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Big Business as Usual: Fracking in the American Dream City
As I write, the temperature outside is 91 degrees Fahrenheit, nowhere near the worst to be expected this summer. According to data from the Climate Impact Lab, there is now an average of 105 days at or above 90 degrees in Arlington, compared with 93 days within the same temperature range when I was born in 1991. This change in temperature is due in no small part to fracking, which has a ubiquitous presence in our North Texas city. As the climate continues to warm, our local government continues to expand oil and gas production—in a city where over a hundred wells already exist.
Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our July/August Issue
A version of this story ran in the July / August 2024 issue. One challenge of practicing journalism over the long haul is the feeling you get when—despite all the bombshell investigations, the longform humanizing features, the television exposés, the biting commentaries, and even the podcast series—you see the same underlying issues or injustices persist. You can start to feel that you’re rewriting the same story, shouting your fact-checked findings into the proverbial void.
As Summer Heat Hits, How Is the Texas Grid Faring?
Amid new projections of surging demand, energy analyst Doug Lewin explains what worries him–and what doesn’t. In the over three years since Winter Storm Uri, there’s been far more attention paid to and media coverage of Texas’ oft-precarious electric grid. Highly contentious debates have raged around how to regulate power generators, address soaring demand, and, most basically, keep the lights, ACs, and furnaces on.
‘We Are People Too’: Scenes of Migration in Matamoros and Reynosa
Even before Biden’s recent executive order, asylum-seekers were waiting for months in dangerous Mexican border towns for an appointment to cross into Texas. Back in her hometown in the state of Portuguesa, Venezuela, Magnaly Márquez had to make a choice: Buy her 3-year-old son a pair of shoes, or pizza. She didn’t have enough money for both—despite having studied business administration, working in a bank, and juggling side gigs for extra cash. Now, sitting in a charity hospital-turned-migrant shelter in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Márquez’s eyes welled with tears as she recounted her story.
Texas Republicans Put Trans, Nonbinary Teachers in the Crosshairs
Trans educators speak out after the Texas GOP adopted a platform plank to ban them from the classroom. On April 19, Governor Greg Abbott spoke at the Young Conservatives of Texas gala at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, voicing an opinion that would later become enshrined in the Texas Republican Party platform and spreading misinformation spawned by a far-right influencer whose posts have repeatedly incited threats against the subjects of her ire.
Pastor’s Admitted Child Sex Abuse Roils Hotbed of Christian Nationalism
But some Texas Republicans, who’ve campaigned on ostensibly protecting children from sexualization, are conspicuously quiet. Earlier this month, a bombshell report from the religious watchdog group Wartburg Watch roiled one of the largest megachurches in Texas. Robert Morris, the founder and pastor of the influential Southlake-based Gateway Church, had in the 1980s repeatedly sexually abused a child over the course of four years, beginning when the girl was 12 years old, as recounted by the survivor to Wartburg’s Dee Parsons. According to the victim, Cindy Clemishire, the abuse took place in both Oklahoma and Texas.
Mexico-U.S. Migration Crackdowns Unlikely to Change Under New President Claudia Sheinbaum
On June 2, Claudia Sheinbaum from the governing Morena Party won Mexico’s presidential election in a landslide, setting her up to become the country’s first woman president in October. A former mayor of Mexico City and an engineer, her victory is being widely hailed as a turning point for the country. Despite the accolades, the sobering reality is that Mexico’s harmful migration policies are likely to continue. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who is ending his six-year term, did not meet progressive expectations for a humanitarian approach to this issue. Instead, he embraced a militarized approach, which all indications show his successor intends to maintain.
Finding God, Asking State to Find Mercy on Death Row
Ramiro Gonzales will be put to death next Wednesday, unless the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends clemency. The State of Texas plans to execute 41-year-old Ramiro Gonzales next Wednesday, June 26. Not for the first time, his lawyers are pleading with Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency. This time, attorneys are arguing that his religious growth and ministry on death row means he deserves to live.
