New today: Earlier this month, the #Texas Education Agency announced that 12 #Austin-area schools with an “F” rating could be closed. This isn’t just a policy decision—it’s a direct threat to thousands of children’s educational stability and their communities’ future.
The Texas Observer
Austin’s Children Deserve More than a Test Score
The city's “F” schools overwhelmingly serve mostly low-income African-American and Hispanic children.
 #education #schools #politics #USpol #news #CentralTexas
Our top story: ICE staged a massive, heavily-armed multi-agency raid on a #Texas birthday party. Attendees deny that any gang members were present at the rented Airbnb.
The Texas Observer
Officials Said They Busted a Tren de Aragua Party. Attendees Beg to Differ.
A highly publicized multi-agency raid in Hays County resulted in dozens of arrests on low-level immigration charges and left an Austin mother'...
 #ICE #politics #USpol #news
Out today: Students went on strike, and 8,000 of them marched in a mock funeral procession carrying a coffin with a banner that read “academic freedom” from campus to the Capitol and the governor’s mansion. Meanwhile, conservative critics of the university continued to circulate their charges that it harbored communists, was a “nest of homosexuals,” and had plans to admit Black students.
The Texas Observer
Texas History Offers Warnings amid Rash of Faculty Firings
Lessons to learn from the politically motivated firing of a UT president in the 1940s
 #history #DEI #racism #education #schools #Texas #politics #USpol #news
“Where, as here, the parties are not private citizens but elected constitutional officers, the need for #transparency is heightened, not diminished. Allegations that might suggest abuse of marital assets, concealment of financial information, or personal conduct inconsistent with public responsibility are not merely private — they are of public consequence.”
The Texas Observer
News Orgs Fight to Unseal Records in the Paxtons' Divorce Case
The media outlets, including the Texas Observer, argue that the Paxtons are elected officials subject to public scrutiny.
 #Texas #law #politics #USpol #news #journalism
Last week from Lise Olsen: A killer storm two decades past still teaches lessons about survival and resilience in a world where #weather is getting more extreme.
The Texas Observer
Twenty Years Later, Katrina Still Haunts the Gulf from New Orleans to Houston
A killer storm two decades past still teaches lessons about survival and resilience in a world where weather is getting more extreme.
 #Houston #Katrina #NewOrleans #GulfCoast #history #politics #USpol #news #Texas #environment #ClimateChange
Earlier: A killer storm two decades past still teaches lessons about survival and resilience in a world where #weather is getting more extreme.
The Texas Observer
Twenty Years Later, Katrina Still Haunts the Gulf from New Orleans to Houston
A killer storm two decades past still teaches lessons about survival and resilience in a world where weather is getting more extreme.
 #politics #USpol #news #environment #ClimateChange #GulfCoast #history #NewOrleans #Katrina
From Lise Olsen: Twenty years ago, when the nation’s most deadly modern hurricane approached New Orleans, Eva Kinnard didn’t have a car or the money to leave her apartment on her own. She was still recovering from surgery.
The Texas Observer
Twenty Years Later, Katrina Still Haunts the Gulf from New Orleans to Houston
A killer storm two decades past still teaches lessons about survival and resilience in a world where weather is getting more extreme.
 #history #GulfCoast #Katrina #weather #Louisiana #politics #USpol #NewOrleans
“This bill will harm #women and could even lead to more pregnant women dying because they couldn’t access life-saving medications.” From Mary Tuma: Under this extreme new law, citizens could sue anyone who “manufactures, distributes, mails, transports, delivers, prescribes, or provides” #abortion pills to Texans for at least $100,000 in damages.
The Texas Observer
Texas Legislature Passes ‘Bounty Hunter’ Ban on Abortion Pills
House Bill 7 attacks one of the last remaining options for reproductive care in Texas and declares legal war on blue states.
 #Texas #TXlege #healthcare #HumanRights #politics #USpol #fascism #news
Congratulations to @npub13uq8...vy6g and Tristan Lee (of @npub140y5...0uvc) for winning the Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, in the small newsroom category from the Online News Association, for a series of articles identifying online extremists.
Online Journalism Awards
Open-Source Extremist Identifications - Online Journalism Awards
Read More
 #journalism #media #nonprofit #awards #extremism #news image
From our magazine: Rural #Texas wears a friendly facade. You know everyone, and everyone treats each other so kindly, but, if you’re Black, you just ignore the stares when you walk into the local steakhouse for fish fry night.
The Texas Observer
Racism Wrapped in Rural Warmth
Staying in my hometown means facing subtle prejudice in day-to-day life.
 #racism #politics #USpol #culture #rural