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Texas Lawyers Violated Legal Ethics Over Expired Execution Drugs
Fratta had joined a lawsuit filed by Wesley Ruiz (whose execution is scheduled for February 1) and John Balentine (whose execution is scheduled for February 8); as the Associated Press reported at the time, the men argued in Texas trial and appellate courts that the state “plans to use expired and unsafe drugs to carry out executions early this year in violation of state law.” In their court filings the condemned alleged expired pentobarbital—Texas’s drug of choice for killing—put them at “serious risk of pain and suffering in the execution process.”
From Austin with Zombies
“There must be something in the Edwards Aquifer that allows people to feel comfortable in their own skin,” Gabriel Luna told us. “The first thing I noticed was that the inciting incident for the game was in Austin,” recalled Luna, who was born in the city’s Ascension Seton Medical Center, raised on the east and south side, and even attended St. Edward’s University. “I’m an Austin boy through and through. I was surprised and proud that the city was being represented in the best video game for years.”
San Antonio to End Use of Coal Within Five Years
But CPS Energy’s decision to switch to natural gas highlights the potential and peril of cities’ clean energy transition. In 2010, coal use in the United States was already dropping precipitously in favor of cheaper and more environmentally friendly options, including natural gas and renewables. That year, San Antonio’s electric utility made the anachronistic decision to add a new coal-fired generator to its J. K. Spruce power plant. But soon after, the facility struggled financially to compete with fracked gas, solar, and wind energy. Community members were against heavy pollution generated by burning coal. Clearly, Spruce’s days were numbered.
Former Star-Telegram Conservative Columnist Spews Hate in Student Chatroom
Why was an intolerant activist allowed to double-time as a columnist for a major newspaper?. Update February 1, 2023: Representatives of the Fort Worth NewsGuild (the union which represents many Fort Worth Star-Telegram staff reporters) stated that they previously requested information from McClatchy, the paper’s parent company, about how four conservative columnists, including the subject of this article, were chosen for their roles. Their request was denied. According to a statement shared on the union’s Twitter account in response to this article, the guild stands “firmly against hateful rhetoric and misinformation in all its forms—including when it appears in any of the pages of our newspaper.”
Destiny Returns to Wolfforth
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2023 issue. Articles must link back to the original article and contain the following attribution at the top of the story:. This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet. Sign up for their...
‘A Legacy of Rage’ in Waco
Fort Worth author Jeff Guinn offers a compelling account of the 1993 tragedy that still casts shadows on our political landscape today. Thirty years ago this April 19, TV viewers looked on as Mount Carmel—the sprawling Branch Davidian compound on a bleak stretch of prairie outside Waco—was engulfed in flame and smoke. The destruction of the rickety settlement, familiar after two months of intense media coverage, marked the fiery end of a 51-day siege which left four federal agents and 82 Branch Davidians dead, including 23 children and the group’s messianic leader, David Koresh.
Lost Children—A Texas Tragedy
A riveting new book about foster care and adoption exposes just how the state lost six kids to out-of-state mothers who murdered them. We Were Once a Family opens with something alarming that a German tourist traveling the scenic Pacific Coast Highway spotted on the rocky shore on March 26, 2018: “a crumpled SUV flipped on its hood, with the vehicle’s undercarriage exposed.” The passengers were six Texas children whose adoptive mothers had blogged about “saving” foster kids, posted cute pictures on Facebook, then conspired to drive their brood off a cliff.
Strangest State: Petty Drama, Electric Trucks and Hungry Bears
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2023 issue. The unreliable Texas grid could not stop one man’s pursuit of reliable family planning. When his urology clinic suddenly lost power, Dr. Christopher Yang thought he would have to cancel a patient’s impending vasectomy. But a staffer reminded the doctor about his brand-new electric truck parked outside. WGLT reported that Yang ran an extension cord out to the vehicle, which had plenty of battery juice to power a cautery device for the 15-minute procedure.
Meet the Latest Wingnuts to Join the State Board of Ed
Seditious Texiters. Conspiracy theorists. A January 6 insurrectionist. A newly elected band of bankrupt, bought, and criminal-abetting representatives joined the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) this year. The 15-member SBOE sets curriculum standards; reviews and updates instructional materials; makes decisions on new charter school applications; and oversees the state’s Permanent School Fund—a $56 billion endowment that gives Texas local public schools another form of revenue besides tax dollars.
