Texas Observer
@texasobserver.org
A nonprofit newsroom covering Texas through investigative journalism & narrative storytelling since 1954.
Follow our journos: https://go.bsky.app/EdSL3Co
🤠Learn more about us: https://linktr.ee/texasobserver
🎄Holiday giving: https://tr.ee/9w938r
Follow our journos: https://go.bsky.app/EdSL3Co
🤠Learn more about us: https://linktr.ee/texasobserver
🎄Holiday giving: https://tr.ee/9w938r
Pinned
❄️Even investigative journalists need a little holiday cheer
⛄This season, we’re grateful for a community that believes in truth-telling in Texas—especially when it matters most.
👉 Double your gift: tr.ee/9w938r
(🎄🧵 1/3)
⛄This season, we’re grateful for a community that believes in truth-telling in Texas—especially when it matters most.
👉 Double your gift: tr.ee/9w938r
(🎄🧵 1/3)
From the archives: Outside the chapel, dusk had hit the humid city. Inside, the crowd sat, prayed, and cried. The occasion was an event titled “A Time of Remembrance.” Fifty or so visitors contemplated cycles of life and death in one short hour ...
Meditations on Life and Death at Houston's Rothko Chapel
Although the abstract painter didn't survive to see it completed, the 1971 temple to art and contemplation is still revealing its magic.
www.texasobserver.org
December 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
From the archives: Outside the chapel, dusk had hit the humid city. Inside, the crowd sat, prayed, and cried. The occasion was an event titled “A Time of Remembrance.” Fifty or so visitors contemplated cycles of life and death in one short hour ...
Our politics nationally and here in Texas is now firmly in the grip of a narrow, petty tribalism that feeds on enmity. Each day brings new horrors; scrolling through social media inevitably becomes doom-scrolling.
But they can't extinguish our light.
But they can't extinguish our light.
A Light the Darkness Cannot Extinguish
At the close of an awful year, a religion scholar offers reflections on resisting despair in dark times, for the religious and non-religious alike.
www.texasobserver.org
December 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Our politics nationally and here in Texas is now firmly in the grip of a narrow, petty tribalism that feeds on enmity. Each day brings new horrors; scrolling through social media inevitably becomes doom-scrolling.
But they can't extinguish our light.
But they can't extinguish our light.
Happy Holidays from all of us at the Texas Observer!
Thank you for supporting our work in 2025, and we'll see you in the New Year!
Thank you for supporting our work in 2025, and we'll see you in the New Year!
December 24, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Happy Holidays from all of us at the Texas Observer!
Thank you for supporting our work in 2025, and we'll see you in the New Year!
Thank you for supporting our work in 2025, and we'll see you in the New Year!
From May, by @perez1oj.bsky.social: By bankrolling El Salvador’s excesses and broadcasting the dramatic footage for domestic political gain, Washington is sending a signal that rights-free “security” can be not only tolerated but internationally legitimized.
The Perils of Offshoring Justice
Texas and the U.S.–El Salvador Prison Pipeline
www.texasobserver.org
December 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
From May, by @perez1oj.bsky.social: By bankrolling El Salvador’s excesses and broadcasting the dramatic footage for domestic political gain, Washington is sending a signal that rights-free “security” can be not only tolerated but internationally legitimized.
Reposted by Texas Observer
I wish I'd had r/Fantasy Bingo and Diverse Reading Challenges when I was younger. In my stifled little bubble, I had the hardest time just finding women authors, let authors from other countries and cultures. I was so bad at discovering books. I love that tools make it easier for readers today.
People are harshing on some “diverse reading challenge” thing that’s going around, and I get it, but looking at what you read and asking yourself “what isn’t represented here?” is imo a good and healthy practice
December 24, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I wish I'd had r/Fantasy Bingo and Diverse Reading Challenges when I was younger. In my stifled little bubble, I had the hardest time just finding women authors, let authors from other countries and cultures. I was so bad at discovering books. I love that tools make it easier for readers today.
From @josephinelee.bsky.social last week: “Rick understood that if you want to have a movement that lasts, you need to constantly be developing new leadership.”
At the Texas AFL-CIO, a Changing of the Guard in a Time of Growth
“No one has done more than Rick Levy for the modern-day labor movement in Texas.”
www.texasobserver.org
December 24, 2025 at 6:00 PM
From @josephinelee.bsky.social last week: “Rick understood that if you want to have a movement that lasts, you need to constantly be developing new leadership.”
