Ending 30 Years of Resistance, Trump and Abbott Break the ‘People’s House’
Thu, 17 Apr 2025 19:45:49 +0000
The morning of the Texas House vote on school vouchers Wednesday included, among other last-minute maneuvering, a phone call from President Donald Trump. “It’s one of the most important votes you’ve ever taken,” Trump told the House GOP caucus in a meeting that Governor Greg Abbott had called. Standing around Abbott, House Republicans listened as […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/abbott-trump-house-vouchers-pass/
Opposition to Abbott’s Vouchers Plan Includes Conservatives
Tue, 15 Apr 2025 21:33:21 +0000
Brian and Joy Roberts are not public school advocates. The co-founders of the Grayson County Conservatives, based in the deep-red county on the state border with Oklahoma, do not liken themselves to other conservatives in Texas who have long fought school voucher proposals to protect rural public schools. They are organizing against Governor Greg Abbott’s […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/abbott-vouchers-conservative-opponents/
Who’s Paying for Public School Vouchers? (1998)
Tue, 15 Apr 2025 16:57:14 +0000
Editor’s Note: The Observer published this feature in its March 27, 1998, edition. The prior year’s private school voucher proposal narrowly died at the Lege. Bullock wouldn’t discuss his recent resignation from the voucher PAC Putting Children First. But his aide, Tony Proffitt—who has worked for Bullock since long before he moved from the comptroller’s to the lieutenant governor’s […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/whos-paying-for-public-school-vouchers-1998/
AI Is Dead
Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:07:00 +0000
I’ve got a post-graduate certificate in artificial intelligence (AI). I’m also an author, and I believe writers and publishers should not use AI in publishing. So that’s why I was disturbed when a reviewer asked if I had used AI in writing my recent coming-of-age novel, Under the Gulf Coast Sun. But the reasons I […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/ai-writing-novelist-texas-artificial-intelligence/
The Winds of Willacy: Inside Texas’ Largest Wind Farm
Mon, 14 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000
The wind blows from two directions to the Los Vientos Wind Farm, Texas’ largest and the nation’s second largest, with 426 turbines towering over Willacy and Starr counties in the Rio Grande Valley. In one direction, the wind sweeps from the wintry north through the South Texas plains. In another, it rolls from the southeast […]
The post The Winds of Willacy: Inside Texas’ Largest Wind Farm appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/willacy-texas-largest-wind-farm/
Slowly and Painfully, House Passes $337 Billion Budget
Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:22:13 +0000
The Texas House spent over 14 hours debating—but mostly, just standing around—amendments during a marathon proceeding to pass its biennial budget. Ultimately, the House voted 118-26 to adopt a $337 billion budget early Friday morning. The bill, shepherded by House Appropriations Chairman Greg Bonnen, featured many big-ticket items. At the top is $51 billion to […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/slowly-and-painfully-texas-house-passes-337-billion-budget/
Forgotten Crossings at the Edge of Texas
Thu, 10 Apr 2025 13:30:29 +0000
Editor’s Note: Author Richard Parker died early last month, days after publication of his book The Crossing. “My dad was a person that loved learning about the world around him, and we saw that in his writing,” his daughter Olivia told the Albuquerque Journal. He was 61. For years, one of my favorite places to […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/forgotten-crossings-el-paso/
El Paso’s Still-Untold Story
Thu, 10 Apr 2025 13:30:20 +0000
Editor’s Note: Author Richard Parker died early last month, after this review was published in print and days after publication of his book The Crossing. “My dad was a person that loved learning about the world around him, and we saw that in his writing,” his daughter Olivia told the Albuquerque Journal. He was 61. […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/el-paso-untold-story/
Texas House Weighs How to Get Harsh on Hemp
Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:00:00 +0000
A police chief compared the shops across Texas that sell hemp-derived products to “candy stores or fireworks stands,” targeting children with bright-colored gummies and chips. At the same House Committee on State Affairs hearing on Monday, a Kentucky-based hemp seller said many of their Texas customers are women over 55 living in the suburbs. Meanwhile, […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/advocates-speak-against-lege-thc-hemp-restrictions/
The Sordid, Unscientific Story Behind Lethal Injection
Tue, 08 Apr 2025 13:48:23 +0000
Texas was the first U.S. state to execute someone by lethal injection, but the idea for the novel method came from Oklahoma. Our northern neighbor was the first to adopt the plan to replace the spectacle of the electric chair with something more palatable for witnesses and the public. Texas was just the first to […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/sordid-story-behind-lethal-injection/