Business
April 26, 2024
Texas Attracted California Techies. Now It’s Losing Thousands of Them.
The “Texas Miracle” loses some of its magic as Oracle announces it’s moving its new HQ out of Austin and Tesla lays off nearly 2,700 workers.
Politics & Policy
Reporting and commentary on the Legislature, campaigns, and elected officials
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Politics & Policy
April 25, 2024
“This Would Have Been a Peaceful Gathering”: Behind the Scenes of the UT Protest
Students protesting Israel's war in Gaza say they were demonstrating peacefully at the University of Texas at Austin when police tackled and arrested them.
Politics & Policy
April 25, 2024
The Far Right Has Proposed a Twelve-Point Plan to Make the Texas House More Extreme
Twenty-five prospective legislators have signed a pledge to block Democrats—who now hold 43 percent of the seats—from all influence in the lower chamber and neuter the next Speaker.
Politics & Policy
April 24, 2024
What the Bleep Is Going On With Texas Home Insurance?
We’re already dealing with high prices, high mortgage rates, and high property taxes. Now the state faces a new crisis.
Politics & Policy
April 16, 2024
When a Defendant Gets Lost in Translation
An Indigenous man couldn’t understand the court proceedings when he was charged with a crime in Texas. He was sentenced anyway.
Politics & Policy
April 9, 2024
More Laws Texas’s Junior Senator Might Write to Favor Himself
Everyone hates dealing with airport security. Ted Cruz has a solution that would benefit Ted Cruz and very few others.
Politics & Policy
April 8, 2024
John Whitmire Is a 20th-Century Mayor in 21st-Century Houston. You Got a Problem With That?
The tough-talking former state senator loves cars, firefighters, and police. Critics say he’s taking the city backward.
Politics & Policy
April 5, 2024
Totality Begins in Eagle Pass
The border town won’t let the immigration debate eclipse its eclipse plans.
Politics & Policy
April 4, 2024
Exclusive: How a Right-wing Texas Think Tank Ducked Its Property Taxes
The think tank convinced the state comptroller that it should be exempt from paying taxes on its lavish headquarters because it conducts “scholarly scientific research.”
Politics & Policy
April 3, 2024
They’ve Previously Voted Democratic. Now They’re Supporting Ted Cruz.
Texas’s junior senator is courting a somewhat novel constituency for someone so active as a culture warrior.
Politics & Policy
April 1, 2024
To Expand Houston’s I-45, TxDOT Made a ‘Mafia Pitch’
An exclusive excerpt from ‘City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways.’
Politics & Policy
March 28, 2024
The Law Came for Ken Paxton. Then It Turned and Ran Away.
After nine years of pursuing criminal fraud charges against the Texas attorney general, prosecutors now say that their case was weak.
Politics & Policy
March 28, 2024
Ahead of the Solar Eclipse, Hill Country Towns Are Bracing for Chaos
The area west of Austin and San Antonio will be one of the most popular destinations in America for witnessing the historic phenomenon. Given its rural nature, it also could face the most challenges.
Politics & Policy
March 27, 2024
Some Leaders of the Texas GOP Have Found a New Enemy: H‑E‑B Chairman Charles Butt
Party officials in several counties have adopted resolutions against the grocery store magnate for a litany of alleged offenses against the state Republican platform.
Politics & Policy
March 27, 2024
Many in Bastrop Moved on From the Rodney Reed Trial. One Juror Couldn’t.
As the high-profile capital murder case is appealed in the courts, one woman who sentenced Reed to death tells all about the trial.
Politics & Policy
March 20, 2024
The Retiring Head of the Texas GOP Inflamed a Party Civil War That Will Outlive His Tenure
Matt Rinaldi has led the state Republican Party far to the right. His successor is likely to keep driving in that direction.
News
March 20, 2024
Confusion Reigned at an Appeals Court Hearing Over Texas’s Now-Blocked Immigration Law
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether to allow back into effect a law allowing state and local authorities to deport migrants.