Reposted by Texas Observer
“I don’t even see a future for nobody, based on our government. If we don’t die from toxic poisoning, we’re gonna die from being broke and sick. When will we ever see the American dream?”
Peering Into the Rio Grande Valley’s Fossil Fuel Future
As deep South Texas prepares for its first gas export facility, communities along the Gulf Coast offer cautionary tales.
www.texasobserver.org
December 19, 2025 at 6:33 PM
“I don’t even see a future for nobody, based on our government. If we don’t die from toxic poisoning, we’re gonna die from being broke and sick. When will we ever see the American dream?”
Reposted by Texas Observer
From cryptocurrency to adoption, from an immigrant's experience in school sports to a former death row inmate, here are 10 of our best long-form stories of 2025:
Our Best Longform Stories of 2025
Nonfiction that's meant to be started, finished, and leave you with something to show for it
www.texasobserver.org
December 22, 2025 at 3:24 PM
From cryptocurrency to adoption, from an immigrant's experience in school sports to a former death row inmate, here are 10 of our best long-form stories of 2025:
Reposted by Texas Observer
Hundreds of old settlements sites were once documented around nearby bays but virtually all have been destroyed as cities, refineries and petrochemical plants spread along the waterfront at one of Texas’ commercial ports.
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/23/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/23/t...
Texas indigenous groups fight to save coastal settlement site
Flanked by a chemical plant and an oil rig construction yard, the site on Corpus Christi Bay may be the last of its kind on this stretch of coastline, now occupied by petrochemical facilities.
www.texastribune.org
December 23, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Hundreds of old settlements sites were once documented around nearby bays but virtually all have been destroyed as cities, refineries and petrochemical plants spread along the waterfront at one of Texas’ commercial ports.
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/23/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/23/t...
Reposted by Texas Observer
"The agency’s inventory has ballooned to more than 450 drones, and nearly 400 employees are trained to remotely operate them, according to DPS records obtained by the @texasobserver.org. DPS says the fleet is valued at around $3.7 million." www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-dr...
Under Operation Lone Star, Texas State Police More than Doubled Their Drone Fleet
The Department of Public Safety has acquired an army of unmanned aerial vehicles—nearly as large as the U.S. Border Patrol's.
www.texasobserver.org
December 23, 2025 at 7:12 PM
"The agency’s inventory has ballooned to more than 450 drones, and nearly 400 employees are trained to remotely operate them, according to DPS records obtained by the @texasobserver.org. DPS says the fleet is valued at around $3.7 million." www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-dr...
Reposted by Texas Observer
At the end of a "frankly awful year," how do we fend off the temptation to despair? Some reflections that I hope will comfort and inspire...
No matter how deep the darkness, sparks of light, beauty, and joy surround us—in, say, a baby’s smile, a lover’s touch, a refugee family’s safe arrival in a place of sanctuary, the first drops of rain on dry earth, a fragile monarch butterfly pausing its 3,000-mile migration to sip nectar ...
A Light the Darkness Cannot Extinguish
At the close of an awful year, a religion scholar offers reflections on resisting despair in dark times, for the religious and non-religious alike.
www.texasobserver.org
December 24, 2025 at 4:19 PM
At the end of a "frankly awful year," how do we fend off the temptation to despair? Some reflections that I hope will comfort and inspire...
No matter how deep the darkness, sparks of light, beauty, and joy surround us—in, say, a baby’s smile, a lover’s touch, a refugee family’s safe arrival in a place of sanctuary, the first drops of rain on dry earth, a fragile monarch butterfly pausing its 3,000-mile migration to sip nectar ...
A Light the Darkness Cannot Extinguish
At the close of an awful year, a religion scholar offers reflections on resisting despair in dark times, for the religious and non-religious alike.
www.texasobserver.org
December 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
No matter how deep the darkness, sparks of light, beauty, and joy surround us—in, say, a baby’s smile, a lover’s touch, a refugee family’s safe arrival in a place of sanctuary, the first drops of rain on dry earth, a fragile monarch butterfly pausing its 3,000-mile migration to sip nectar ...
Eye on Texas: "My dad’s list is short and simple. He loves the Marines, his grandsons, menudo on Sundays, and Clint. If pressed, he’ll own up to loving the Cowboys ..."
