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A Sizzling, Record-Breaking Summer
August wound up being the hottest one ever and the second warmest month on record, just behind July, according to data from Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The average temperature in August was 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.2 degrees Fahrenheit)—about 1.5 degrees C above the pre-industrial average. Scientists warn that if the planet stays above that threshold for years humans will have to contend with the worst consequences of climate change. The news comes as extreme heat rounds the corner into September: 80 million Americans, from Texas to Vermont, are under heat alerts, while triple-digit temperatures break records in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
McCarthyism Rides Again at Texas Universities
A&M’s shameful treatment of Kathleen McElroy is the start of a backward-turning era for higher education. Texas A&M University’s disgraceful treatment of celebrated journalism professor Kathleen McElroy should terrify anyone who cares about academic freedom, education, and equality in Texas. The state’s Republican leaders, along with Governor Greg Abbott, have launched a radical, McCarthyite crusade to purge education of liberal bias.
On Making News
Renowned journalist Kathleen McElroy made headlines after Texas A&M University reneged on a high-profile job offer. She’s still processing that experience. Editor’s Note: Amid fanfare, Kathleen McElroy was named last summer to lead a new journalism program at Texas A&M University—an offer that was watered down and finally rejected after regents, who are political appointees, objected to McElroy’s credentials, which included 20 years at The New York Times and participation in diversity initiatives. Ensuing controversy and public debate over whether racism or sexism played a role in the university’s treatment of McElroy, a Black woman, thrust her into the news, resulting in an investigation, a legal settlement, and a widely reported formal apology. Read our full account of McElroy’s ordeal here.
Moonlighting Texas Prosecutor Sued
Young has maintained his innocence in the 2001 murders of two men on opposite sides of Texas. The shocking misconduct that came to light in his case—a prosecutor from the Midland County District Attorney’s office that handled his case secretly served as a clerk to county judges who presided over his trial and appeals—led to his conviction being overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2021.
‘Drag is so Healing’: Austin’s Queens Won’t Back Down
A version of this story ran in the September / October 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...
Loon Star State: Rule of Law
Angela Paxton’s Ties to a Shell Company: Justin Miller gets to the bottom of why K-Pax and his wife stopped over in Kosovo to promote a lobbyist-friend’s shadowy tech business. All of the Texas Observer’s articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions:...
Paxton, Acquitted
The Senate sided with the Attorney General on every charge. While the historic impeachment trial has ended, there’s plenty more to come. After a nearly-two week trial and hours of private deliberation, the Texas Senate voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 of the articles of impeachment that were brought to trial by the House. No single vote came close to reaching the two-thirds majority required to convict, and only two Republicans—Senators Kelly Hancock and Robert Nichols—joining Democrats on most articles.
Latinos Lured to the Military
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: In Ken Paxton’s Bathroom
A version of this story ran in the September / October 2023 issue. Angela Paxton’s Ties to a Shell Company: In the latest scoop from Politics Reporter Justin Miller, we get to the bottom of why K-Pax and his wife stopped over in Kosovo to promote a lobbyist-friend’s shadowy tech business.
Texas Bets on Undersea Carbon Capture, Despite Concerns
Critics worry about leakage through rock layers, pipeline safety and the lackluster record of the technology onshore. Over the last century, the state of Texas has reaped billions of dollars by allowing companies to burrow into the floor of the Gulf of Mexico to extract oil and gas. Now, the General Land Office—the state agency tasked with protecting the vulnerable Texas shoreline and other natural resources—is eyeing carbon sequestration as the next industry to develop in the Gulf.
‘It Will Take the Breath Out of You’: Prisoners Describe Extreme Nighttime Heat in Texas Units
TDCJ will allocate $85 million to provide more air conditioning. In the meantime, people are sweltering in their beds. The H. H. Coffield Unit prison near Tennessee Colony is made up of squat redbrick buildings. During the day, the sun beats down on the walls, and the bricks drink in the heat. At night, the heat seeps out of the walls into the cells. That’s when Joshua Sweeting, who’s been at the Coffield Unit since 2019, says the heat is the most unbearable.
The Free People’s Village: Everyday Life in Solarpunk Texas
Somewhere in a Texan’s alternative universe, Al Gore won the 2000 election and we’re 20 years into a War on Climate Change rather than the War on Terror. But then as now, Texas ain’t utopia and certain neighborhoods and people tend to get left out of the green revolution. Welcome to the “ripped from the headlines climate fiction story based on real-life activism” by Houston author Sim Kern.
Short-Term Rentals Cause a Long-Term Mess
A version of this story ran in the September / October 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...
After a Week on Defense, Ken Paxton’s Team Gets the Floor
The second week of the impeachment hearings may be the last. But there’s still a lot of ground to cover. The second week of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial in the Texas Senate could possibly be the last week. At the close of hearings Friday, Lieutenant Governor-turned-high judge Dan Patrick noted that both the House managers and Paxton’s defense each had about 15 hours remaining to present their evidence, meaning the historic trial is “likely past the halfway mark.”
Record Summer Heat Causes Costly Damage to State Water Infrastructure
Conservationists are frustrated as cities contend with thousands of costly leaks as dry soil contracts, causing underground pipes to rupture. Authorities across the state are struggling to keep up with widespread leakage even as they plead for water conservation and have restricted outdoor water use. The impact on Texas’ water systems highlights both the vulnerability of basic infrastructure to a warming climate and the high costs of adaptation.
Ken Paxton Repeatedly Refused to Defend State Agencies in Court
Paxton, who has since been suspended from office, faces an impeachment trial that starts today. He has long positioned himself as one of the country’s strongest conservative attorneys general, relentlessly pursuing nearly 50 lawsuits against the federal government on issues that include immigration, health care and the environment. Such messaging raised Paxton’s national profile, appealed to his base of conservative supporters and helped him tamp down political pushback stemming from allegations of wrongdoing that have dogged his eight-year tenure.
Impossibly Low Wages Hurt Community-Based Caregivers and Clients
Despite Texas having a $33 billion budget surplus, despite Governor Greg Abbott saying that addressing low attendant wages was among the most important legislative goals of the session, despite provider agencies only receiving less than 1 percent of an adjustment to their fundamental rates over the last 12 years or six sessions, our legislators allocated only $10.60 per hour for provider agencies to hire staff who then provide comprehensive, necessary, and life-sustaining support to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This rate of pay is $5 per hour less than the starting pay of a new Dairy Queen employee in Austin.
My Great-Grandfather Was a Racist
A version of this story ran in the September / October 2023 issue. After the United States barred Chinese men from immigrating under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, tens of thousands sought a new life in Mexico, where they faced no warmer a welcome as they established themselves. A former schoolteacher and businessman, José-María led a vicious campaign against the Chinese in the Mexican states of Sonora, Sinaloa, and Baja California in the early 1900s.
Angela Paxton’s Ties to a Shell Company
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,...
‘Heartbreaking’: Anti-Trans Healthcare Law Takes Effect in Texas
Despite ACLU win in lower court, an appeal by the state means transgender kids and their families will feel the devastating effects of the ban. Senate Bill 14, which prohibits doctors from providing safe, evidence-backed, and often life-saving forms of healthcare to transgender children, takes effect today after a lawsuit by the ACLU of Texas failed to stop it. Last week, a Travis County District Court issued a temporary injunction that blocked implementation of the law, but Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately appealed the case to the Texas Supreme Court, which automatically overrules a lower-court injunction. The Texas Supreme Court has so far refused, without comment, to issue a similar injunction. Five Texas families, with trans kids between the ages of nine and sixteen, are plaintiffs in the suit.
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