Jesse Jackson Comes to Town
Fri, 08 May 2026 14:26:04 +0000
On February 19, two days after the death of the reverend and civil rights icon Jesse Jackson, the Observer’s longtime contributing photographer Alan Pogue emailed me a shot of Jackson shaking hands with Molly Ivins, our onetime co-editor and unofficial patron saint. In the moments following the photo, Pogue said, Ivins injected some of her […]
The post Jesse Jackson Comes to Town appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/jesse-jackson-comes-to-town/
In Diverse Southwest Houston, Longtime Incumbent Hubert Vo Forced into Runoff Row
Thu, 07 May 2026 15:45:09 +0000
At an office tucked in the corner of the Universal Shopping Center in Houston’s Alief area, among Vietnamese restaurants and immigration service offices, I met Democratic state Representative Hubert Vo to talk about the runoff election for House District 149. Instead of meeting at his district office a few streets away, we met at the […]
The post In Diverse Southwest Houston, Longtime Incumbent Hubert Vo Forced into Runoff Row appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/hubert-vo-incumbent-runoff-southwest-houston/
The Aesthete from Archer
Wed, 06 May 2026 13:50:53 +0000
The ironies that affix themselves to the life and literature of Larry McMurtry are best exemplified by the title of his autobiographical meditation on storytelling, Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen, wherein the eponymous German cultural critic, who warned of the dehumanizing dangers of mechanical reproduction, is imagined at the fast-food eatery beloved by Texans […]
The post The Aesthete from Archer appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/the-aesthete-from-archer/
‘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 […]
The post ‘McCarthyism with a Texas Accent’ appeared first on The Texas Observer.
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 […]
The post Brownsville bajo la influencia appeared first on The Texas Observer.
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 […]
The post The Gas Peddle appeared first on The Texas Observer.
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 […]
The post Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our May/June 2026 Issue appeared first on The Texas Observer.
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 […]
The post As License Plate Readers Expand in Texas, Privacy Advocates Are Fighting Back appeared first on The Texas Observer.
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. […]
The post What Does the Allred-Johnson Runoff Tell Us About Texas Dems? appeared first on The Texas Observer.
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 […]
The post Texas’ Top Criminal Court Has Stymied the State’s ‘Junk Science’ Law. Will SCOTUS Intervene? appeared first on The Texas Observer.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-top-criminal-court-junk-science-law-supreme-court/