From our magazine: air so cold breath rattles down my throat like a penny tumbling in the cracked engine of a 2008 ford ranger going 75 on 45 with a broken a/c & full of candles during an ice age exhaling 2 centuries worth of disappointment.
The Texas Observer
Poem: Apocalypses, Scenario #267-590
Air so cold breath rattles down my throat like a penny tumbling in the cracked engine of a 2008 ford ranger...
 #poetry #environment #ClimateChange #poem @npub1xfww...mava
From the archives: “I was really ignorant about #Juneteenth until I started this project. I just thought Juneteenth was the day enslaved people realized they had been emancipated, but there’s so much more to the story.”
The Texas Observer
A Visit to Galveston, the Birthplace of Juneteenth
Texas was the last state to receive the news that slavery had ended.
 #Galveston #GulfCoast #history #culture #Texas
In #books: “BOOM get a rat-trap/bigger than a cat-trap/BOOM!” I call out. Dad’s eyes flutter open. A long moment passes. He taps out the groove, faintly but perfectly. Drumming is no longer his livelihood. It is his lifeline.
The Texas Observer
Book Excerpt: Art Is Immortality
Suddenly, Analina dips her head. Grief seems on the verge of overwhelming her—until something visibly intervenes…
 #music #death #grief #culture #Bookstodon #military #veterans #Texas #alzheimers
Our top story: “Anti-worker attitudes, combined with minimal safety standards, combined with hotter summers means that our state will continue to lead the nation in workplace deaths and injuries until something changes.”
The Texas Observer
Will Texas Workers Ever Get a Break from the Summer Heat?
A long-awaited hearing on a proposed OSHA heat protection rule is set for June 16, but workers are uncertain to get relief under Trump.
 #politics #USpol #Texas #news #health #environment #ClimateChange
The administration is terminating leases for 11 OSHA offices, including the one in Houston, home to many of the nation’s largest oil and gas companies. While OSHA officials continue to conduct inspections, Trump has cut 10 percent of its workforce and more layoffs could be coming.
The Texas Observer
Will Texas Workers Ever Get a Break from the Summer Heat?
A long-awaited hearing on a proposed OSHA heat protection rule is set for June 16, but workers are uncertain to get relief under Trump.
 #environment #ClimateChange #news #politics #USpol #workers #labor #OilAndGas #HumanRights
From 2023: What was once a way for visitors to find charming lodgings—and a way for local property owners to make extra money—has become a global business dominated by corporate investors that threatens the #safety and character of residential neighborhoods. www.texasobserver.org/short-term-rentals-airbnb-vrbo-neighborhoods/ #economy #tech #politics #USpol #Texas #AirBNB #news
"This isn’t a removal. It’s not lawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act. It doesn’t conform to anything that was previously passed in legislation ... Essentially, he was disappeared forcefully."
The Texas Observer
Shipped to El Salvador: An Austin Immigration Lawyer on Her Teen Client's Forced 'Disappearance'
“Due process hasn’t been protected. The process that is set in place in this country that is the basis and foundation of our legal system was n...
 #politics #USpol #Texas #news #TXlege #immigration #HumanRights #ICE #ElSalvador #CECOT
The latest from cartoonist Ben Sargent, in our magazine. Read more from the May / June 2025 issue:
The Texas Observer
May/June 2025
 #comics #politics #USpol #Texas #religion #education #culture #TXlege #schools image
“If biological sex were as obvious as lawmakers keep insisting that biological sex is, we wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t have to try so hard to legislate the gender binary into existence.”
The Texas Observer
Republicans Push to Define Biological Sex in Statute
“If biological sex were as obvious as lawmakers keep insisting that biological sex is, we wouldn’t be here.”
 #trans #LGBTQIA+ #TXlege #transphobia #news #politics #USpol #transgender #Texas #law #gender
One superintendent said the Senate #education bill was like “your house being on fire and the fire department showing up with a 12 ounce cup of water, throwing it at your house and saying, ‘See, look how much good we’ve done.’”
The Texas Observer
Texas School Districts Slam the Senate’s School Finance Plan
“It’s like your house being on fire, and the fire department showing up with a 12 ounce cup of water”
 #politics #USpol #TXlege #Texas #news #schools