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Texas Observer
Abortion Training in Texas Is Vanishing
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,...
A ‘Dark Vision’ of Discipline: Zero Tolerance Makes a Comeback
Texas is already expelling more at-risk students and the Texas Legislature may make things worse. Improving school safety is a top priority in Texas during this legislative session after last year’s deadly school shooting in Uvalde. But instead of making guns less accessible to children, for some GOP legislators the solution to ensuring school safety means tossing out any at-risk students, deemed to be disruptive or aggressive.
Aren’t Reporters Supposed to Challenge Authority?
A version of this story ran in the March / April 2023 issue. “I think it’s the generator,” said Emily Brindley, the bargaining chair for our union, the Fort Worth NewsGuild. She was sitting beside the rat in the back of a pickup truck. Jess Hardin, a bargaining team member, yanked on the handle of the stalling generator, eliciting a strangling noise from the motor. “Yeah, it’s the generator,” Hardin agreed.
Farewell to a Beloved State Park
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,...
Millions of Texans Are About to Lose Their Health Insurance
An estimated 2.7 million Texans are expected to lose access to medicaid after the COVID emergency expires on March 31. Hardy is far from alone. An estimated 2.7 million Texans—mostly children and new moms— are expected to lose their Medicaid insurance in the next few months, some as early as June. That’s almost half of all Texans now on the Medicaid rolls. Most of those affected had had their earlier coverage extended by the public health declaration that came during the COVID-19 pandemic. The declaration expires at the end of March.
Texas Is Failing Queer Students
Two recent surveys show that most LGBTQ+ students experience harassment and assault at school. More than half don’t report it because they don’t believe staff will take action. Research backs up the students’ perceptions: the majority said nothing happened when they reported bullying to school staff. Alarmingly,...
The State’s Houston ISD Takeover Is Unfair, Racist, and Wasteful
I am a parent and teacher with Community Voices for Public Education, a Houston-based nonprofit rooted in the belief that our community schools are a public good, not a commodity to be sold off to the highest bidder. That is why we, along with many other Houstonians, have protested the attempted state takeover of Houston ISD for years—a dramatic assault on local control that may take place this week.
‘He Gets Us’ Ad Sponsors Don’t Believe in the Jesus They’re Selling
This year’s Super Bowl included two commercials selling a loving, human Jesus Christ with the tagline “He Gets Us. All of Us.” They are part of a huge advertising campaign featuring billboards, TV ads, and YouTube Videos. All portray Jesus as someone who understands our struggles because he has experienced them too. They use slogans like “Jesus was a refugee,” “Jesus rallied for justice, too,” “Jesus championed women,” and “Jesus didn’t always feel welcome at church.” The videos are available in English or Spanish and direct viewers to a website that emphasizes how “radically inclusive” Jesus was. The campaign also has a Facebook page, and is on Instagram and Tiktok.
The New Children’s Crusade: Recruiting for America’s Culture War
A version of this story ran in the March / April 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 weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.”
Two Executions, Many Questions about Mental Health, Innocence
Two men, Gary Green and Arthur Brown Jr., are set to be executed by the State of Texas next week. Lawyers for both men have raised concerns about their intellectual disability, and in Brown’s case, his defense argues the state has withheld evidence for nearly 30 years that could have cleared his name.
Michael Urie Just Can’t Resist Texas
The Shrinking actor talks mental health, being queer, and why the Lone Star State is the perfect home for his new play Silver Foxes. Playing Brian, Jimmy’s best friend, has been genuinely life-changing for Urie. “I’d never been in therapy. I’d never really talked to a professional about my own mental health,” said Urie, who started seeing a therapist after working on the show. “It’s been great to talk about what’s going on with me, where I want to improve myself, and where I want to learn more about others. I hope that the show does that for other people.”
Remembering a Social Justice Lawyer Extraordinaire
Attorney Jeff Blackburn, a crusader for the innocent, fought injustices across Texas in his improbable, utterly original, and often profane life. Jeff Blackburn’s rough road to redemption and an unconventional kind of legal superstardom in the rough-and-tumble world of Texas criminal justice reform began the day his fifth wife committed suicide in his law office in Amarillo. Blackburn kept a bust of Lenin in that office, which was covered that day in the blood of his beloved.
