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Texas Observer
Blue Havens in Red States
Political polarization gives the impression Americans are more divided than they really are. The reality is more nuanced. What were considered solidly red states a generation ago—think Texas, where President Joe Biden earned 46.48 percent of the vote in 2020 (the highest percentage for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976) despite Republicans projecting a landslide victory, and Georgia, which President Biden carried in that election—are increasingly purple, with bits of both red and blue.
Heat Kills Hundreds In Texas Prisons
In the dozens of Texas prisons that don’t have air conditioning, new research shows that 13 percent of deaths during the six hottest months every year from 2001 through 2019 were likely due to extreme heat. The study, which was published last week in the academic journal JAMA Network Open, is the first epidemiological evidence that the lack of air conditioning in a large proportion of U.S. prisons is substantially increasing the risk of death for those incarcerated. It also suggests that over 250 Texans lost their lives over the past two decades because of the state’s failure to mitigate indoor heat.
Elon Musk’s Tesla Gigafactory Built on Wage Theft and Safety Violations, Texas Workers Allege
Two federal filings claim workers were not paid at all or were shorted on overtime pay and that a worker was provided with fake OSHA certificates while building the Travis County facility. On Tuesday, the Austin-based nonprofit Workers Defense Project announced it was filing complaints with the federal Department of...
Frank J. Robinson’s Ghost Haunts East Texas
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Course Corrections: The Return of Prison Education
A version of this story ran in the November / December 2022 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...
Beto’s Lost Year
“I don't know what my role or yours will be going forward,” said the Texas Dems’ political star, after $70 million bought a bracing defeat. On Tuesday night, once it was clear his bid for Texas governor had been soundly defeated, Democrat Beto O’Rourke bounded up to address what one reporter called a “small, energetic crowd” in his hometown of El Paso. He flashed his toothy grin; he sported his trademark light-blue button-up. Yet his buoyant demeanor contrasted with seemingly spontaneous lines that came off profoundly sad.
Voters Reinforce Republican Stronghold on State Board of Education
“Critical Race Theory” boosts multiple new conservative voices onto the board, including a participant in January 6 pro-Trump rally. Republicans will hold onto power at the highest level of education policymaking in Texas after Tuesday night’s election. The election offered the first glimpse into the effects of the newly redrawn districts for the State Board of Education, in which all 15 seats were up for reelection. The new map, which includes nine firmly Republican districts, reinforces Republican control of the board as topics like critical race theory, book bans, and parental involvement in the curriculum have heated up along party lines.
The Age of Abbott Continues Unfettered
Texas’ Republican governor easily swatted away his strongest Democratic challenger yet. Now, he’s liable to do whatever the hell he pleases. Twenty-one months ago, Abbott presided over the worst and deadliest power grid failure ever seen in Texas—proudly touted as the energy capital of the world. Fourteen months ago, he signed into law the most draconian abortion ban in the country. Just over five months ago came the most lethal school shooting in Texas history, followed by a prolonged state cover-up of law enforcement failures. Major state agencies and government systems—child protective services, juvenile justice, prisons—are plagued by dysfunction and understaffing. Public schools have been marred by Republicans’ culture crusades, fueling a statewide teacher shortage. Such, one might think, are not the makings of an easy reelection.
‘Red Wave’ Makes Modest Splash in South Texas
The GOP took just one of three Congressional seats ranging from Brownsville to Laredo, and short-lived incumbent Mayra Flores has been sent packing. Out of three key Congressional races, the GOP notched one victory—in the district where they concentrated their gerrymandering energies back in 2021, creating a seat that Trump would have carried by 3 points the year prior. On Tuesday, second-time GOP hopeful Monica De La Cruz defeated Democrat Michelle Vallejo by 9 points in the race to represent the McAllen-based Congressional District 15. De La Cruz kept a laserlike focus on border security in her campaign and significantly outraised her opponent. Vallejo, a progressive who was backed by Senator Bernie Sanders, was given short shrift by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the election’s final days. Far South Texas has long been one-party Democratic territory: De La Cruz will now likely be the second Republican to represent Texas’ Rio Grande Valley since Reconstruction.
Lina Hidalgo Prevails Against Republican Offensive in Harris County
In the face of high-profile GOP push to claw back power in Texas’ largest county, Democrats expanded their power. Hidalgo beat her Republican opponent Alex del Moral Mealer by just 15,000 votes, marking one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise disappointing election for Texas Democrats. Republican County Commissioner Jack Cagle was also ousted by Leslie Briones, expanding Democrats’ majority on the county commissioner’s court to 4-1.
