Introducing the July/August 2026 issue of Texas Observer magazine, with cover story by @josephinelee, and art by Clay Rodery.
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NEW: Ken Paxton Vowed to Crack Down on “Illegal Voting.” He May Have Violated Texas Election Law.
The Texas attorney general appears to have used an address where he did not live while voting in six elections in the past two years — despite his warning voters that “it is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/ken-paxton-voter-registration-election-law?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Texas #KenPaxton #Vote #Election #Law #TX #USPolitics
After James Talarico accused Ken Paxton of committing voter fraud, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found that the Democratic Senate candidate may have voted in up to five elections using an address where he no longer lived.
https://www.propublica.org/article/james-talarico-texas-election-law-ken-paxton?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
New from Gaige Davila: Even before its first workplace death, #SpaceX saw 427 injuries and 9 respiratory illnesses between 2022 and 2025. These injuries included concussions, second-degree burns, partial finger amputations, hernias, dislocations, crushed hands, and broken ribs, legs, and ankles.
https://www.texasobserver.org/worker-death-starbase-spacex-osha-elon-musk/
NEW: Texas Medical Board Sanctions Three Doctors for Delayed Care That Led to the Deaths of Two Pregnant Women
Porsha Ngumezi and Nevaeh Crain died during miscarriages in Texas. The state’s medical board ruled that the doctors’ substandard care led to the deaths and ordered them to complete extra training.
https://www.propublica.org/article/tmb-disciplines-doctors-ngumezi-crain-cases
Announcing our MOLLYs special guest: Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward and one of TIME’s 100 most influential people.
Join us in #Austin for a powerful night supporting independent journalism.
🎟️ Get your tickets now: https://texasobserver.org/MOLLY
NEW: Despite being ruled “permanently ineligible” from coaching by SafeSport, a Texas girls volleyball coach has continued to run his club, posting hundreds of videos in which he works with players, supervises practices and is alone with teen girls.
https://www.propublica.org/article/ryan-richardson-pharr-texas-usa-volleyball-safesport-abuse-teens?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Sports #Children #Volleyball #Texas #Abuse #Parenting
NEW: “He Didn’t Need to Die.” How an Immigration Detention Center Repeatedly Failed to Address a Mental Health Crisis.
Geraldo Lunas Campos repeatedly raised concerns about his mental health before he died at Camp East Montana. Records paint a portrait of how the Texas facility’s staff failed to adequately respond.
#News #Texas #MentalHealth #Immigration #TX #Health #Medicine #Immigrants
A limited-government advocate in Texas persuaded five small towns to incorporate as “liberty cities,” which feature lean governments, little to no taxation and scant regulation.
At least two of them struggle to provide basic services.
https://www.propublica.org/article/art-martinez-de-vara-dallas-hero-lawsuit?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
They Rebuilt After Texas’ Devastating Floods. Then Their Home Flooded Again.
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Research shows more flood deaths occur in Texas than in any other state. But state lawmakers have cleared the way for residents to stay in risky places, even after flooding killed at least 119 people in Kerr County last summer.
https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-flooding-2026-kerr-county?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Texas #House #Home #Flood #TX #USPolitics #KerrCounty #TexasFloods
Eleven U.S. cities will host World Cup games this summer, which is expected to generate $11B for FIFA.
The cities get little in return. They do not see a slice of game-day revenues from ticket sales, concessions and merchandise, or parking.
https://www.propublica.org/article/world-cup-2026-host-cities-revenue-houston?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Houston #Dallas #Texas #FIFA #Soccer #Sports #WorldCup
The Costly Blunders in the Army’s $533 Million Fiasco
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ProPublica revealed how a rushed effort to arm Ukraine with artillery shells wasted half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding. Here are the biggest takeaways from that reporting.
https://www.propublica.org/article/army-artillery-factory-fiasco-takeaways?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Army #Texas #Military #Defense #Ukraine #Pentagon #Government #Tech
NEW: After ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed Ken Paxton repeatedly voted while registered at an address where he appears to no longer live, Democrats called for an investigation into whether the Texas attorney general committed election fraud.
#News #Texas #KenPaxton #Law #Election #Vote #Fraud #Investigation
A man was ordered to pay libel damages after calling the head of an Islamic TV channel a “convicted terrorist.” Years later, he made similar claims against Islamic private schools applying for Texas’ voucher program, new legal filings say.
NEW: We obtained recordings of 160+ emergency calls made from or about an immigration detention center where three people died within six weeks.
“They will not give them medical treatment,” one caller said, seeking help for a detainee with kidney stones.
https://www.propublica.org/article/911-calls-camp-east-montana-texas-detention?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Texas #TX #Immigration #ICE #Emergency #Medicine #Health
New from @josephinelee, in the cover story to our magazine: Districts across the state are arresting and citing young children #children for common misbehavior, leaving lasting trauma as the Legislature rejects bills to raise the age of criminal responsibility and floods schools with even more #police. https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-school-arrests-crisis-kids-as-young-as-10/
NEW: “No Separation Between Church and State”: Inside a Texas Church’s Training Academy for Christians Running for Office
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A Fort Worth church’s candidate training program is the “next stage” of a religion-driven political movement, which has more latitude now that the IRS has allowed religious leaders to endorse candidates from the pulpit, an expert said.
https://www.propublica.org/article/fort-worth-mercy-culture-church-campaign-university
Elon Musk wanted Texas legislators to create new crimes so people who fly drones or interfere with operations at SpaceX can be arrested. And he wanted to change who controlled the highway and public beach near SpaceX’s site so he can launch his rockets according to his timeline.
He got them all.
Read the full story: https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-texas-legislature-laws-spacex-tesla?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
Last year, the Texas education board rejected Alpha School’s pitch to open a charter amid concerns about its AI-driven curriculum.
But now Alpha’s private school campuses are set to benefit from the state’s new voucher program.
https://www.propublica.org/article/alpha-school-texas-vouchers-ai?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Texas #TX #Education #School #Students #Parenting #AI #ArtificialIntelligence
NEW: Our analysis found that from 2020 to 2025, the rate of deaths involving ectopic pregnancies nearly doubled compared with the previous six-year period.
The uptick was steeper in states with abortion bans.
https://www.propublica.org/article/ectopic-pregnancy-deaths-doubled-analysis?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Women #Health #Pregnancy #Abortion #Data #Research #Texas
We are hiring!
We are looking for a highly organized individual with great customer service skills who will become the first line of communication with our membership.
Based in #Austin, part time, hybrid option: https://www.texasobserver.org/were-hiring-operations-manager/
#jobs #journalism #Texas #GetFediHired #FediHired #nonprofit