Eye on Texas: "My dad’s list is short and simple. He loves the Marines, his grandsons, menudo on Sundays, and Clint. If pressed, he’ll own up to loving the Cowboys ..."

Featured story: “It’s not a plus for tourism. It’s not a plus for the environment. It’s not a plus for our community. It’s not a plus for residents—unless you’re maybe the pilot boat captain.”

Introducing the January/February 2026 issue of Texas Observer magazine. Cover photo (and story by Jordan Vonderhaar).

There's still time to apply for our 2026 Elections Internship! www.texasobserver.org/jobs/

🌅 If our reporting has helped you understand this state more clearly, now is a powerful moment to give back. Your gift is doubled up to $25,000, helping us shed light on the truth into the new year. 🎊Support independent Texas journalism and make double the impact today. 👉 tr.ee/9w938r (🎄🧵 2/3)

As our nation spirals into a nightmarish darkness, there’s an understandable temptation to despair ... But how can we fend off that temptation, especially when it sometimes seems as if the darkness is all there is? www.texasobserver.org/a-light-the-...

The wild savannah of Calhoun County isn't easy to visit unless you own a boat or have wealthy, multigenerational landowner friends Not for long - this rural stretch of coastline is getting a new state park, county park and two private wildlife sanctuaries insideclimatenews.org/news/1912202...

Some closing thoughts for 2025...

“We say, 'Well now we can’t afford to do Medicaid and Medicare.' But at the same time that we are putting more money into the top one percent of pockets, we also are footing the bill for the fact that they are not paying their workers a livable wage.”

#BestOf2025: “The improvements made so far by the state are inadequate for what’s coming. [The crypto industry isn’t] interested in investing in alternative energy. They want a lot of energy, a lot of electricity, right now, which means fossil fuels. The industry creates an enormous footprint.”

#BestOf2025: “Sweetwater is rough. They don’t want somebody blowing smoke and having them sing ‘kumbaya’ and all that. They want someone who will sit there and say, ‘You know what? Life is crap sometimes. It absolutely is. But we’ve got to figure out how to work through it.’”

#BestOf2025: “The closet is a very dangerous place for people who use drugs. It’s where stadiums full of people die every year.” Our state's backward approach to the fentanyl crisis grows ever deadlier.

From Gayle Reaves in 2024: Dawn was spreading like a giant egg yolk on the horizon when we reached the gate. It was 16 miles from State Highway 118 to the office where visitors pick up the key, past the Bad Rabbit Café, then a bit farther on unpaved roads to the Christmas Mountains property. ...

From one of my favorite publications. They host some of the best writing anywhere. I think of Woody Guthrie, when asked in a hospital, what religion they should put down for him. And he replied all or none. 🕯️

You can help keep us in holiday cheer, this year! 🤠

Want to get our magazine? Become a member on our site!

Top story: Our politics nationally and here in Texas is now firmly in the grip of a narrow, petty tribalism that feeds on enmity. Each day brings new horrors. How can we keep hope alive, in this frightening moment in American history?

From cryptocurrency to adoption, from an immigrant's experience in school sports to a former death row inmate, here are 10 of our best long-form stories of 2025:

From our magazine: "Even though I knew I wasn't ready to have a child, I couldn't help but feel that not only was I a Bad Girl, I was a Bad Person. Now that I'm older and a mother myself, I can embrace these younger versions of myself with compassion..."

Earlier: Former Congressman and felon Steve Stockman, a Friendswood-area conservative who was convicted of 23 federal corruption charges in 2018, has declared himself rehabilitated and fit to run again for the U.S. House of Representatives.

From @francescadnunz.bsky.social: In December 2020, the state police had fewer than 200 drones; now the agency’s inventory has ballooned to more than 450 drones, and nearly 400 employees are trained to remotely operate them.

From Justin Miller: A former public defender, she’s a polarizing figure—beloved by many in the national Democratic rank-and-file as a brash fighter and derisively mocked by Trump and his faithful.

In poetry: The train tracks leading to my grandma’s house always reminded me of a spine. Curved & ancient, a body of splintered wood & metal hinges groaned when the train was coming.