‘Mija, Solamente Me Importa Clint’
A daughter’s attempts to help her elderly father understand why his hometown doesn’t look like home anymore
www.texasobserver.org
December 23, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Eye on Texas: "My dad’s list is short and simple. He loves the Marines, his grandsons, menudo on Sundays, and Clint. If pressed, he’ll own up to loving the Cowboys ..."
Featured story: “It’s not a plus for tourism. It’s not a plus for the environment. It’s not a plus for our community. It’s not a plus for residents—unless you’re maybe the pilot boat captain.”
Peering Into the Rio Grande Valley’s Fossil Fuel Future
As deep South Texas prepares for its first gas export facility, communities along the Gulf Coast offer cautionary tales.
www.texasobserver.org
December 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Featured story: “It’s not a plus for tourism. It’s not a plus for the environment. It’s not a plus for our community. It’s not a plus for residents—unless you’re maybe the pilot boat captain.”
Reposted by Texas Observer
Introducing the January/February 2026 issue of Texas Observer magazine.
Cover photo (and story by Jordan Vonderhaar).
Cover photo (and story by Jordan Vonderhaar).
December 19, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Introducing the January/February 2026 issue of Texas Observer magazine.
Cover photo (and story by Jordan Vonderhaar).
Cover photo (and story by Jordan Vonderhaar).
Reposted by Texas Observer
There's still time to apply for our 2026 Elections Internship! www.texasobserver.org/jobs/
Work for the Texas Observer
We’re a nonprofit with a strong public service mission; we seek to expose injustice and to produce the kind of impact journalism that makes a difference.
www.texasobserver.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:09 PM
There's still time to apply for our 2026 Elections Internship! www.texasobserver.org/jobs/
Reposted by Texas Observer
🌅 If our reporting has helped you understand this state more clearly, now is a powerful moment to give back. Your gift is doubled up to $25,000, helping us shed light on the truth into the new year.
🎊Support independent Texas journalism and make double the impact today.
👉 tr.ee/9w938r
(🎄🧵 2/3)
🎊Support independent Texas journalism and make double the impact today.
👉 tr.ee/9w938r
(🎄🧵 2/3)
December 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
🌅 If our reporting has helped you understand this state more clearly, now is a powerful moment to give back. Your gift is doubled up to $25,000, helping us shed light on the truth into the new year.
🎊Support independent Texas journalism and make double the impact today.
👉 tr.ee/9w938r
(🎄🧵 2/3)
🎊Support independent Texas journalism and make double the impact today.
👉 tr.ee/9w938r
(🎄🧵 2/3)
Reposted by Texas Observer
As our nation spirals into a nightmarish darkness, there’s an understandable temptation to despair ... But how can we fend off that temptation, especially when it sometimes seems as if the darkness is all there is? www.texasobserver.org/a-light-the-...
A Light the Darkness Cannot Extinguish
At the close of an awful year, a religion scholar offers reflections on resisting despair in dark times, for the religious and non-religious alike.
www.texasobserver.org
December 19, 2025 at 10:10 PM
As our nation spirals into a nightmarish darkness, there’s an understandable temptation to despair ... But how can we fend off that temptation, especially when it sometimes seems as if the darkness is all there is? www.texasobserver.org/a-light-the-...
Reposted by Texas Observer
The wild savannah of Calhoun County isn't easy to visit unless you own a boat or have wealthy, multigenerational landowner friends
Not for long - this rural stretch of coastline is getting a new state park, county park and two private wildlife sanctuaries
insideclimatenews.org/news/1912202...
Not for long - this rural stretch of coastline is getting a new state park, county park and two private wildlife sanctuaries
insideclimatenews.org/news/1912202...
The World’s Last Flock of Wild Whooping Cranes Gets More Living Space - Inside Climate News
On an isolated stretch of Texas coastline, conservation groups have acquired more than 3,000 acres of nearly pristine prairie to preserve as habitat for endangered whooping cranes, one of the rarest b...
insideclimatenews.org
December 22, 2025 at 3:17 PM
The wild savannah of Calhoun County isn't easy to visit unless you own a boat or have wealthy, multigenerational landowner friends
Not for long - this rural stretch of coastline is getting a new state park, county park and two private wildlife sanctuaries
insideclimatenews.org/news/1912202...
