Strangest State: Cute Robots, Killer Bugs, and Cloud Conspiracies
Fri, 26 Sep 2025 13:00:00 +0000
The post Strangest State: Cute Robots, Killer Bugs, and Cloud Conspiracies appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/strangest-state-cute-robots-killer-bugs-and-cloud-conspiracies/
Texas Domestic Workers Face Trump Attack on Minimum Wage
Thu, 25 Sep 2025 18:20:58 +0000
For $8 an hour, B.O., a Kenyan immigrant who asked the Texas Observer to use only her initials for fear of workplace retaliation, once cared for six elderly patients in a Houston group home for as many as 90 hours a week—without any overtime pay. Every day from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., she fed, […]
The post Texas Domestic Workers Face Trump Attack on Minimum Wage appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-domestic-workers-trump-minimum-wage/
Austin’s Children Deserve More than a Test Score
Wed, 24 Sep 2025 14:13:14 +0000
Earlier this month, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced that 12 Austin-area schools with an “F” rating could be closed. For many families, this isn’t just a policy decision—it’s a direct threat to thousands of children’s educational stability and their communities’ future. The affected schools, all part of Austin Independent School District (AISD) received three […]
The post Austin’s Children Deserve More than a Test Score appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/austin-schools-children-tea-scores-closures/
Texas History Offers Warnings amid Rash of Faculty Firings
Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:30:00 +0000
Every day that classes are held at the University of Texas at Austin, a procession of students enter Homer Rainey Hall, which houses the Department of French and Italian. How many of them know who Rainey was? He is certainly not a saint in the pantheon of Texas history—a diverse bunch that includes, depending on […]
The post Texas History Offers Warnings amid Rash of Faculty Firings appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-faculty-firings-tom-alter/
Officials Said They Busted a Tren de Aragua Party. Attendees Beg to Differ.
Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:00:00 +0000
On the night of March 31, María, a 40-year-old Venezuelan mother of four who asked that her last name not be published for fear of government retaliation, was home alone in her two-bedroom Austin apartment. Around 9 p.m., her adult son and daughter, along with her teenage son, had left for a birthday party at […]
The post Officials Said They Busted a Tren de Aragua Party. Attendees Beg to Differ. appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/officials-tren-de-aragua-party-attendees-differ/
A Wave of School District Takeovers Could Be Coming. Some Past Interventions Ended with More Failing Schools.
Fri, 19 Sep 2025 12:15:00 +0000
Recently released state school ratings reveal that five Texas school districts are at risk of a takeover by the Texas Education Agency (TEA)—the most since a 2017 state law expanded the state’s takeover powers. The new ratings cover the 2022-23 school year, released in April following legal delays, and the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, […]
The post A Wave of School District Takeovers Could Be Coming. Some Past Interventions Ended with More Failing Schools. appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/state-school-district-takeovers-results/
News Orgs Fight to Unseal Records in the Paxtons’ Divorce Case
Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:49:07 +0000
This article was first co-published by The Texas Newsroom and ProPublica. A group of state and national media organizations, including The Texas Newsroom, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, are arguing in court that records in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s divorce case should be made available to the public. The organizations filed their plea to intervene with the Collin County district court […]
The post News Orgs Fight to Unseal Records in the Paxtons’ Divorce Case appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/news-orgs-unseal-paxtons-divorce-case/
How Texas Localities Have (and Haven’t) Spent Settlement Funds to Fight the Opioid Crisis
Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:16:00 +0000
In the coming years, Texas is set to receive billions of dollars to address the ongoing opioid crisis that has taken the lives of more than 10,000 Texans between 2020 and 2023, per state data. Already, the state has allocated over $100 million in funds to cities and counties. Some local governments have begun to […]
The post How Texas Localities Have (and Haven’t) Spent Settlement Funds to Fight the Opioid Crisis appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-localities-opioid-settlement-dollars/
‘I Am Not Your Enemy’
Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:56:46 +0000
The following is excerpted from the closing chapter of I Am Not Your Enemy: A Memoir, out September 16 from Spiegel & Grau. It is reprinted with permission of the publisher, © 2025. I have to be careful about what I say. My plea bargain is stricter than the rules under which I lived within […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/reality-winner-memoir-excerpt/
The Health Penalty
Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:29:11 +0000
The year Charles Sullivan finally started the treatment that helped manage his agonizing digestive disorder was also the year he was arrested for the crime that would send him to prison for life. Now, 31 years and several surgeries later, he’s still struggling to find relief within the medical system that operates behind Texas prison […]
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https://www.texasobserver.org/prison-medical-care-nurse-lawsuits/