The Real Lesson Behind Texas' New Bible Curriculum Requirements @texasobserver.org www.texasobserver.org/sboe-bible-c...

Kids as young as 10 are being arrested and cited in school for common misbehavior. The state can raise the age of criminal responsibility to address this. www.texasobserver.org/texas-school...

New from Mezabahnur Masum: Texas communities large and small are all grappling with a growing climate crisis ... and roadblocks preventing them from implementing real solutions, created by the Texas legislature.

I've watched for over a year while @josephinelee.bsky.social has toiled over this story. It's a feat of reporting and an incredible read: In Texas Schools, a Crisis of Arrests of Kids as Young as 10 www.texasobserver.org/texas-school... - via @TexasObserver

New from @josephinelee.bsky.social, in 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.

The Texas school arrests crisis--where kids as young as 10 are getting arrested. @josephinelee.bsky.social with a deep investigative look at this growing issue www.texasobserver.org/texas-school...

From our magazine by Hope Corrigan: The Inside Books Project, a nonprofit operated by volunteers, sends about 40,000 free books to prisoners each year. But their vital work is endangered by a new rule banning used and hardcover books.

Elon Musk, briefly the world's first trillionaire, has a history of running companies that are especially dangerous for workers. Read @gaigedavila.bsky.social on the recent death of worker Jose Luis Bautista at "Starbase": www.texasobserver.org/worker-death...

When it comes to social work, the reason for diversity training is simple and universal: Everyone deserves competent care. Competence is not a recommendation; it is required. But, predictably, social work programs are under attack.

New from Mezabahnur Masum: The Permian Basin brings up an ocean and calls it waste, while towns not far away ration what comes out of the tap. Can this water be treated and reused? Texas must find a way.

New from @jlbuch.bsky.social: Laredo officials and activists have fended off essentially all border barriers, save for a stretch of wrought-iron fencing around a Laredo College campus. Now, the border town of 250k has its back against the wall like never before, & some think it’s already too late.

A Corpus cryptomine guzzled up millions of water last year. Now in the middle of a crisis, the city is refusing to release the facility's current water usage records. www.texasobserver.org/corpus-chris...

The Texas data center boom has exposed a growing intra-GOP tension over local control, between hamstrung and wary county officials and pro-state supremacy, pro-uninhibited growth state leaders. www.texasobserver.org/data-center-...

New from @candicebernd.bsky.social: GOP state leaders for years engaged in a war on local control aimed at big blue cities. But local Republicans are finding that they, too, have fallen prey as they attempt to resist new data centers.

For @texasobserver.org, I did a deep dive into Brandon Herrera, a gunfluencer and now Republican congressional nominee who has spread memes associated the extremist Boogaloo movement and rationalized lethal violence against people with certain political beliefs. www.texasobserver.org/brandon-herr...

My latest for @texasobserver.org: Though MAGA believers call James Talarico “blasphemous,” he’s squarely within his Mainline Presbyterian tradition. And that’s a timely reminder of the diversity of Christianity in Texas and beyond www.texasobserver.org/senate-james...

New from @drdrbrockman.bsky.social: The ferocity of anti-Talarico invective reveals a deep and very public clash between two distinct ways of being Christian.

Out today from @josephinelee.bsky.social, co-published with @propublica.org: Several newly installed school district leaders have ties to Houston Superintendent Mike Miles, who has sparked widespread protests for firing principals & teachers, school closures, & conversion of schools into charters.

New today: Two new demands on the grid make the approaching season different from previous near-miss summers. Because Texas operates largely as an isolated grid, it cannot easily draw on neighboring regions when those pressures converge—the full weight falls on a system designed to carry it alone.

Did Texas Republicans’ Restive Runoffs Imperil Their November Ballot? www.texasobserver.org/texas-gop-ru... my take on the Republican runoffs

New from @gusbova.bsky.social: At last, Texas Dems have their statewide slate. In November, they'll attempt to take advantage of what seems to be the most promising year for Lone Star liberals in at least four cycles. So, here are some reasons this might be a bad thing.

Great day-after take on the Menefee-Green runoff here from @samrussek.bsky.social www.texasobserver.org/christian-me...

And so the Colin Allred saga ends next-door to where it began, with various and indeterminate happenings in between: www.texasobserver.org/colin-allred...

Cornyn had repeatedly stated that Judgement Day would come for Paxton on runoff night. And the judgement that came was that the base of the party wants: more Ken Paxton. www.texasobserver.org/paxton-troun...

New from Eden Shamy: A close and contentious Democratic runoff is coming to a head this week in South Texas, pitting a young Bernie-backed progressive against a moderate local banker.

New from @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: Ken Paxton stands for the Trumpification of the Texas GOP, the beneficiary of an era wherein one can enjoy the trappings of a Christian conservatism brand while possessing the personal ethics and morality of an unrepentant hustler.

In the runoff to replace Bobby Guerra in House District 41 in Hidalgo County, it's a progressive insurgent versus an establishment-backed local banker www.texasobserver.org/texas-house-...

