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‘Their Knees Are Still on Our Necks’: Black Women in Higher Ed
I worked as an adjunct professor at a Southeast Texas community college for 18 years. During the initial decade, I held a master’s degree. However, recognizing the need for further academic advancement, I pursued and obtained my doctorate. Despite consistently receiving positive faculty evaluations and what seemed like countless interviews, I could not secure a job as a full-time professor. That position remained out of reach, leaving me perplexed and searching for answers.
Abbott’s Border Military Base Could Cost Texans $500 Million
National Guard soldiers deployed in Eagle Pass will enjoy “chef-driven meals,” a fitness center, a lounge, a sand volleyball court, and an arcade. Last Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference in Eagle Pass, the border town he has turned into a militarized staging ground for his standoff with the feds. It was his third such press conference in as many weeks. Flanked by his appointed border czar and the adjutant general of the Texas National Guard, Abbott announced that he is building a sprawling 80-acre base camp that would allow the state to permanently “amass a large army in a strategic area.”
Kim Ogg: DA Under Fire
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 weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.”. Articles cannot be rewritten,...
‘It’s Time for a Change’: Dem Behind HISD Takeover Faces Challenger
House Representative Harold Dutton Jr. stands behind the state takeover of the district. Can he survive another reelection after its fallout?. “Some people mistakenly believe that the idea first came from Gov. Greg Abbott or some other Republican. But in fact, it came from me, a Democrat,” Dutton wrote in an opinion piece for the Houston Chronicle back in March when the state first announced its decision to take over the district, oust its elected board, and install an unelected board of managers and superintendent.
America, Texas Spar over State Deportations Law
“It just slaps the federal immigration law right in the face,” said a federal judge in Austin. In a packed federal courtroom in downtown Austin Thursday morning, attorneys for the United States government squared off with attorneys for the State of Texas over the fate of the latter’s Senate Bill 4, an unprecedented anti-immigrant law creating a state deportation scheme, which is set to take effect March 5 unless the court halts it.
Parker County ‘White Nationalist Fight Club’ Leader Exposed
The Texas Active Club leader blurred his face but forgot to scrub his socials. Above: Active Club members outside the state Capitol in Austin, sometime in December 2023. The Texas Observer and Bellingcat have identified the leader of a white nationalist group that distributed antisemitic and racist flyers in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, and Eagle Pass over the last year. In an online conversation with the Observer, Rhett Murry Loftis, a 23-year-old resident of Weatherford, admits he leads the Parker County Active Club.
Judge Dismisses Charges Against Brownsville ISD Honor Student
For a third time, the Cameron County District Attorney's Office had asked for more time to pursue criminal charges against 11-year-old Timothy Murray. Wearing a blue suit and carrying a single rose in his hand, 11-year-old Timothy Murray emerged from the Cameron County juvenile court earlier today to loud cheers from supporters gathered outside. About four dozen members from the Rio Grande Valley community group Divest/Invest RGV joined a protest outside the courtroom and on their livestream, chanting: “Classrooms, not courtrooms!,” “Homework, not handcuffs!” “Education, not incarceration!,” and “Free, free Timothy!”
Austin Officials Condemn Anti-Palestinian Hate Crime but Remain Divided over Ceasefire Resolution
Mayor Kirk Watson condemned last week’s attack while warning against getting involved in international politics. Above: A pro-Palestinian activist on horseback near the Texas State Capitol, at the February 4 demonstration in favor of a ceasefire resolution. Last week, police determined that the stabbing of 23-year-old Zacharia Doar on...
Anti-DEI Law Implementation Has Been a Disaster
In Texas, we know that incoming hurricanes require preparations to reduce damage. But the state’s colleges and universities were ill-prepared for the superstorm of Senate Bill 17 (SB 17). Passed during the recent, regular session of the 88th Texas State Legislature, SB 17 ostensibly prohibits the privileging of individuals based on race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, thereby defunding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in higher education.
Port Arthur’s 30-Year Fight for Environmental Justice
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 weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.”. Articles cannot be rewritten,...
Loon Star State: Hoax
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2024 issue. To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section, or find Observer political reporting here. Hella Hail Coming Down in Texas—Climate change is creating more extreme weather, in winter as well as...
Right-Wing Bloggers Busted During Militia Border Tour
Near Eagle Pass, Texas officers arrested bloggers for drug possession after receiving information that someone in a caravan was pointing a gun at migrants, DPS report says. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) recently arrested two right-wing bloggers riding in a caravan near Eagle Pass after finding what law enforcement described as a plastic bag containing a “white powdery substance,” marijuana, and THC edibles in their Mercedes SUV, which also reeked of cannabis, according to a police report obtained by the Texas Observer via a public records request.
Jim Crow Still Lingers in Bonham, Civil Rights Lawyers Say
Photo credit: Dreanna L. Belden/University of North Texas Libraries The Portal to Texas History. 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...
The Cancer Factory
Too many U.S. workers still suffer and die from exposure to well-known toxic substances, a Texas investigative reporter’s new book says. Jim Morris, a seasoned investigative journalist from Texas and the founder of the nonprofit Public Health Watch, has a brand new (and scary) book about corporations concealing workplace hazards that literally kill their employees. The book opens with a longtime worker at a Goodyear plant in scenic Niagara Falls, NY who has just discovered blood in his urine—”sheets of it” —and soon learns that he and many union colleagues are all being diagnosed with deadly bladder cancer.
A Palestinian American Was Stabbed in ‘Bias-Motivated’ Attack in Austin
Police are investigating the assault as a potential hate crime as advocates call for local leaders to back a ceasefire in Gaza. Above: Nizar Doar, father of a 23-year-old Palestinian American stabbed in Austin on Sunday, calls for Texas leaders to support a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at a press conference Tuesday.
Did an Operation Lone Star Contractor Fly Tennessee’s Governor to Eagle Pass?
Flight records indicate one of the governors at a Texas press event may have flown there on a private jet owned by a major border contractor, whose CEO is also an Abbott donor. Above: Private jets at the Maverick County airport, as shared on X by Poncho Nevárez. On...
Insects All Around Us
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2024 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...
Strangest State: Hello Possum, Goodbye Fish
All of the Texas Observer’s articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions:. 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...
The Long Road to a Juneteenth Museum
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2024 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...
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