Texas Oyster Fishing at a ‘Crossroads’
Citing low numbers, the Parks and Wildlife Commission has closed most of the state’s bays to commercial harvest. Oyster season got off to a sluggish start this month with only nine out of Texas’ 29 public harvest areas open to commercial fishers. And last Thursday, the Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to close 2,100 acres across three bays near Rockport permanently as a sanctuary for oysters, fish, and other wildlife. Although this new sanctuary takes away just 3 percent of the state’s total harvest area, it’s become a flashpoint for fishers. Because of temporary closures elsewhere, by the end of last oyster season, this small area was providing a third of the harvest.
Months after Massacre, Uvalde County Turns Out for Greg Abbott
Uvaldeans voted resoundingly for the incumbent—who opposes even common sense gun control—over Democrat Beto O’Rourke by a 22-point margin. Five and half months after the worst school shooting in Texas history took place in their backyard, Uvalde County voters turned out resoundingly Tuesday night for GOP Governor Greg Abbott, who opposes even common-sense gun control measures. Republican domination in the county prevails despite months of agitation for gun control and transparency by the families of children lost at the Robb Elementary massacre on May 24.
Country Music Women Keep Raising Hell
Outspoken performers like Maren Morris and Kacey Musgraves continue a long tradition of female Western artists who aren’t afraid to rock the boat. Yes, titans and titanesses of contemporary country music will be there to pick up awards—many of them with roots right here in Texas. Longview’s Miranda Lambert (the most decorated artist in ACM Awards history, with 37 trophies) is nominated for entertainer of the year and female artist of the year, while the new male artist of the year category has two Lone Star sons: Parker McCollum from Conroe and Cody Johnson from Sebastopol. As far as bands go, we got Midland from Dripping Springs nominated for best group, and Maddie & Tae, featuring Sugar Land-born Maddie Font, with a best duo nomination.
Antifascist Spies on East Texas Nazi Conference with Drone
A veteran's surveillance of the Aryan Freedom Network prompted a lawsuit filed by a notorious lawyer for the far right, Jason Lee Van Dyke. On a warm October day, a series of cars pulled into a gas station in De Kalb, a town two hours to the east of Dallas, to ask for directions. But they weren’t lost travelers. They’d been told to meet there as a waypoint for their real destination: a conference organized by the Aryan Freedom Network (AFN), a neo-Nazi organization based in Texas.
Records Shed Light on Abbott’s Secretive Border Wall Boondoggle
As Texas’ construction plans ramp up, records show the state has spent at least $220,000 on rural properties in Cameron and Val Verde Counties. So far, the realization of those plans—not counting some stretches of razor wire-topped chain link fence, stacked shipping containers, and concrete highway barriers—has been limited to a remote parcel of public land in rural and flood-prone Starr County owned by the Texas General Land Office, where contractors recently completed just under two miles of 30-foot-tall steel bollard fencing.
Roland Gutierrez Won’t Let Greg Abbott Forget Uvalde
A version of this story ran in the November / December 2022 issue. As he watched a couple load ice chests into their car at a gas station, something didn’t sit right with Roland Gutierrez. The pair were likely on their way to the lake to enjoy the late May sunshine in San Antonio—a normal way to spend the day, he knew. But Gutierrez, the state senator for District 19, couldn’t help thinking how surreal it is that life continues after a tragedy. He was on his way to Uvalde just days after an 18-year-old had opened fire on a classroom at Robb Elementary School, killing 19 students and two teachers.
Christians Must Publicly Denounce Christian Nationalism
From 2017 to 2020, we were co-pastors of a church in Amarillo. Members knew that we did not share the positive opinion of former President Donald Trump that many of them had, but we rarely discussed our political views. We left that church before the 2020 election, planning to continue our careers as pastors elsewhere.
Right-Wing Protectionism is Costing Texas
A version of this story ran in the November / December 2022 issue. These laws, passed overwhelmingly by the Republican-controlled Legislature, are the latest and most expansive in a suite of legislation that makes the state the ultimate arbiter of all that is good and bad. In effect, the power of the purse is weaponized to protect the interests of the conservative cause and punish its enemies. Namely, what the right has cast as the Woke of Wall Street—the big banks and investment firms like Citigroup and BlackRock that ostensibly engage in socially conscious investing, which includes pledges and specialized investment funds that may exclude gun manufacturers or oil companies.
Crime, Statistics, and the Harris County Judge’s Race
In Texas’ most populous county, funding for law enforcement takes center stage. That’s despite the fact that incumbent Democrat Lina Hidalgo has presided over record levels of law enforcement funding and pushed to hire more sheriff’s deputies, in a job that otherwise has little control over the major law enforcement policy issues under debate. She did have a hand in new bail bond rules for nonviolent defendants—but despite claims from Republicans, those new rules have little to do with crime rates in Houston.
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