New from @jessicawluther.com, in our magazine: Because sports have a built-in gender binary at their core, gender-expansive athletes are immediately seen as a threat. But it's also an opportunity to question our assumptions about gender and belonging.

New from @candicebernd.bsky.social: Former Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French is running a 'fossil fascist' campaign for Railroad Commissioner, blaming the sins of the oil and gas industry on scapegoats and racist conspiracies.

After 20 years in office, opponents say Texas State Rep. Hubert Vo is becoming out of touch and absent. Now, he must survive a runoff against Alief school board member Darlene Breaux. www.texasobserver.org/hubert-vo-in...

My new @texasobserver.org story digs into a heated runoff between two well-known Texas Dems, covering gerrymandering, corporate influence, a tussle over immigration and more. Many thanks to @byjustinmiller.bsky.social. www.texasobserver.org/allred-johns...

Meenu Batra has lived in the South Texas border colonia of Laguna Heights since 2002. She’s a court interpreter, the only one licensed in Texas for Hindi, Punjabi, or Urdu. But, on March 17, Batra was detained by ICE agents at the Harlingen Airport: www.texasobserver.org/immigration-...

New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: Mike Miles’ contract with Houston ISD allowed him to do outside consulting. But contract work as a consultant for Third Future Schools may have violated state law. Miles canceled the contract after the Observer asked about it.

New from Mezabahnur Masum: "Orange barrels. Lane closures. Freshly churned earth where sidewalks used to be. We are committing more than $1B to projects that will worsen our air quality, and we are doing it while congratulating ourselves for having a climate plan."

“The board made it clear at the board meeting that they were being pressured or threatened by TEA … that the district is under threat of takeover if they don’t make some pretty big changes, and Third Future is the only authorized turnaround partner from TEA.”

“There is no indication that the Endangered Species Act is currently, or even will in the future, be responsible for halting oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico.” But that's not stopping the Trump admin from invoking "national security" to put vulnerable wildlife at risk:

From @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: GOP legislators repeatedly insisted that “Texas Education Freedom Accounts” would be open to any and all types of private schools—of all creeds and persuasions. In predictable fashion, they haven't quite lived up to that promise.

On the Corpus Christi water crisis and what's to come www.texasobserver.org/corpus-chris...

We partnered with The Unforgotten to do a podcast! If you're interested in potential wrongful convictions, hypnosis, or the death penalty—or if you just want to go on a wild ride during your commute—check out ‘Riding Shotgun’ wherever you listen to podcasts. www.texasobserver.org/riding-shotg...

Join TPM and @texasobserver.org on 4/8 in Austin as we talk all things midterms! @kateriga.bsky.social and @joshtpm.bsky.social will record a special episode of our flagship podcast, and we'll chat w/Observer editor @byjustinmiller.bsky.social Get tix here: www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening...

“I think this is the worst-case-scenario verdict.” New from @stevanzetti.bsky.social: Late last week, feds notched a victory in an unprecedented and controversial trial that sought to tie alleged members of “Antifa” to domestic terrorism, a case that could cast a long shadow over free expression.

New from Kalyn Gensic: "I entered this profession just as storm clouds of the current book-banning push were starting to gather, but I enrolled in a librarian program hoping it would pass me like lamb’s blood was painted on my doorframe. And for the first three years, wishful thinking worked ..."

The TPM team is heading to Austin for a special event w/our friends @texasobserver.org Join us on 4/8 for a live taping of our flagship podcast with @kateriga.bsky.social and @joshtpm.bsky.social plus a chat with @byjustinmiller.bsky.social Get your tix here: www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening...

My latest! In this month's cover story for the @texasobserver.org, I wrote an expansive, oddly philosophical deep dive into the western diamonback rattlesnake, a much-maligned animal I've come to have a lot of respect and affection for

New from @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: After the vote, Incumbent John Cornyn & his challenger Ken Paxton locked in a near tie, while Houston-area Congressman Wesley Hunt proved every bit the paper tiger. Onward, then, to the most wince-inducing political primary Texas has seen in a very long time.

Abbott's handpicked honeyman declares victory over Texas Ag Commish Sid Miller in GOP primary www.texasobserver.org/abbott-endor...

This one raises the bleak prospect that Herrera, a professional gun fanatic & gun-rights extremist, could come to represent Uvalde, home to the worst school shooting in state history. Of course, there is another major political party in Texas, at least in theory www.texasobserver.org/shriveled-so...

In #Houston, politics is looking decidedly old. The median age of its city council is roughly 55—two years older than that of Dallas, eight years older than that of Austin, and a whopping 20 years older than that of Houston’s median resident. Will that affect Rep. Al Green's bid for a 12th term?

My look at the taxpayer cost of AG Ken Paxton's extensive travels www.texasobserver.org/taxpayer-tab...

New from @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: The governor’s fortune has obviously protected his own reelections. But increasingly, he’s also wielded that money to expand the realm of his political influence. Can the Dems fight back against his powerful warchest?