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The Latest Breaking News from Texas Observer

The ‘Texas Three-Step’: Defund, Demonize, and Privatize Public Schools

Vouchers become subsidies for families who had already decided to pay for private school, at the expense of public schools that must serve all students.

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Who Really Benefits from School Vouchers?

I do not pretend to know the motivation of Jeff Yass. But I do know that Mr. Yass is not a Texan, and I also know that Texas is not for sale.

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Abbott’s Familiar Priorities Include Property Taxes, Vouchers, Cracking Down on Bail

In his biennial address, the governor declared seven emergency items.

Texas Observer

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ICE Agents in Churches ‘Does Not Bode Well for the Future of Religion’ in America

“They’re de facto endorsing government interference with the church—the very government interference with the church that they've complained about in the past.”

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Cartels Are Not ‘Foreign Terrorist Organizations,’ but Terror in Mexico Is Real

It is difficult to determine how these heterogeneous crime groups target the United States, but Mexican authorities need to respond to what might be called domestic terrorism.

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Public Education Bills: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Conservative state lawmakers have filed hundreds of bills targeting the school finance system, LGBTQ+ students, undocumented immigrant children, and more.

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Death in the Desert

Migrants’ bodies pile up in New Mexico after Texas cracks down in the sprawling El Paso sector.

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Name Games: Trump’s ‘Gulf of America’ Move Flouts History, International Cooperation

The president could just as logically rename the body of water the “Chinese Sea,” one historian argues.

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Corpus Christi Launches Emergency Water Projects as Reservoirs Dwindle and Industrial Demand Grows

This Texas city has struggled to develop a seawater desalination plant, but its efforts have lagged as thirsty industries arrive and drought persists.

Texas Observer

‘How Innocent Do They Have to Be?’: Texas’ First Scheduled Execution of 2025 Raises Thorny Questions

Steven Nelson says he was a lookout for a robbery that ended in a pastor’s death. He’s set to be killed by the state February 5.

Texas Observer

In Austin, a Rare Prosecution over Worker Death in Trench Collapse

Travis County’s progressive DA has secured indictments for the 2021 death of Juan José Galvan Batalla, remembered as a “cheerful” hard worker and beloved sibling.

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Cecile Richards Isn’t Giving Up the Fight

Despite a brain cancer diagnosis and political setbacks, the Texas native is investing in a new strategy: abortion storytelling for the TikTok age.

Texas Observer

Is Mexico Prepared for Mass Deportations?

Border states brace themselves, while the president insists on an optimistic view.

Texas Observer

Her Body Was 126 Degrees After She Died, Bexar County Medical Examiner Blames Drugs

Jessica Witzel’s autopsy report raises an important question: How many other heat-related deaths among unhoused residents are being erased by the failure to collect and report accurate data on climate-related mortality?

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Texas Observer

Lost in Transit: Russian Dissenters’ Perilous Path to America

Persecuted and unable to change anything, we were unwelcome in Russia. Then Mexican and U.S. policies brought more trouble.

Texas Observer

Texas Foresees Strong Revenue, Full Rainy Day Fund. Who Will Benefit?

In his biennial budget projection, Comptroller Glenn Hegar says the state will have a healthy surplus, plus a full economic stabilization fund for the first time in history.

Texas Observer

The Border Propagandist

Jaeson Jones, a confidante of incoming federal border czar Tom Homan, is helping lay the groundwork for mass deportations and conflict with Mexico.

Texas Observer

Trump’s Texas Tycoons

Meet the Lone Star megadonors, think tankers, and politicians poised to play big roles in Trump’s comeback tour.

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From Houston to Lebanon, Seeking Truth and Music

Meet the DJ and journalist behind Houston’s Ice House Radio, who has mingled with jazz legends and reported abroad—and for whom recent violence in the Middle East is personal.

Texas Observer

Texas Gave $1 Million in Expert Contracts to Defend Border Buoys in Court

Records reveal additional costs of the controversial Rio Grande barrier that the governor describes as “low-cost.”

Texas Observer

This Aspiring Social Worker Should Not Be Blacklisted

Imposing permanent punishments for old mistakes backfires by reducing the talent pool to address Texas’ social worker shortage.

Texas Observer

Texas’ War on Drug Users

A mass casualty event last spring lays bare the state’s backward approach to the ongoing crisis spurred by fentanyl and other super-potent substances.

Texas Observer

Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our January/February 2025 Issue

A note from the Editor-in-Chief

Texas Observer

Booked Up in 2024: What to Read from a Strong Year in Texas Letters

Some Texas nonfiction, novels, and poems to get through those long winter nights.

Texas Observer

Our Most-Read Stories of 2024

Online readership numbers are at least one tool to figure out what the Observer audience really loved.

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