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Envisioning the Effects of Big Oil and Gas Along the Texas Coast
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,...
Texas Legislators Ask Biden Administration To Reinstate Planned Parenthood As Medicaid Provider
Months before Texas’ near-total abortion ban went into effect in September, officials succeeded in their years-long effort to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program. The move left thousands of poor Texans without access to birth control and other vital reproductive health services this year. Now, citing the new anti-abortion law, state legislators are urging the Biden administration to intervene.
When A Steer Escapes At A Carnival
Attorney Mark A. Metzger III was briefly detained by police after he was spotted walking on the beach wearing a Michael Myers mask and carrying what looked like a bloody knife, the Daily News reports. Metzger, who said his costumed stroll was a “prank,” was charged with disturbing the peace and released.
The Supreme Court Is Itching to Overturn Roe v. Wade
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the most pivotal abortion rights case in decades. While a ruling won’t come until the Justices wrap up the term in June 2022, their decision could further upend the already fragile abortion care network in Texas and devastate care in states across the country.
A Texas Town Stopped an Energy Giant from Drilling Next to a Day Care. But It’s Trying to Start Up Again.
This story was produced by the non-profit newsroom Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Get its investigations emailed directly to you. When the City Council of a Dallas suburb last year rejected TotalEnergies’ bid to drill behind a day care, the story made national news as a sign that the racial reckoning underway had helped a Texas town do what it had almost never done: Say no to drilling.
Beyond Books in Pottsboro
On a hot September afternoon, 16-year-old Jackson Biffar drove west to the town of Pottsboro, a rural community of 2,500 people north of Dallas. He started his journey from Ivanhoe, another tiny town an hour away, just south of where the Red River defines the Texas-Oklahoma border. Along the highway, occasional pump jacks and farmhouses are swallowed up by rippling fields, green even in the last days of summer. It’s a 44-mile drive Biffar knows well: He made it every Saturday in August.
Escape From Kabul
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,...
‘2 Poems’
And make them grind and crackle, like a flame. This second choice was mine. You’ll find a sea. 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.
This Thanksgiving, Call Your Racist Uncle a “Racist”
How-to guides for avoiding political conflict at the dinner table overestimate the value of keeping the peace. There is this WASPy convention to avoid conflict at all costs—and a corresponding tradition at Thanksgiving among the press: Each year, in the weeks leading up to the holiday, one will see one publication after another pushing some version of a piece doling out advice for dealing with one’s problematic relatives at the dinner table. The goal in these painfully earnest advice columns is typically to avoid being triggered by racism, misogyny, heterosexism, and plain antipathy toward anyone different or poor. Others will push further in trying to arm you with information and tactics to “educate” your 80-year-old grandmother, who has been using racial epithets to describe blacks since the Jim Crow era.
As Texas’ $10 Billion Corporate Tax Break Program Closes, State Comptroller Wants to Cover Up Costs
With Chapter 313 set to expire, the Texas Comptroller has proposed new rules that critics warn would reduce accountability and transparency, shrouding its long-term costs in secrecy. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar is pursuing new rules that opponents warn would weaken transparency and accountability for the state’s biggest corporate tax break...
Dallas Serial Killer Verdict Shows Justice Is Scarce for Elderly Victims
A judge declared a mistrial this week in the murder trial of Billy Chemirmir, leaving the families of more than 20 victims waiting for answers. Billy Chemirmir, clad in a suit and mask and with his eyes downcast, spent last week at the criminal defense table at the Dallas County Courthouse. It was a rare taste of freedom for the father and former home healthcare worker since he was arrested in March 2018 for the murder of a North Dallas widow whom he’d allegedly stalked and smothered after meeting at a local Walmart. She was the last of what Collin and Dallas County prosecutors claim in indictments were at least 20 victims of a years-long robbery spree targeting vulnerable seniors who wore valuable jewelry and lived alone. Eighteen of those victims were murdered, indictments against Chemirmir claim; the other two survived.
