Data Center Boom Exposes GOP Faultlines over Local Control
In rural areas like Caldwell County, local Republican officials and citizens are scrambling to find ways to empower counties and slow AI-fueled development.
Texas Legislature
Turning Anti-Asian Hate into Law
A pair of bills, SB 147 and SB 711, could restrict people like the author's father from owning property, based on where he was born.
The Texas Observer Lives!
After a terrifying near-death experience, we live to muckrake another day.
A ‘Dark Vision’ of Discipline: Zero Tolerance Makes a Comeback
Texas is already expelling more at-risk students and the Texas Legislature may make things worse.
Texas Is Failing Queer Students
Some of the state’s most vulnerable young people are at risk during the 88th session of the Legislature.
‘Border Security’ Is a Financial Black Hole that Will Consume Us All
Spending on cops and tech at the border has increased ninefold in a decade.
Fair Hiring, Unfair Housing
There are laws and programs to help formerly-incarcerated Texans get employed, but finding a home can be far more challenging.
Pregnant Texans Now Travel 10 Times Farther for an Abortion
Texas legislator Donna Howard plans to collaborate with allies in and out of state in the fight to improve access to reproductive healthcare.
Greg Abbott’s ‘State of the State’ Was a Weird, Alarming Infomercial
“I’m speaking to you from the manufacturing floor of Noveon,” announced Texas’ fearless leader to a limited audience before laying out yet another right-wing agenda.
Uvalde’s Locks Were Its First Line of Defense. They Failed.
Missing master keys. Faulty latches. Entryways propped open. An unmitigated security disaster that left a classroom vulnerable.