Texas Foresees Strong Revenue, Full Rainy Day Fund. Who Will Benefit?
In his biennial budget projection, Comptroller Glenn Hegar says the state will have a healthy surplus, plus a full economic stabilization fund for the first time in history.
Texas Legislature
Bipartisan Legislators Join Calls for Clemency for Robert Roberson
The condemned Texas man was convicted of killing his daughter in 2003 based on an outdated ‘shaken baby syndrome’ diagnostic process.
The Company You Keep
Ken and Angela Paxton have ties to a jet-setting lobbyist-turned-CEO caught in a tangled web of alleged fraud involving a powerful business clan and a commercial shipping giant.
Texas’ Plantation Prisons: Inside a 200-Year History of Forced Labor Shrouded in Secrecy
Punishments, injuries, and deaths—including from heat—on TDCJ farms are more hidden than they were in the years following convict leasing.
Ex-Legislator Faces Investigation for Possible Violation of Lobbying Law He Co-Sponsored
Chris Paddie is fighting back in court against a state ethics commission probe into his allegedly illegal lobbying.
Two Years Later, I’ll Never Stop Fighting for Lexi
A mother who lost her daughter, and a photographer who embedded in the southwest Texas town, reflect on the Uvalde tragedy.
70 Years of Skewering
The “magic dust” of adding funny drawings to words has been an important part of the Texas Observer.
SIGN UP FOR TEXAS OBSERVER EMAILS
‘The Queen vs. Texas’ Revisits the Battle over Lone Star Drag
Raemonn James, better known as Hermajestie the Hung, teamed up with a filmmaker to tell a moving story of activism and queer culture.
The Booksellers’ Revolt
The READER Act would have required vendors to rate books on "explicitness" before selling to schools—and blacklisted those that didn't comply.
Federal Judge Halts Texas Deportation Law
"Surges in immigration do not constitute an 'invasion' within the meaning of the Constitution."