Abbott Wants to Deny Undocumented Kids a Public Education
A new bill would prohibit the children of parents here without authorization from attending public school. Texas’ GOP leaders have a sadistic penchant for booting out immigrant families on holidays. Last Christmas, Governor Greg Abbott bussed and dumped migrant families in the freezing cold in Washington, D.C. This past Valentine’s Day, Texas Senator Drew Springer filed HB 923, delivering on Abbott’s reelection campaign goal to deny undocumented children access to public education—unless the federal government pays.
‘Border Security’ Is a Financial Black Hole that Will Consume Us All
Spending on cops and tech at the border has increased ninefold in a decade. Call it the iron law of border security funding. Once a Republican starts spending money to “secure the border,” he (usually “he”) will never voluntarily stop spending, the border will never be deemed secure, and migration patterns will continue to shift according to global events beyond his control. Like plunking pebbles into the ocean, he’ll toss taxpayer dollars at international inequality, reaping his reward when GOP primary season comes.
Loon Star State: Nasty Eddie
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2023 issue. To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section, or find Observer political reporting here. $3 Million Whistleblower Settlement Is Cheap Getaway for Ken Paxton: Politics reporter Justin Miller explains how K-Pax’s...
The Shot Boosters
Vaccines are under attack in Texas, and public health experts warn we'll pay a price in more outbreaks and deaths from preventable diseases. In the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines have become more of a life-saving necessity—and yet more controversial. These days, so-called “anti-vaxxers” are using the pandemic as a political base to attack requirements for long-established vaccines that have helped keep generations of Americans safe from crippling or potentially fatal childhood diseases like polio and the measles. Already U.S. vaccine resisters have created pockets of opportunity for outbreaks of diseases, like measles. In Texas, anti-vaccine advocates convinced the Legislature years ago to allow nonmedical exemptions for public school vaccine requirements. And more public health rules are under attack, which worries vaccine advocates like Dr. Julie Boom, a pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital who has studied the effectiveness of vaccines and serves on the board of The Immunization Partnership, and Rekha Lakshmanan, the nonprofit’s chief strategy officer. They joined the Texas Observer’s Lise Olsen in conversation.
Fair Hiring, Unfair Housing
While the rat seemed welcome, Toon soon learned that she was not. As one of nearly 70 million Americans with criminal records, Toon continues to face “collateral consequences,” including housing and employment obstacles, over a decade after her conviction—even in a “Fair Chance” haven like Austin.
Poem: ‘Cold’
A version of this story ran in the January / February 2023 issue. the sunrise, now a matter of faith. the sky no longer falling but floating. Do you think free access to journalism like this is important? The Texas Observer is known for its fiercely independent, uncompromising work— which we are pleased to provide to the public at no charge in this space. We rely on the generosity of our readers who believe that this work is important. You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. If you support this mission, we need your help.
FBI Overreach Is Concerning, But So Are “Radical-Traditionalist” Catholics
A recently leaked memo recalls a sordid history of inappropriate surveillance, but it also identifies a concerning overlap between neo-fascists and hardline religious groups. A recently leaked FBI memo noting an “increasingly observed interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists in radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” has triggered great alarm in conservative and religious media. Republicans like U.S. Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio and Texas state Representative Lance Gooden have seized on the now-retracted memo as evidence that the FBI is “targeting” Catholics and in the process, muddied the waters around what exactly we should be concerned about.
Texas Strikes Deal to Build Abbott’s Border Wall on Big Donor’s Ranch
The governor’s slow-moving wall scheme gets a major boost from a political ally as the state secures five miles of land for fencing. More than a year and a half since Governor Greg Abbott launched his taxpayer-financed plan to build a border wall along the Texas-Mexico border, the state has made little progress. But Abbott may soon have several miles of new wall to tout—thanks to a major deal the state just struck with one of the governor’s top campaign donors.
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