Meditations on Life and Death at Houston’s Rothko Chapel
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2023 issue. Articles must link back to the original article and contain the following attribution at the top of the story:. This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet. Sign up for their...
A Hot, Dry 2022 by the Numbers
Our record-breaking summer provided a preview of what’s to come. Globally, 2022 was the fifth-hottest year humans have recorded on Earth, according to an analysis released by NASA on Thursday. Using a different analysis, researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ranked 2022 the sixth-hottest year. Overall, scientists agree the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010.
EPA Backs Down from Permian Air Pollution Crackdown
Last summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it was considering designating the Permian Basin—the nation’s top-producing oil patch and one of the largest single sources of carbon emissions on Earth—in violation of ozone standards, which would have required substantial reforms in local oil and gas operations.
A Question with No Easy Answers
Why would the book club I participate in at a Texas church choose to read a book titled Do I Stay Christian? Because many of us are asking ourselves that question. We can see that the political views and tactics embraced by many Christians today (and throughout history) clearly contradict what Jesus taught and modeled. I left my career as a pastor for many of the same reasons Brian McLaren gives in his book, so I was eager to read and discuss his in-depth exploration of reasons to answer “yes” or “no” with the group.
Fight for Change Where You Live
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2023 issue. While the cable news pundits and legacy media headlines spoke of the failure of a “red wave” to materialize, we here in Texas had to swallow the fact that our neighbors had chosen to reelect a governor who took no meaningful action to shore up our energy infrastructure after more than 200 fellow Texans died in an ice storm; who made guns easier to carry after the mass shootings in Sutherland Springs, at Santa Fe High School and the El Paso Walmart and leading up to the Uvalde elementary school tragedy; and whose version of “securing the border” meant sending busloads of migrants to faraway states with false promises. Oh, and we also reelected an attorney general who’s been under indictment for the past seven years.
Supreme Court Sides with Defense on Death Row Case
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will now reconsider Areli Escobar’s case which prosecutors and defense attorneys agree relied on flawed forensics. The state forensics lab that handled the evidence in Areli Escobar’s capital case was so bad that Texas officials closed it for good five years after a jury sentenced the then-32-year-old to death in 2011. The evidence in the case was so tenuous that the Travis County District Attorney’s office ultimately sided with the defense, arguing that Escobar deserved a new trial.
The Rising Cost Of Mexico’s ‘Free’ Education
Each year, the Ministry of Public Education (SEP, for its initials in Spanish) publishes a list of suggested school supplies for each grade, which, according to the SEP, are the basic resources students need to begin their studies. At a school and office supply store in Mexico City, which sits within a kilometer (0.6 mile) of nine schools, the cheapest cost of all the suggested supplies listed for fourth grade is 291.50 pesos ($15), but if buying the most expensive brands, the cost increases to 738 pesos ($38).
‘Striking Does Work’: Fort Worth Journalists Win Only Newspaper Union Contract in Texas
Following a historic win in Cowtown, NewsGuild workers at papers in Dallas and Austin are still bargaining. On the heels of an unprecedented 24-day labor strike late last year, around 20 journalists at the 117-year-old Fort Worth Star-Telegram have ratified the only union contract at a Texas newspaper. The union victory comes after more than two years of difficult negotiations and forms part of a surge in nationwide newsroom organizing since the mid-2010s as journalists have increasingly fought back against corporate predation in a struggling industry. Workers at two other Texas papers, in Dallas and Austin, are still bargaining for union contracts after roughly two years.
Catastrophe #88: The Texas Legislature Returns for a Brutal Year
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2023 issue. Republicans thwarted expectations of another Democratic surge in November 2020, and the next year the GOP ignored the problems laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis, instead focusing on passing as much right-wing legislation as possible over the course of a regular session, plus three painful specials.
Far-Right Texas Republicans Mutiny at the Capitol
Naturally, a few of the state’s 25 GOP representatives are in the eye of the storm. For three days, 90 percent of the Republican Party and 88 percent of Texas representatives voted to back California Congressman Kevin McCarthy. What began as 20 far-right Republicans fighting in the Capitol and preventing their own party from moving forward with the consensus pick has shrunk. Among the 20, three were from Texas—Representatives Keith Self, Michael Cloud, and Chip Roy. Since then, those three Texans have surrendered in an ending far less bloody than the Alamo. Whether it was political theater or gamesmanship, we’ll find out more as assignments are made and further details of deals cut are uncovered. But for now, who are they?
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