Local activists warn that while residents must ration, unimpeded industrial expansion is imperiling the region’s future.

Stephen Harrigan explores his own Catholic boyhood in Texas—and the prophecy left behind by a Portuguese prophet girl—in a ...

The state created “Texas Partnership” charter schools to turn around struggling public campuses, but an Observer ...

A version of this story ran in the May / June 2025 issue. 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 ...

All of the Texas Observer’s articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: The ...

Bitcoin mining afflicts locals with noise pollution, threatens water supplies, and receives generous public backing.

All of the Texas Observer’s articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: ...

All of the Texas Observer’s articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: ...

Legislation to allow some forms of drug checking has reached the same Senate committee where a similar bill died last session ...

Republicans want to double down on a system that can keep Texans in jail for years without a trial, while attacking bail ...

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 ...