Not for long - this rural stretch of coastline is getting a new state park, county park and two private wildlife sanctuaries
insideclimatenews.org/news/1912202...
Reposted by Texas Observer
Some closing thoughts for 2025...
As our nation spirals into a nightmarish darkness, there’s an understandable temptation to despair ... But how can we fend off that temptation, especially when it sometimes seems as if the darkness is all there is? www.texasobserver.org/a-light-the-...
A Light the Darkness Cannot Extinguish
At the close of an awful year, a religion scholar offers reflections on resisting despair in dark times, for the religious and non-religious alike.
www.texasobserver.org
December 22, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Some closing thoughts for 2025...
“We say, 'Well now we can’t afford to do Medicaid and Medicare.' But at the same time that we are putting more money into the top one percent of pockets, we also are footing the bill for the fact that they are not paying their workers a livable wage.”
Everyone Knows Jasmine Crockett. Could That Be a Good Thing?
Her critics would prefer a lesser-known candidate who can concoct a bipartisan pitch. But the Dallas congresswoman believes she’s starting “on second or third base.”
www.texasobserver.org
December 23, 2025 at 6:00 PM
“We say, 'Well now we can’t afford to do Medicaid and Medicare.' But at the same time that we are putting more money into the top one percent of pockets, we also are footing the bill for the fact that they are not paying their workers a livable wage.”
#BestOf2025: “The improvements made so far by the state are inadequate for what’s coming. [The crypto industry isn’t] interested in investing in alternative energy. They want a lot of energy, a lot of electricity, right now, which means fossil fuels. The industry creates an enormous footprint.”
The Crypto Racket
Bitcoin mining afflicts locals with noise pollution, threatens water supplies, and receives generous public backing.
www.texasobserver.org
December 23, 2025 at 4:08 PM
#BestOf2025: “The improvements made so far by the state are inadequate for what’s coming. [The crypto industry isn’t] interested in investing in alternative energy. They want a lot of energy, a lot of electricity, right now, which means fossil fuels. The industry creates an enormous footprint.”
#BestOf2025: “Sweetwater is rough. They don’t want somebody blowing smoke and having them sing ‘kumbaya’ and all that. They want someone who will sit there and say, ‘You know what? Life is crap sometimes. It absolutely is. But we’ve got to figure out how to work through it.’”
'This Town Has Nothing': Rural Texas' Mental Healthcare Crisis
Against long odds, Sweetwater’s public hospital recruited counselors to help address a wave of mental health crises in rural Texas—yet struggles continue.
www.texasobserver.org
December 23, 2025 at 4:00 PM
#BestOf2025: “Sweetwater is rough. They don’t want somebody blowing smoke and having them sing ‘kumbaya’ and all that. They want someone who will sit there and say, ‘You know what? Life is crap sometimes. It absolutely is. But we’ve got to figure out how to work through it.’”
#BestOf2025: “The closet is a very dangerous place for people who use drugs. It’s where stadiums full of people die every year.”
Our state's backward approach to the fentanyl crisis grows ever deadlier.
Our state's backward approach to the fentanyl crisis grows ever deadlier.
How Texas’ War on Drug Users Fueled an Austin Overdose Disaster
A mass casualty event last spring lays bare the state’s backward approach to the ongoing crisis spurred by fentanyl and other super-potent substances.
www.texasobserver.org
December 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
#BestOf2025: “The closet is a very dangerous place for people who use drugs. It’s where stadiums full of people die every year.”
Our state's backward approach to the fentanyl crisis grows ever deadlier.
Our state's backward approach to the fentanyl crisis grows ever deadlier.
From Gayle Reaves in 2024: Dawn was spreading like a giant egg yolk on the horizon when we reached the gate. It was 16 miles from State Highway 118 to the office where visitors pick up the key, past the Bad Rabbit Café, then a bit farther on unpaved roads to the Christmas Mountains property. ...
A Rough Road to the Christmas Mountains
The small range in West Texas provides gorgeous vistas and huge research opportunities that are finally being realized.
www.texasobserver.org
December 22, 2025 at 8:00 PM
From Gayle Reaves in 2024: Dawn was spreading like a giant egg yolk on the horizon when we reached the gate. It was 16 miles from State Highway 118 to the office where visitors pick up the key, past the Bad Rabbit Café, then a bit farther on unpaved roads to the Christmas Mountains property. ...