‘McCarthyism with a Texas Accent’
Tue, 05 May 2026 18:49:43 +0000
Three years ago, at the outset of the 88th session of the Texas Legislature, Salman Bhojani placed his hand atop a 19th-century Quran in the state House chamber and became one of the first two Muslims ever sworn in to craft Texas laws. The then-42-year-old lawyer, who was raised in Pakistan and Canada before coming […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/the-interview-salman-bhojani/
Brownsville bajo la influencia
Mon, 04 May 2026 14:39:01 +0000
Nota del editor: Esta es la segunda parte de una serie de dos partes respaldada por el Pulitzer Center y la Beca de Periodismo de Investigación de la Ida B. Wells Society. Vea la primera parte aquí. (Read in English here). En una tarde templada y nublada de finales de marzo de 2025, una multitud […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/brownsville-bajo-la-influencia/
The Gas Peddle
Mon, 04 May 2026 14:37:04 +0000
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part series supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Ida B. Wells Society Investigative Reporting Fellowship. See part one here. (Leer en español aquí.) On a balmy, overcast afternoon in late March 2025, a crowd gathered outside Texas Southmost College’s auditorium in downtown Brownsville. With them came […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/brownsville-laguna-madre-special-interests-influence-records/
Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our May/June 2026 Issue
Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:20:42 +0000
Texas Observer reader, Thus, it ends as it began as it begins as it ended. Or something like that. The state, and to some extent the nation, waits to see who prevails between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton in the May 26 runoffs. Trump could still endorse (and may indeed do so in the gap […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/editors-letter-may-june-2026/
As License Plate Readers Expand in Texas, Privacy Advocates Are Fighting Back
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:27:54 +0000
Last week the City of Kyle, a fast-growing Austin suburb, interrupted a string of recent victories won by local activists to thwart the further expansion of police surveillance technology across Central Texas. On April 21, council members overwhelmingly voted 6-1 to authorize the Kyle Police Department to apply for another state grant—worth up to $381,200—to […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/license-plate-readers-texas-privacy-advocates/
What Does the Allred-Johnson Runoff Tell Us About Texas Dems?
Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:06:02 +0000
Eight years before their heated congressional runoff, Colin Allred and Julie Johnson both rode into political office on the blue wave of the 2018 midterms. Allred, an NFL linebacker-turned-lawyer, ousted the powerful Dallas Republican Congressman Pete Sessions. Johnson, an attorney from Farmers Branch, toppled the divisive firebrand Matt Rinaldi en route to the Texas House. […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/allred-johnson-33rd-congress-runoff-dallas/
Texas’ Top Criminal Court Has Stymied the State’s ‘Junk Science’ Law. Will SCOTUS Intervene?
Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:24:02 +0000
In 1999, a Dallas County jury sentenced Charles Flores to death for capital murder after a burglary turned deadly in Farmers Branch. He had been placed at the scene of the crime by an eyewitness who identified him in court—but this was after an officer from the Farmers Branch Police Department hypnotized that witness during […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-top-criminal-court-junk-science-law-supreme-court/
Trump’s New Tool to Speed Up Wall Construction May Be a Trap for Texas Landowners
Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:01:01 +0000
As President Donald Trump’s second administration rushes to wall off the Texas border, landowners along the Rio Grande are being pushed to let construction begin on their property before the federal government purchases or condemns it. Owners of real estate on the border are receiving letters from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offering a […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-new-tool-wall-construction-trap-texas-landowners/
LATE SPRING ENDING WITH LUNAR ECLIPSE
Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000
Fine thread nearly invisible in the early lightkept getting caught again and again in our mouths.We gave up after walking through the fourth web,turned around, and saved the outing for some other day. We crossed back over the river that by nowHad been getting lower and lower, nearly dried out—a coyote crossed with ease toward […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/poem-late-spring-ending/
A Looming Execution Raises Questions of Race, Responsibility, and Rap
Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:27:23 +0000
Update: The State of Texas executed James Broadnax by lethal injection April 30. From the gurney, he said he had prayed for forgiveness and reasserted his innocence. “No matter what you think about me, Texas got it wrong,” he said. “I’m innocent. The facts of the case should speak for itself.“ Curtis Riser had some concerns […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/looming-execution-questions-race-responsibility-rap/