Texas Observer

Our MOLLY Award Submissions are now OPEN! Our annual prize for investigative journalism is open to both print and digital outlets, with an annual award of $5000. Stories can be submitted until March 20. Find out how to enter your work here: texasobserver.org/molly-awards/t…

Out today: Jill Barganier, a petite blond mother of three from the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, has been asked many times over the past three decades to recall what she saw from her window on January 29, 1998. ... texasobserver.org/riding-shotgun…

Last week: “If we get to the point where we have to declare a Level 1 Water Emergency, we need to be ready for that and we have no precedent to follow. There’s no manual, there’s no video/ There’s a monumental task ahead of us to develop this.” texasobserver.org/corpus-christi…

Featured story: "I entered this profession just as the storm clouds of the book-banning push were starting to gather, hoping it would pass over me as if lamb’s blood were painted on my doorframe. And for the first three years, wishful thinking worked." texasobserver.org/abilene-isd-li…

New! @MichellePitcher of the Observer teamed up with Free Range Productions to create "The Unforgotten: Riding Shotgun," a true crime podcast about potential wrongful convictions, hypnosis, and the death penalty. Check out this preview: texasobserver.org/riding-shotgun…

“The Trump administration & the media had demonized Antifa all through the first Trump term, & even more aggressively in the second. This concept of terrorism tends to become politicized, particularly when government officials intentionally politicize it.” texasobserver.org/prairieland-an…

Don't miss an article! Catch up with everything we've published from the March/April 2026 issue of our magazine: texasobserver.org/issues/march-a…

Last week from Trudy Taylor Smith of @ChildDefender-Texas: We feel grief as we watch lives and families torn apart, and the horror unfolding around us takes a toll on our emotional and physical health. We must meet those feelings with collective action. texasobserver.org/we-must-end-fa…

From @DylanBaddour at @InsideClimate News: City officials in Corpus Christi on Tuesday released modeling that showed emergency cuts to water demand could be required as soon as May as reservoir levels continue to decline. texasobserver.org/corpus-christi…

“Long term, it’s going to set a lot of precedent that pushes the law away from environmental protection, which will either lead to more-harmful outcomes for the environment or will necessitate the development of new legal and policy approaches.” texasobserver.org/man-v-nature/

The latest from Texas Observer cartoonist Ben Sargent. Read our latest political analysis and investigations: texasobserver.org/topics/politic…

Featured story: "It didn’t take long before Tammy Fogle, the leader of our local Moms for Liberty group, issued 27 book challenges. She had no children attending our schools, but SB 13 had opened the door for her." texasobserver.org/abilene-isd-li…

Drive around Fort Worth, or any populous Texas city, and you’ll see Muslim mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, Sikh gurdwaras, Jewish synagogues, as well as Christian churches of all sizes and varieties. A diversity that depends on a wall of separation. texasobserver.org/a-wall-thats-w…

From @stevanzetti: Experts say the outcome of the Prairieland "Antifa" case will give the Trump administration the green light to take a more aggressive stance against left-wing activity and further politicize the use of domestic terrorism laws. texasobserver.org/prairieland-an…

Previously: If border walls destroy La Lomita, Santa Ana, Bentsen State Park, and the National Butterfly Center, they will not be magically resurrected when the White House has a less malignant occupant. texasobserver.org/trump-new-wall…

"As we take action alongside each other, this generates further energy and hope, fueling our ability to respond to injustice with creativity and sustain our resistance over time." texasobserver.org/we-must-end-fa…

“What I’m seeing is the unfettered use of these very powerful tools and these very powerful statutes, absent any sort of norms or guardrails that normally would be in place to guard against overreach.” texasobserver.org/prairieland-an…

Our top story: Out of 309 climate-related court decisions issued between January 2018 and September 30, 2025 by circuit court panels that included Trump appointees, more than half—167 of those rulings—were clearly anti-environment. texasobserver.org/man-v-nature/

The latest from Texas Observer cartoonist Ben Sargent. See more from Loon Star State: texasobserver.org/topics/loon-st…

In books: On August 3, 2019, I was nearly 2,000 miles away in Washington, D.C., where I worked as a national political reporter in the bureau of The Boston Globe ... I was in a movie theater when my phone lit up with calls and messages. texasobserver.org/el-paso-book-j…

Previously: "We know where the checkpoints are. We warn one another when the Border Patrol is nearby. In public space, we adjust our bodies and behavior, attempting to go unnoticed, offering smiles of compliance as a way to disarm." texasobserver.org/texas-border-m…