Politics & Policy
March 19, 2024
SCOTUS Has Ruled That Texas Police Can Arrest Migrants They Suspect of Illegal Crossings
The ruling allows Texas to start enforcing Senate Bill 4 while a lawsuit over its constitutionality remains pending before a federal appeals court.
Politics & Policy
March 14, 2024
A Deposed Texas Republican’s Lament About Slander and Corruption
Glenn Rogers ran afoul of Governor Greg Abbott and billionaire oilmen Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. It cost him his job.
Politics & Policy
March 13, 2024
“No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”: A Veteran East Texas Legislator Reflects on Getting Rolled Over by Greg Abbott’s School-Voucher Crusade
In a post-election interview, Travis Clardy calls his defeat a slap in the face for rural districts with few alternatives to public schools.
Politics & Policy
March 8, 2024
The Far Right in Texas Crashed Through Its Last Guardrail
The GOP primary has yanked the lower chamber, once again, to the right—a huge victory for Greg Abbott and lieutenant governor Dan Patrick.
Politics & Policy
March 6, 2024
Why Is Texas the Epicenter of Christian Nationalism?
Billionaires here are funding right-wing politicians to knock down barriers between church and state. But a small countermovement is now rising to meet them.
Politics & Policy
March 5, 2024
Texas Primary Elections Results and Analysis
Donald Trump and Joe Biden cruised to victory, the Democrats chose Colin Allred to challenge Ted Cruz, and Dade Phelan is heading to a runoff.
Politics & Policy
March 4, 2024
The Rio Grande Is Getting Saltier. Texan Farmers Are Desperate for a Fix.
The river’s spikes in salinity are killing crops in the Rio Grande Valley. Finding a solution will require negotiations between Texas and Mexico policymakers.
Politics & Policy
March 4, 2024
The Election That Few Democrats Seem to Care About
The primary is where most everything is decided in Texas, but early voting turnout has been abysmal, particularly among Democrats.
Politics & Policy
March 1, 2024
Dade Phelan Was Uninvited From His Own Party. He’s Trying to Crash His Way Back In.
The Speaker governs as an old-school conservative—a crime for which right-wing Republicans are determined to banish him.
Politics & Policy
February 29, 2024
Why Many Democrats Are Turning Against One of the Most Powerful Prosecutors in Texas
Kim Ogg ran on a platform of bail reform to become district attorney of Harris County, home of Houston. Now those who championed her rise are trying to unseat her.
Politics & Policy
February 29, 2024
Meet the Elections Administrator Falsely Accused of Rigging Tarrant County for Joe Biden
After the 2020 election, Heider Garcia received death threats. Instead of backing down, he reached out to conspiracy theorists—and won many of them over.
Energy
February 28, 2024
Crypto Miners Sue to Keep Us in the Dark
The Texas Blockchain Council aims to stop a new federal requirement that its members disclose how much electricity they’re pulling from the grid.
Politics & Policy
February 27, 2024
The “Border Crisis” Is the Best Thing to Ever Happen to Greg Abbott
The Texas governor should be reeling from a humiliating defeat on his biggest policy priority. Instead, he’s at the height of his power.
Politics & Policy
February 26, 2024
Tony Gonzales Rode Trump to Congress. Now He’s Been Bucked off by MAGA Newcomers.
The Texas congressman’s party-defying votes have earned him four right-wing challengers who say the race is America’s last stand.
Politics & Policy
February 23, 2024
Can a Texas Democrat Get Elected on Gun Control?
Roland Gutierrez, the state senator who represents Uvalde, is running for Senate on an issue long seen as too toxic to emphasize in Texas.
Ken Paxton Watch
February 21, 2024
Paxton Watch: Ken Attacks a Catholic Migrant-Aid Group
The beleaguered attorney general has announced a lawsuit targeting El Paso’s Annunciation House, claiming—without evidence—that it and other NGOs “facilitate astonishing horrors.”
Politics & Policy
February 20, 2024
How the Texas House Could Become More Radical
A constellation of right-wing special interests and vengeful state officials is striving to shape the Texas House in its image, in part by targeting independent-minded Republican lawmakers.
