Texas Observer

The Texas Observer

‘Cocks Not Glocks’ at 10

A decade on, the iconic campus protest has come to symbolize a time of relatively free expression.

The Texas Observer

2027 Legislative Internship

The Texas Observer is hiring for an intern to help cover the 2027 Texas legislative session, running from January through early June. The Observer’s Legislative Internship program is for student journalists—most likely upper-level students with some experience under their belt—whose career goals will be furthered by the front-row experience of reporting on an entire state […]

The Texas Observer

Houston's Historic Black Theater at 50

For five decades, the Ensemble has brought Houstonians together to laugh, cry, and talk back to plays representing all aspects of African-American life.

The Texas Observer

University of Houston Is Gutting Its Gender and Sexuality Classes. That Won’t Stop Texas' Crusade Against Higher Ed.

College administrators wrongly hope that anticipatory obedience will satisfy a GOP-run Texas Legislature that is increasingly hostile toward education.

The Texas Observer

Free Tickets, Familiar Jokes, and an Unsettled Party Grasping for Unity—and a Fight

At the unusual midterm convention, Republicans pleaded with voters not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The Texas Observer

The State's Bible-Only Reading List Is a Disservice to Texas Kids

A new required list doesn't meet the need to learn about the major religious traditions that make up Texas today—and it could impair public schools' ability to serve diverse populations.

The Texas Observer

Not All Texas Republicans Are Condemning Bo French

While many top Texas GOP leaders rushed to denounce the Railroad Commissioner nominee's latest racist screed, another assortment of Lone Star conservatives has stood behind him.

The Texas Observer

ICE Never Stopped Chasing People in Cars in the Rio Grande Valley

Immigration agents sped after a vehicle through a residential neighborhood on the same day of the agency’s traffic stop pause, reportedly endangering a mother and son—before pulling a gun on and briefly handcuffing a U.S. citizen.

The Texas Observer

Not All Texas Republicans Are Condemning Bo French

While many top Texas GOP leaders rushed to denounce the Railroad Commissioner nominee's latest racist screed, another assortment of Lone Star conservatives has stood behind him.

The Texas Observer

One of the Top Texas House Races Could Come Down to a Single Issue: Water

As Corpus Christi reels from a severe water crisis, debates rage on at the city level and in a top targeted fight for state House District 34, currently held by a Republican.

The Texas Observer

Does Joe Rogan Care Who Wins the Texas Senate Race?

An exhaustive accounting of the Austin podcast giant's thoughts (and lack thereof) on James Talarico, Ken Paxton, and the electoral contest between them

The Texas Observer

Who Stands Between Texas and a Fascist Railroad Commission?

This man here—and a plurality of voters if he can find them

The Texas Observer

Houston Is Testing Whether Trump’s ICE Is Above Texas Law

After the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, local authorities have struggled to stake their claim on an investigation into a killing within the most populous Texas city’s limits.

The Texas Observer

University of Houston Is Gutting Its Gender and Sexuality Classes. That Won’t Stop Texas' Crusade Against Higher Ed.

College administrators wrongly hope that anticipatory obedience will satisfy a GOP-run Texas Legislature that is increasingly hostile toward education.

The Texas Observer

The Real Lesson Behind Texas' New Bible Curriculum Requirements

Students will learn that life circumstances are beyond their power to change. They will learn that their place in the economy and larger society should not be questioned.

The Texas Observer

With Texas’ Data Center Boom, Uncertainty Is the Business Plan

Proposed projects are driven by sketchy numbers nobody has to prove: inflated demand, water use most companies never report, power plans that route around ordinary review. Either way, the public pays.

The Texas Observer

ICE Never Stopped Chasing People in Cars in the Rio Grande Valley

Immigration agents sped after a vehicle through a residential neighborhood on the same day of the agency’s traffic stop pause, reportedly endangering a mother and son—before pulling a gun on and briefly handcuffing a U.S. citizen.

The Texas Observer

The ‘Houston Miracle’ Shell Game

How Houston ISD’s takeover regime inflated school accountability ratings by systematically holding back certain students

The Texas Observer

Inside the Dark World of Romance Scammers

An Austin author’s new novel delves deep into the scammer networks that exploit the vulnerable and the lovelorn.

The Texas Observer

Houston Is Testing Whether Trump’s ICE Is Above Texas Law

After the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, local authorities have struggled to stake their claim on an investigation into a killing within the most populous Texas city’s limits.

The Texas Observer

In Texas Schools, a Crisis of Arrests of Kids as Young as 10

A groundbreaking data analysis shows how districts across the state are arresting and citing children for common misbehavior, leaving lasting trauma as the Legislature rejects bills to raise the age of criminal responsibility and floods schools with even more police.

The Texas Observer

The Hard Ceiling over Texas Cities’ Climate Plans

From the biggest cities to smaller towns, local officials wrote serious climate plans. One law at a time, state policy has narrowed the tools to carry them out.

The Texas Observer

The Real Lesson Behind Texas' New Bible Curriculum Requirements

Students will learn that life circumstances are beyond their power to change. They will learn that their place in the economy and larger society should not be questioned.

The Texas Observer

Throwing the Book at Books in Prison

Inside Books Project volunteers have sent used books to Texas inmates for nearly 30 years. A new crackdown is threatening their work.

The Texas Observer

Inside the Dark World of Romance Scammers

An Austin author’s new novel delves deep into the scammer networks that exploit the vulnerable and the lovelorn.

