“This is a person who’s crying and screaming about their medical issues and needs, and it’s being overlooked.” Featured story, from @michellepitcher.bsky.social: Behind bars, the healthcare system becomes another form of punishment.

Previously: He survived the treacherous Darien Gap to come to the U.S. Then ICE agents called him a member of Tren de Aragua. No criminal record, no gang tattoos, he was deported over the sneakers he wore.

Out today: Some friends had rented the Airbnb for 3 days to celebrate a pair of birthdays. There were beers, arepas, and a birthday cake. They were planning to blow out candles and sing the following day. But first there was a massive, militarized multi-agency ICE raid.

“Rather than ‘predictive’ policing, it’s simply, ‘predictable’ policing. [It] will always drive against those who are already marginalised.” Featured story from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: A massive tower looming over Juárez is the site of a troubling new surveillance system.

Only 1 person in the whole study went from identifying as trans to not identifying as trans. The 1/5 number came from youth going between the binary and non-binary spectrum. This headline and post are misleading on purpose to fit the economist's editorial bent on the political issue.

In our magazine: Since the 9/11 era, what began as an attack on civil liberties for the purpose of combating “terrorism” has been the subject of mission creep. The target moved from foreign terrorists to simply foreign-born immigrants.

New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: Recently released state school ratings reveal that five Texas school districts are at risk of a takeover by the Texas Education Agency (TEA)—the most since a 2017 state law expanded the state’s takeover powers.

Featured story from @marytuma.bsky.social: “I ask you: ‘When will this be enough? How many women have to die or suffer severe bodily injury because they couldn’t access the care they needed?’”

Support @texasobserver.org and @texastribune.org! Both are great independent outlets that I wouldn't be able to do my work without.

In books: There really wasn’t much I could confess to. I’ve been a law-abiding person, save for “the incident.” They already knew about the eighth-grade food fight.

“It’s not a sustainable model for the future. It’s not true education. It’s just test prep. Fort Worth ISD has room to improve, but we can do it our way, and we don’t have to do it the way that TEA is prescribing.”

Earlier: Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents came to the US fleeing similar conditions afflicting current arrivals, seeking a country guided by democracy, freedom, & the rule of law, so different from the oppression of their homelands.

New today: Media outlets, including the Texas Observer, argue that Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, are elected officials subject to public scrutiny.

10,000 people died of opioids in Texas 2020 to 2023 💔 The increased joblessness, hunger, homelessness, and sabotage of vaccines & healthcare with increasing disability and deaths that Trump is instigating will cause more addictions and also suicides. 💔

New from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: A highly publicized multi-agency raid in Hays County resulted in dozens of arrests on low-level immigration charges and left an Austin mother's life in tatters. It also fit a pattern of unproven gang-related accusations.

From @gabrielarana.bsky.social in the archives: Growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, I knew little about my family tree’s racist roots. Like a lot of gay kids who come from a small town, I left to find people like me in bigger cities and only much later started to contemplate my origins.

Earlier: Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents came to the US fleeing similar conditions afflicting current arrivals, seeking a country guided by democracy, freedom, & the rule of law, so different from the oppression of their homelands.

“Rather than ‘predictive’ policing, it’s simply, ‘predictable’ policing. [It] will always drive against those who are already marginalised.” Featured story from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: A massive tower looming over Juárez is the site of a troubling new surveillance system.

Last week from José Luis Martínez: In the coming years, Texas is set to receive billions of dollars to address the ongoing opioid crisis. Here's how that money is already getting spent ... and where it's going unused. h

Last week: I have to be careful about what I say. My plea bargain is stricter than the rules under which I lived within barbed wire.

Featured story from @marytuma.bsky.social: “I ask you: ‘When will this be enough? How many women have to die or suffer severe bodily injury because they couldn’t access the care they needed?’”

“Allegations that might suggest abuse of marital assets, concealment of financial information, or personal conduct inconsistent with public responsibility are not merely private — they are of public consequence.” 8 news orgs, including us, demanding transparency:

Our top story, from @michellepitcher.bsky.social: At a North Texas prison, one nurse practitioner racked up more than 20 federal lawsuits over alleged medical mistreatment. The patients’ stories illuminate a healthcare system that often seems like another form of punishment.

In books: My career was all about being a zealous advocate for people who are poor, disenfranchised, and oppressed. What matters is their lives, their stories, their histories, their hope, and walking alongside them on the journey toward justice.

