running for President, Exactly?
In the national spotlight, O’Rourke’s ideological amorphousness could prove to be too great a liability. Or it could be his biggest strength.
Four months since Election Day 2018, Beto O’Rourke’s much-hyped announcement that he’s running for president begs the question of, “Why?” As we all kn...Read More
Texas Lawmakers are Promoting ‘Anti-New York’ Bills to Limit Abortions
Governor Greg Abbott said there is “growing support for infanticide.” (There is not.)
Conservative Texas lawmakers are seizing on inflammatory and inaccurate national rhetoric around abortions later in pregnancy in an effort to drum up anti-abort...Read More
Republicans Push Back Against Making Election Day a Texas Holiday
Citing lost productivity, GOP lawmakers pounced on a bill that would make voting a little easier for state employees.
Confederate Heroes Day, honoring the likes of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, has been a state holiday in Texas since 1973. But during a House Committee on S...Read More