Jessica Cisneros Takes Her Second Shot at the King of Laredo
The primary rematch for Congressional District 28 is a litmus test for Democrats in South Texas. Jessica Cisneros is not your typical South Texas politician. In a region where Democrats range from diffident to proudly pro-life, the immigration attorney and second-time congressional candidate is unabashedly pro-choice. Where organized labor is weak and politics often in thrall to parochial business barons, she’s a union ally. Where elected Dems style themselves as Biden-style moderates, Cisneros has championed Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Her adversaries think she’s unqualified and out-of-touch.
Follow the Money: Part II
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,...
Greg Abbott’s Jankety Border ‘Wall’
A flawed idea and political symbol grows ever more slapdash. The Texas border wall has never been a terribly smart idea. Up front, it costs tens of millions of dollars per mile to erect, only to require millions more in perpetuity as migrants and smugglers climb, cut, and tunnel their way through anyway. It entangles federal lawyers in years-long court battles to wrench private land from deeply rooted Texas families, and it presents flood mitigation headaches along the Rio Grande. All for what amounts to a tall speed bump for border-crossers, many of whom are simply exercising their legal right to request asylum.
Benjamin Sáenz Knows Success Can Be ‘As Fleeting As a Rainstorm in the Desert’
Set in his hometown, the El Paso author’s newest title is a thoughtful coming-of-age chronicle that follows the love story of two young, gay men. If you haven’t yet heard of Benjamin Alire Sáenz, a queer author from El Paso, it’s about time you do. The 57-year-old Sáenz has been penning novels and poems, along with painting, for 35 years. But his biggest hits have come with the recent publication of the Dante and Aristotle series, which recount the stories of two gay, young men who seek to develop their relationship along the Texas-Mexico border. The first book in the series, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, has drawn international acclaim, earning top honors in the young adult category and being optioned as a movie starring Eva Longoria and Reese Gonzales.
Texas’ Abortion Ban Is Having a ‘Domino Effect’ on Clinics Across the U.S.
When Texas abortion ban Senate Bill 8 took effect on September 1, phones at the four Whole Woman’s Health abortion clinics in the state wouldn’t stop ringing. Clinic staff in Austin, McAllen, Ft. Worth, and McKinney were inundated with calls from confused and scared patients seeking abortions hoping they could still access care in their communities.
Advocates Want Biden’s Methane Rules to Go Even Farther
In the nation’s largest oil and gas producing state, new federal methane emissions are only the first step in tackling climate change. West Texas has a gas problem. This arid stretch of scrubland, from Big Spring west to New Mexico, is the country’s most productive region for producing oil and gas. It also carries the dubious distinction of producing massive volumes of methane, a heat-trapping gas that’s nearly 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide and has been linked to more than 1 million premature deaths annually in the form of ozone pollution. Texas officials have done little to correct the problem, so for years, environmental advocates have been pressuring the federal government to enact stricter regulations on methane emissions. They finally saw some results this month at a global climate change conference, though some of their more substantive priorities were left blowing in the wind.
Texas Students Are Receiving a Miseducation on Climate Change
A new book by Katie Worth shows how conservative ideologues and fossil fuel money have crept into public-school curricula across the nation. Last year, the state of Texas got a failing grade when it came to teaching public school students about climate change. A report by the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund found that the state’s current science education standards don’t meet key, basic criteria about climate education: Teaching students that climate change is real, that it’s caused by humans burning fossil fuels, and that the effects of climate change will be catastrophic.
The Texas Senate’s Most Conservative Democrat Is Retiring
“I want somebody that has compassion for people—especially the unborn,” said Eddie Lucio of his eventual replacement. Eddie Lucio’s last year in the Texas Senate was emblematic. During 2021’s legislative sessions, the long-serving Democratic senator from the border town of Brownsville successfully passed bills to crack down on negligent dog...
Beto Wants to Make Texas Big Again
O’Rourke announces bid to take on Governor Greg Abbott, who is more unpopular than ever. But the former El Paso congressman is in for a much tougher fight than 2018. Beto O’Rourke is running for Texas governor. That’s not exactly surprising, as the El Paso Democrat has been non-committedly telegraphing his intentions to do so for much of the past year.
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