In our magazine: "I have a laser focus on what we do every single day to help working people get ahead. And if that means taking on banks and taking on billionaires and doing whatever we have to do to flip the table, I don’t mind disrupting systems to help the little guy."

Out today: “TEA is the problem. You’re getting people that they’re putting in there to sabotage everything that we were trying to do.”

Featured story from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: “There seems to be an utter degree of incompetence by the Mexican government ... to prevent their law enforcement ...their surveillance agencies, the information that is shared, from being used by organized criminals.”

“The grounds alleged for divorce and the disposition of property are of substantial public interest because they bear on integrity in public office, potential use of public resources, and transparency in judicial proceedings.”

New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: Recently released state school ratings reveal that five Texas school districts are at risk of a takeover by the Texas Education Agency (TEA)—the most since a 2017 state law expanded the state’s takeover powers.

In our magazine: Since the 9/11 era, what began as an attack on civil liberties for the purpose of combating “terrorism” has been the subject of mission creep. The target moved from foreign terrorists to simply foreign-born immigrants.

Experts say that how the opioid funds are used in these early years could set the tone for the next nearly two decades that Texas receives settlement dollars. We reviewed how different locations in our state are using, or not using, the funds:

“Allegations that might suggest abuse of marital assets, concealment of financial information, or personal conduct inconsistent with public responsibility are not merely private — they are of public consequence.”

In our magazine: “This extends beyond more-serious cases where someone is in obvious, serious need of lifesaving treatments. If you can’t even get something like Tylenol without putting up a protracted fight, that disciplines people and sets expectations pretty low.”

In books: I have to be careful about what I say. My plea bargain is stricter than the rules under which I lived within barbed wire.

New today: Media outlets, including the Texas Observer, argue that Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, are elected officials subject to public scrutiny.

In poetry: I insist on survival every day I stay in Texas. Let me explain. A friend came over today & boom: joy shone from our fingertips. While the moon transitioned from waxing to waning, my bro got a top surgery letter.

From @michellepitcher.bsky.social in 2024: “[Connecting with labor organizers] provides folks with that lifeline. There’s somebody watching. There’s somebody out there. It’s not just for the person, but it’s also to signal to the [prison] administration that there’s eyes on this.”

Out today: “We decided that instead of meeting people after their loved ones passed away, after the grief, that we could go out and do something to make a difference in the community.”

In books: My career was all about being a zealous advocate for people who are poor, disenfranchised, and oppressed. What matters is their lives, their stories, their histories, their hope, and walking alongside them on the journey toward justice.

Our top story: At a North Texas prison, one nurse practitioner racked up more than 20 federal lawsuits over alleged medical mistreatment. The patients’ stories illuminate a healthcare system that often seems like another form of punishment.

Thanks for this, @texasobserver.org www.texasobserver.org/never-again-...

New from José Luis Martínez: In the coming years, Texas is set to receive billions of dollars to address the ongoing opioid crisis. Here's how that money is already getting spent ... and where it's going unused.

Featured: Everywhere I went along a 30-mile or so stretch of the Guadalupe River, there were excavators and people digging, looking, hopeful to find the missing. The scale of the devastation, the search and recovery efforts, and the grief—all things unfathomable to me, even after I witnessed them.

Last week from @liseolsen.bsky.social: Scars remain from the deadly storm two decades ago, but so do the stories of survival and resilience.

Out today: I have to be careful about what I say. My plea bargain is stricter than the rules under which I lived within barbed wire.

"Brian Nam-Sonenstein, senior editor and researcher with the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative, said these types of allegations are 'par for the course in prisons, not just in Texas but everywhere.'"

“The U.S. and Mexican governments keep going after cartel members instead of dismantling the full networks—the financial flows, arms trafficking, addiction, corruption.” Earlier: Criminal networks are adapting faster than government policy.

Our top story: Ostensibly, medical care in American prisons should look just like medical care offered outside prisons. But decades of litigation and scandals have shown that correctional healthcare occupies a space wholly its own.

In books, from @reazlepuff.bsky.social: I wish I could say that my actions were grandly deliberate and thoughtfully strategic. But my plan wasn’t even really a plan. My actions were more spontaneous and poorly organized than your average trip to the grocery store.

Featured story, from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: By Escalona Mújicas’ account, before he opened his car door at the traffic stop, an agent told him “The President does not want to see Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans, or Venezuelans here.”