The Texas Observer

Houston Is Testing Whether Trump’s ICE Is Above Texas Law

After the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, local authorities have struggled to stake their claim on an investigation into a killing within the most populous Texas city’s limits.

The Texas Observer

A Love Letter to the Black Woodswomen of Deep East Texas

Where I’m from, the Afro-Texans who made me know our lives are forever woven into the ecology of the Thicket.

The Texas Observer

'Where Do We Go from Here': Forward or Backward?

In our nation’s civil rights fight, we seem to be losing the hard-fought progress for which so many bled and died.

The Texas Observer

The Tides of Tarrant: Alisa Simmons Is Taking On the Far Right for County Judge

In Texas’ key swing county, this Democratic commissioner is turning to voters to oust the arch-conservative Tim O’Hare.

The Texas Observer

Postcard: The Bats of Bracken

As many as 20 million of the winged mammals gather at one Texas Hill Country cave, creating one of nature’s most jaw-dropping displays.

The Texas Observer

The Fall of Hope Rising: Can Faith-Based Nonprofits Fix Texas Foster Care?

The demise of a Brenham organization intended to help young victims of trafficking is a cautionary tale about the state's overreliance on religious groups to help foster kids.

The Texas Observer

Throwing the Book at Books in Prison

Inside Books Project volunteers have sent used books to Texas inmates for nearly 30 years. A new crackdown is threatening their work.

The Texas Observer

The Fall of Hope Rising: Can Faith-Based Nonprofits Fix Texas Foster Care?

The demise of a Brenham organization intended to help young victims of trafficking is a cautionary tale about the state's overreliance on religious groups to help foster kids.

The Texas Observer

A Love Letter to the Black Woodswomen of Deep East Texas

Where I’m from, the Afro-Texans who made me know our lives are forever woven into the ecology of the Thicket.

The Texas Observer

As World Cup Unfolds, Immigrant Rights Organizers Seek a Reckoning over Dallas' Relationship with ICE

Activists are tracking and trying to pressure the city over the use of its municipal airport for deportation flights, as visitors from around the world flood in.

The Texas Observer

Review: A Jailhouse Snitch and the System that Made Him

Pamela Colloff’s debut book is a propulsive study of a fatally flawed tactic beloved by prosecutors in Texas and beyond.

The Texas Observer

The Fall of Hope Rising: Can Faith-Based Nonprofits Fix Texas Foster Care?

The demise of a Brenham organization intended to help young victims of trafficking is a cautionary tale about the state's overreliance on religious groups to help foster kids.

The Texas Observer

The Real Lesson Behind Texas' New Bible Curriculum Requirements

Students will learn that life circumstances are beyond their power to change. They will learn that their place in the economy and larger society should not be questioned.

The Texas Observer

In Texas Schools, a Crisis of Arrests of Kids as Young as 10

A groundbreaking data analysis shows how districts across the state are arresting and citing children for common misbehavior, leaving lasting trauma as the Legislature rejects bills to raise the age of criminal responsibility and floods schools with even more police.

The Texas Observer

Excerpt: How to Close a Camp

Detention was sold as both a law-and-order necessity and an economic opportunity, welding together the rac­ist politics of the drug war with the rise of private prisons.

The Texas Observer

The Hard Ceiling over Texas Cities’ Climate Plans

From the biggest cities to smaller towns, local officials wrote serious climate plans. One law at a time, state policy has narrowed the tools to carry them out.

The Texas Observer

Postcard: Cycling the Rio Grande as Trump's Wall Looms

“We’re gonna be riding around areas where most everybody thinks it’s unsafe, and you’re gonna see that there’s really nothing to be worried about.”

The Texas Observer

Inside the Dark World of Romance Scammers

An Austin author’s new novel delves deep into the scammer networks that exploit the vulnerable and the lovelorn.

The Texas Observer

Excerpt: How to Close a Camp

Detention was sold as both a law-and-order necessity and an economic opportunity, welding together the rac­ist politics of the drug war with the rise of private prisons.

The Texas Observer

In Texas Schools, a Crisis of Arrests of Kids as Young as 10

A groundbreaking data analysis shows how districts across the state are arresting and citing children for common misbehavior, leaving lasting trauma as the Legislature rejects bills to raise the age of criminal responsibility and floods schools with even more police.

The Texas Observer

In Congress, Christian Menefee Says He’s Fighting for 'the Least, the Last, and the Lost'

The latest politician to represent H-Town’s historic 18th Congressional District talks about his recent primary against Al Green, ICE, voting rights, and the U.S. Senate race.

The Texas Observer

One State Under Whose God?

Despite the grip of conservative Christianity on Texas politics, religion here has always contained multitudes, a new work of history shows.

The Texas Observer

ICE Never Stopped Chasing People in Cars in the Rio Grande Valley

Immigration agents sped after a vehicle through a residential neighborhood on the same day of the agency’s traffic stop pause, reportedly endangering a mother and son—before pulling a gun on and briefly handcuffing a U.S. citizen.

The Texas Observer

In Texas Schools, a Crisis of Arrests of Kids as Young as 10

A groundbreaking data analysis shows how districts across the state are arresting and citing children for common misbehavior, leaving lasting trauma as the Legislature rejects bills to raise the age of criminal responsibility and floods schools with even more police.

The Texas Observer

July/August 2026