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Public Health

What the Data Says About Electricity Shutoffs During Sweltering Texas Summers

The state's retail heat-advisory rule exempts municipal utilities or electric cooperatives. For those providers, federal data shows final notices continued through summer while actual disconnections varied sharply from one utility to another.

by Mezabahnur Masum

Keep Reading

Texas Maternal Mortality Committee’s Next Report Will Skip Post-‘Roe’ Deaths. Lawmakers Suspect Political Influence.

by Mary Tuma

Texas’ Refusal to Plan for Climate Change Created a Crisis in Corpus Christi 

by Dylan Baddour

Texas’ Fight Against the Screwworm Will Be Nasty and Brutish

by Christopher Collins

Water fountain Jul 06, 2023

Texans Die from Heat After Governor Bans Mandatory Water Breaks

House Bill 2127 preempts local governments from enacting legislation in eight areas—with potentially deadly results.

by Steven Monacelli

The May/June cover of our magazine depicts a cartoon around the theme of "A madhouse of women's healthcare," with a building covered in cracks and giant bandaids, explored by hapless doctors and patients. In covered glass domes are symbols of healthcare like condoms and diaphragms, a uterus, and similar, along with a literal mountain of paperwork being scaled in the backdrop. The headline is "Wrecking Women's Healthcare" by Julie Poole. May 22, 2023

Wrecking Women’s Healthcare

Low-income Texans depend on family planning clinics. The clinics depend on a program that's in trouble.

by Julie Poole

A little girl (child) waving a rainbow flag in the Pride March (Gay Pride Month, "Marche des Fiertes") for the inclusion and rights of the LGBTQI+ in Paris, France on June, 25, 2022. May 18, 2023

Fast & Furious XI: Texas’ Transgender Youth

Headed for the governor’s desk, SB 14 shows the Legislature has no idea what healthcare for trans kids even is.

by Nancy Goldstein

In this July 10, 2015, frame from dashcam video provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, a heated confrontation between trooper Brian Encinia leads to the arrest of Sandra Bland after a minor traffic infraction in which the state trooper tried to drag Bland from her car, drew his stun gun and threatened that he would "light you up" in Waller County, Texas. Bland was taken to the Waller County Jail that day and was found dead in her cell on July 13. May 12, 2023

‘He Failed to Signal’: When DPS Traffic Stops Turn Deadly

Shandra Hodge speaks out about her son’s death at the hands of state troopers in 2019.

by Michelle Pitcher

A collage of three pictures of Antelmo Ramirez. First, he poses for a portrait, then he poses with his young daughter, and last he plays with his grandkids. May 08, 2023

He Died Helping Build Tesla’s Gigafactory. Tesla Didn’t Tell Local Officials.

Antelmo Ramirez was a dad, grandpa, and husband. His death by hyperthermia is absent from a Tesla report required as part of a Travis County tax deal.

by Gus Bova

A sign from a reproductive rights protest with text "We will save us" along with a hand holding a card that says, "Abortion Pills." Apr 19, 2023

The Path to a Safe Abortion Gets Narrower—Again

Large numbers of Texans are turning to out-of-state help to end their pregnancies safely. But now that option is under siege.

by Sara Hutchinson

The March/April issue of the Texas Observer, featuring some of our best work in 2023. The cover depicts a cartoon of young boy dressed as a militia member. Apr 02, 2023

The Texas Observer Lives!

After a terrifying near-death experience, we live to muckrake another day.

by Gabriel Arana

An illustration combining a sonogram of a womb with the image of a balancing scale, as if the scales of justice are inside the reproductive organ. Mar 23, 2023

Abortion Laws Stand Between Pregnant Texans and the Care They Need

Doctors are left to guess at whether helping their patients will land them in prison.

by Sara Hutchinson

The women who organize the Plan C abortion pill information werbsite having an outdoor meeting on a patio picnic table. One is writing on a whiteboard. Mar 15, 2023

‘We Won’t Be Bullied’: Abortion Pill Website Fights Texas Censorship

Tracy Droz Tragos’ documentary Plan C, now screening at SXSW, follows the ongoing fight to expand access to abortion medication.

by Sara Hutchinson

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