News
February 16, 2024
The Company Behind Fake, AI-Generated Biden Robocalls Used to Run a Singles Hotline
Last week, the novel use of AI technology to suppress Democratic voter turnout prompted investigations by federal and New Hampshire officials. The Texas company under scrutiny has a colorful history.
Politics & Policy
February 16, 2024
The Story: The Billionaire Behind a Right-wing Political Machine
Tim Dunn may not be a household name, but staff writer Russell Gold explains why he is someone Texans should know.
Politics & Policy
February 14, 2024
The Best Way for Many Texas Democrats to Make Their Voices Heard? Vote in the Republican Primary.
Most November elections in the state are meaningless. But primaries present liberals with an opportunity to exert their electoral influence.
Politics & Policy
February 13, 2024
“The Senate Got Played”: Drew Springer Explains His Call to Reopen Ken Paxton’s Impeachment
The North Texas state senator voted to acquit the attorney general in September but has called for new proceedings to evaluate Paxton’s fitness for office.
Politics & Policy
February 12, 2024
The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy
The state’s most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman and lay preacher is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians.
Politics & Policy
February 8, 2024
This Election Season, Texas Isn’t Sending Its Best Slate of Candidates
Not everyone can vote, but seemingly anyone can run. Your guide to some of the more intriguing scoundrels, weirdos, and ne’er-do-wells on the ballot in 2024.
Politics & Policy
February 7, 2024
Sheila Jackson Lee Has Been in Congress for Three Decades. Challenger Amanda Edwards Thinks That’s Long Enough.
The longtime representative recently lost her bid for Houston mayor by a two-to-one margin. Can she retain control of her congressional seat?
Politics & Policy
February 7, 2024
Kate Cox’s Doctor Is Still Fighting to Provide Emergency Abortions, Despite Legal Threats
The Kate Cox case, and the attorney general’s threats against physicians and hospitals, exemplifies the “circular” logic of abortion law in Texas.
Religion
February 5, 2024
Who’s in God’s Army?
At “Take Our Border Back” rallies across Texas, the convoy’s Christian nationalist rhetoric was on wide display. But not all soldiers are equally devout.
Border & Immigration
February 2, 2024
Eagle Pass, the Site of a Tense Border Standoff, Has Become a “Movie Set”
The small border town once again finds itself at the center of a performance that’s less about immigration control than political posturing.
Politics & Policy
February 2, 2024
Some Republicans Think Democrats Are Stealing Elections . . . by Voting
Party leaders want to close primaries to preclude Democrats from crossing over to vote for the more-centrist Republican candidates. But the data shows that few do so.
Border & Immigration
February 1, 2024
Border Patrol and Texas Troopers Were Once the Best of Friends. What Happened?
For almost three years, Texas DPS agents worked hand in hand with the feds, but their partnership has unraveled into a bitter standoff in Eagle Pass.
Politics & Policy
February 1, 2024
Is the Texas Secession Movement Getting Serious?
It’s unlikely Texas will depart from the union. But with Governor Greg Abbott spouting secessionist rhetoric over border security, talk of a “Texit” is getting a fresh look.
Politics & Policy
January 31, 2024
Greg Abbott’s Voucher Push and Ken Paxton’s Revenge Tour Fall Flat in the First Lege Election
House leadership–backed Jill Dutton defeated anti-impeachment voucher proponent Brent Money in a special Texas House election.
Politics & Policy
January 30, 2024
What If They Held an Election and Every Special Interest Came?
Competing factions of the GOP have turned a small-stakes Texas House runoff into an all-out proxy war.
Politics & Policy
January 26, 2024
Roland Gutierrez and Colin Allred Are Finally Debating. Here’s What They Need to Be Asked.
Ahead of Sunday’s AFL-CIO Senate Democratic primary debate, we came up with a slate of questions for both candidates. This is the only debate both Allred and Gutierrez, the race’s two front-runners, will attend.