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 • MAY/JUNE 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE

TALLAHASSEE MY TEXAS • Is Ron DeSantis running the Lone Star State?

BEN SARGENT’S LOON STAR STATE

CHARLATANS, FALSE PROPHETS, AND FLIMFLAMMERS • A veteran NPR reporter tells all about his misadventures in covering religion in America.

MINORITY REPORT, REDDIT EDITION • Gene Wu’s never been afraid to speak his mind. What’s he got to lose?

A WATCHDOG IN THE WATER WARS • Flooding and bureaucracy drove Mary Kelleher to run for a spot on a powerful North Texas river agency board.

STRANGEST STATE • NOTES FROM FAR-FLUNG TEXAS

THIS ISSUE MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY SUPPORT FROM:

WOMEN’S HEALTH ON THE LINE • Low-income Texans depend on family planning clinics. The clinics depend on a program that’s in trouble.

WHO JUDGES THE JUDGES? • A bizarre Dallas case involving the alleged impersonation of a judge on Zoom tests the state’s opaque system of judicial accountability.

Prayer to Georgia O’Keeffe

DOW’S RIVER • On the Brazos, one chemical company reigns supreme.

TEXAS NEEDS AN OBSERVER—THAT’S WHY WE NEED YOU • Thanks to our readers, alums, and friends in Mastodon’s Fediverse who reached out and kept us alive.

Texas Needs an Observer

200,000 STEPS • Lone Star Hiking Trail offers respite from the pandemic and urban sprawl.

POSTPARTUM PAGE-TURNER • Austin author’s new memoir about motherhood is both engaging—and disturbing.

DEEP IN THE HEARTS OF CHILDREN • Being a public poet in Texas for 50 years

The Road Between San Antonio and Comstock, Texas

Texas, Out Driving

SUPPORT