The Texas Observer

The Texas Observer is an Austin-based nonprofit news organization known for fearless investigative reporting, narrative storytelling and sophisticated cultural criticism about all things Texan.

The Texas Observer • JULY/AUGUST 2022

EDITOR’S NOTE

SCHOOL OF HARD LOCKS • After the Uvalde shooting, Republicans once again decry easy access to classrooms—not guns.

MORE WOMEN WILL DIE IF TEXANS DON’T SPEAK UP • The adoption-industrial complex is itching for the “domestic supply of infants.”

THE BATTLE FOR THE VALLEY • Michelle Vallejo, a McAllen-area congressional candidate, seeks to beat back a red tide with deep-blue politics.

STRANGEST STATE • NOTES FROM FAR-FLUNG TEXAS

FORENSICS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE • Houston’s crime lab chief is fighting to clean up his field—but his struggle can be a lonely one in Texas.

BEFORE ROE AND AFTER • WHAT CRIMINALIZED ABORTION LOOKED LIKE IN TEXAS BEFORE 1973, AND WHAT IT MAY LOOK LIKE AFTER 2022.

ROE’S GR ASSROOTS BEGINNINGS • Student organizations at the University of Texas at Austin played a key role in the landmark court case.

POT OF GOLD • DID AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER SID MILLER’S TRUSTED, TROUBLED STRATEGIST SHAKE DOWN TEXAS HEMP GROW ERS?

INJURED, SICK, WIDOWED, AND SUED • Cities are filing lawsuits to claw back first responders’ hard-won workers’ compensation.

PRE-ROE, THEY RISKED THEIR LIVES TO CONTROL THEIR DESTINIES • “In all the years since, I’ve never told anyone this story. I want to talk about it now.”

MORE THAN A FISH STORY • A new nonfiction book reveals dark details of a clash between white and Vietnamese shrimpers, corporate polluters, and the KKK in Texas.

IS SAN ANTONIO FOR THE BIRDS? • Amid growing urban-wildlife conflict, a fight over Brackenridge Park calls into question the rights of nature.

THE HILLS HAVE ALLIES • Just west of Austin, preservationists fight to hold onto an ecological rarity as a Dallas billionaire’s development looms.

UVALDE

SUPPORT