‘Up Against a 500-Pound Gorilla’: Can Dems Make Inroads in Deep-Red West Texas?
With a candidate on the ballot in every state and federal race, the minority party is trying hard to gain some ground in the GOP’s electoral firewall.
Rural Texas
Abbott’s Border Standoff Fueled by a Climate Crisis He Helped to Create
Record levels of forced migration are tied to an environmental collapse that Republicans worsened on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.
After Abortion Ban, Texas Teen Birth Rate Rises
The increase reverses a 15-year trend. And unwanted pregnancies will rise, researchers predict.
Border Angels and Magic Moments
A professor and a journalist report from the communities along the U.S.-Mexico border in a new book.
The Texas Observer Lives!
After a terrifying near-death experience, we live to muckrake another day.
Senator Kel Seliger Becomes the First Victim of Redistricting in Texas
The Republican lawmaker has chosen not to run for re-election in District 31, which has been redrawn to benefit more conservative candidates.
‘On the Porch’ Celebrates Terlingua and Its Residents
Deep in a mountainous landscape, West Texas-born musician W. Chase Peeler stumbles upon a gold mine of music makers who prefer life off the grid.
Rural Voters Stepped on the Gas for Trump Across the Texas Oil Patch
Even in Democratic strongholds, some voters in the state’s vast shale plays were afraid of Joe Biden’s energy platform.
A West Texas Nursing Home Sent Its COVID-Positive Residents Elsewhere. Now Two of Them Are Dead.
Texas allows nursing homes to voluntarily accept COVID-positive patients from hospitals and other nursing homes. But there are no additional safeguards for the people sent there, and some of the facilities have a history of breaking rules.
How Texas Lawmakers and Industry Have Weakened Citizens’ Rights to Fight Pollution
At the behest of the industry, legislators have chipped away at the environmental permitting process in Texas, stacking the deck against concerned people protesting industrial projects.