A Small-Town Texas Librarian’s Big Stand Against Book Bans
In Llano County, a local librarian fought back against censorship, prompting a federal court fight and national recognition but losing the job of her dreams. Suzette Baker, from unincorporated Kingsland, Texas was feted recently by The Authors Guild in New York City as a “Champion of Writers”– the first-ever recipient of a national award established to honor librarians who fight book bans.
The Struggle to Fulfill Juneteenth’s Promise and Reckon with Its History
Sam Collins, better known as Professor Juneteenth, says his work to educate Americans about the holiday’s legacy is unfinished. Around Galveston, Sam Collins III is better known as Professor Juneteenth. For the past 20 years, Collins, 53, has devoted his life to educating the public about Juneteenth—the commemoration of...
Transphobic Dress Code Prompted Turmoil in Agriculture Department, Emails Show
The Texas agency’s policy may be ripe for a lawsuit. For over a year, employees of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) have been subject to a dress code that is transphobic and potentially illegal. The policy has caused turmoil within the agency, emails obtained by the Texas Observer and interviews reveal, along with contributing to a chilling atmosphere for LGBTQ+ workers.
Why I Stayed Silent
A version of this story ran in the May / June 2024 issue. I was 19 and attending a Spanish study abroad program in Madrid through the University of Houston, when a stranger approached. I’d been at a restaurant with a large group of friends and acquaintances whining about not being able to call my boyfriend back in Texas, when this young man I hadn’t noticed before leaned toward me.
How San Antonio Police Lost a Bullet Tied to the Shooting Death of a Baby
Editor’s Note: This story was produced by the students at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, an initiative of the Scripps Howard Fund in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard. Contact the reporting team at [email protected] or on X @HowardCenterASU.
Between the Concertina Wire and the Cartel
As a border physician, I see firsthand the violence of Operation Lone Star, which has made America a key partner in a dangerous triad targeting refugees. “Can you take us in your car to the next gate?” the group of migrants asked. I was in Ciudad Juárez, along the U.S.-Mexico border, with another doctor and members of my organization, Hope Border Institute. It was early May, and we were driving along the banks of the Rio Grande, providing whatever humanitarian aid and medical care we could to migrants stopped by the concertina wire put up by the Texas National Guard.
Ex-Legislator Faces Investigation for Possible Violation of Lobbying Law He Co-Sponsored
Chris Paddie is fighting back in court against a state ethics commission probe into his allegedly illegal lobbying. A former legislator who chaired a powerful state House committee is under investigation by the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) for his alleged violations of a Texas revolving-door law that restricts lawmakers from leaving office to become lobbyists.
‘Ride’ Paints Cowboy Life in Shades of Gray
A new movie set in Stephenville complicates, without vilifying, one of our state’s central mythic figures. Writer, director, and actor Jake Allyn grew up in Dallas, a city whose professional football team (as well as my nearby high school) proudly flies the banner of the cowboy, one of the most enduring, and caricatured, symbols of Texas identity.
The Heist
A version of this story ran in the May / June 2024 issue. (Illustrations by Clay Rodery) 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....
Displaced to Death
During the seemingly endless slog that is summer in South Texas, the smell of cayenne pepper from the La Fiesta spice factory caustically mingles with engine exhaust, suspended and heavy in the suffocating humidity. In traffic, I creep slowly toward downtown through the vast skeleton of I-10, experiencing this stretch of my city as it was famously brought to the world in R.E.M.’s music video for “Everybody Hurts.” Hidden behind the on and off ramps, pylons, and retaining walls exists an often invisible slice of our community. This is where he died—alone. Again, my eyes well with tears.
Suspending Asylum
More migrants are being stranded at the U.S.-Mexico border under Biden's executive order. Originally published by Houston Landing; republished with permission. JUÁREZ – Dayana staked out a spot in the shade at marker 36 along the Juárez border Tuesday afternoon to try to cross into the U.S. for the fourth time in 24 hours.
‘In All My Childhood Dreams, I Was a Boy’
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,...
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