Texas Set to Execute Fourth Person of the Year on Tuesday
Fri, 16 May 2025 14:11:40 +0000
Matthew Johnson’s guilt was never in question. On the stand during his 2013 trial, he admitted to the crime that landed him on death row. The attack—an early morning robbery and murder in a populous Dallas suburb—was also caught on camera. Johnson is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on May 20, […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-death-row-execution-matthew-johnson/
Shipped to El Salvador: An Austin Immigration Lawyer on Her Teen Client’s Forced ‘Disappearance’
Thu, 15 May 2025 21:31:55 +0000
Simply being in the United States without a legal immigration status is a civil matter—not a criminal one. Yet Donald Trump’s regime increasingly treats immigrants like criminals. In March, the administration sent more than 200 immigrants to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison with a history of human rights abuses. The Trump administration […]
The post Shipped to El Salvador: An Austin Immigration Lawyer on Her Teen Client’s Forced ‘Disappearance’ appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/el-salvador-austin-immigration-lawyer-teen-forced-disappearance/
A Thirsty Tesla Refinery Could Exacerbate Corpus Christi’s Water Crisis
Thu, 15 May 2025 13:00:00 +0000
Corpus Christi is a town built around water. But while the Gulf of Mexico has made the region what it is today, seawater can’t save Corpus from a rapidly growing water crisis. As the Gulf shines on the horizon, water for the town’s residents is nowhere to be found. Wilting plants, timed showers, and unwashed […]
The post A Thirsty Tesla Refinery Could Exacerbate Corpus Christi’s Water Crisis appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/corpus-christi-water-crisis-tesla-industrial-expansion/
A Texas Writer Tackles a Subject ‘Beckoning in the Shadows His Entire Life’
Wed, 14 May 2025 17:42:09 +0000
These days, the thrum of traffic and the roar of a bulldozer intrude on conversations at café tables clustered outside the Swedish Hill bakery, an Austin landmark where author Stephen Harrigan and a few writer friends have long gathered to swap ideas. Once Harrigan rode his Trek down the hill to grab a croissant and […]
The post A Texas Writer Tackles a Subject ‘Beckoning in the Shadows His Entire Life’ appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/stephen-harrigan-profile-book-sorrowful-mysteries/
Texas Already Gives Public Ed Dollars to Private Operators. Here’s How That Worked Out.
Tue, 13 May 2025 12:20:00 +0000
At an April 2017 committee hearing in a meeting room tucked away in the Capitol’s underground extension, state Senator Paul Bettencourt, a bespectacled Houston Republican, touted a proposal of his then called Senate Bill 1882. The bill was meant to “turn around” public schools the state had deemed failing by tapping nonprofit charter school operators […]
The post Texas Already Gives Public Ed Dollars to Private Operators. Here’s How That Worked Out. appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-partnerships-sb-1882-charter-schools/
Harrison the Huckster
Mon, 12 May 2025 17:31:25 +0000
State Representative Brian Harrison is outraged. About what, exactly, depends on the day. On April 9, for example, his outrage stemmed from a motion on the House budget bill that passed 126-20. The motion called for moving nearly 200 amendments—including Harrison’s anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) ones—off the debate table. Already anticipating slogging through 14 […]
The post Harrison the Huckster appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/brian-harrison-texas-lege-self-righteous-crusade/
A Day in a Democracy
Mon, 12 May 2025 12:25:00 +0000
It’s the sort of day where you can tell that the state Capitol is bustling with civic activity well before you pass through the security checkpoints. Even by 10 o’clock this sunny March morning, the main parking garage is full. Charter buses, which carried Texans to their capital city from destinations hundreds of miles away, […]
The post A Day in a Democracy appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/a-day-in-a-democracy/
The Perils of Offshoring Justice
Thu, 08 May 2025 14:19:36 +0000
President Donald Trump’s recent Oval Office photo-op with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who calls himself the “world’s coolest dictator”, was staged to unveil a shiny new “alliance” against crime. Both leaders congratulated each other for achieving something U.S. courts forbid at home: rounding up alleged gang members (including longtime U.S. residents with pending protection orders) and locking […]
The post The Perils of Offshoring Justice appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-texas-offshoring-justice-el-salvador/
‘It’s Not a War Zone’: Val Verde County’s Conservative Democratic Sheriff on Misinformation, Immigration
Wed, 07 May 2025 14:14:26 +0000
The U.S.-Mexico border is perhaps the most widely discussed and poorly understood region in the country. MAGA influencers and nationalistic politicians have inaccurately portrayed border communities as dangerous crime hotspots akin to a warzone and overwhelmed by asylum-seekers. In reality, border communities—at least on the U.S. side—are some of the country’s safest. Joe Frank Martinez […]
The post ‘It’s Not a War Zone’: Val Verde County’s Conservative Democratic Sheriff on Misinformation, Immigration appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/val-verde-county-sheriff-border-interview/
Will Dan Patrick’s Senate Stymie Fentanyl Test Strip Legalization (Again)?
Tue, 06 May 2025 13:00:00 +0000
On April 11, 2023, the Texas House voted 143-2 for a bill that would have legalized strips that test for the presence of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, only for the legislation to die without a hearing in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. Since then, at least 3,200 Texans have died from opioid overdoses, according […]
The post Will Dan Patrick’s Senate Stymie Fentanyl Test Strip Legalization (Again)? appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/fentanyl-test-strips-texas-legislature/