Featured story: If NextDecade successfully builds out Rio Grande LNG to the size it’s planning, it will be one of the two largest facilities in the country by export volume.

“No one has done more than Rick Levy for the modern-day labor movement in Texas.” After decades of leadership, retired Texas AFL-CIO President @ricktxaflco.bsky.social leaves behind a stronger, more inclusive Texas labor movement built to win the fights ahead. (via @texasobserver.org)

The @texasobserver.org is still seeking student applicants for an internship helping cover the 2026 elections! Details here: www.texasobserver.org/jobs/

Thanks to years of Operation Lone Star, Governor Abbott’s multi-billion dollar border mission, the Texas Department of Public Safety now touts one of the largest drone fleets in the country, almost on par with the U.S. Border Patrol's. Via @texasobserver.org

From @josephinelee.bsky.social: Total membership in Texas unions has been growing. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 603,000 Texans belonged to unions in 2024, up from closer to half a million a decade ago.

Our top story, from @drdrbrockman.bsky.social: The editor of this publication wasn’t exaggerating when he called 2025 “this frankly awful year”: Things are dark, and likely to get much darker. So where do we go from here?

There's still time to apply for our 2026 Elections Internship! www.texasobserver.org/jobs/

Introducing the January/February 2026 issue of Texas Observer magazine. Cover photo (and story by Jordan Vonderhaar).

“I don’t even see a future for nobody, based on our government. If we don’t die from toxic poisoning, we’re gonna die from being broke and sick. When will we ever see the American dream?”

“Rick understood that if you want to have a movement that lasts, you need to constantly be developing new leadership.”

#ICYMI, from our magazine: “Bitcoin miners in general, if you map out across the United States, this is my opinion, are taking advantage of small rural communities that don’t have the wherewithal to fight back.”

Excited to see the Texas Observer's nonprofit board grow at the end of this year, adding @maudbeelman.bsky.social, @blibal.bsky.social, and Gabriela Resto-Montero: www.texasobserver.org/board/

Yesterday, from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: “If I’m in my backyard, if I’m on my deck, do I expect that I have to encounter a law enforcement camera? I shouldn’t have to. Should I have to deal with a cop zipping by all of the time? I don’t think so.”

New from @drdrbrockman.bsky.social: As our nation spirals into a nightmarish darkness, there’s an understandable temptation to despair ... But how can we fend off that temptation, especially when it sometimes seems as if the darkness is all there is?

Yesterday, from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: “If I’m in my backyard, if I’m on my deck, do I expect that I have to encounter a law enforcement camera? I shouldn’t have to. Should I have to deal with a cop zipping by all of the time? I don’t think so.”

Featured story: “The State of Texas makes every inmate seem like the most evil, horrible [person]. We demonize them, and we don’t see the trauma of people like Pam Perillo.”

Out today: Total membership in Texas unions has been growing. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 603,000 Texans belonged to unions in 2024, up from closer to half a million a decade ago.

Words of wisdom from @ricktxaflco.bsky.social here. “For any organizer, their number one job is to organize themselves out of a job," Levy said. “No one has done more than Rick Levy for the modern-day labor movement in Texas,” Greg Casar said.

Our top story, from @gaigedavila.bsky.social: As deep South Texas prepares for its first gas export facility, the Observer has reported out the impacts of LNG facilities in the industrialized town of Freeport and in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

Previously: “All the evidence we have seen suggests that this had nothing to do with gang enforcement—no one was arrested on any charge remotely related to gang activity,. It appears that DPS simply raided this house because the people throwing a party were Latinos from another country.”

Yesterday, from @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: "I think that we should be looking at who it is that can expand the electorate so we can win. We have spent a lot of time doing the philosophy lessons of who it is that we believe can win—& we keep losing, versus being willing to do something different."

As total membership in Texas unions grows, the state's labor federation is moving into a new era of leadership, with Latin@s in both of the top roles for the first time: www.texasobserver.org/texas-afl-ci... from @josephinelee.bsky.social

I’m extremely proud to join the board of the non-profit that supports the amazing and venerable @texasobserver.org! Not a subscriber? Change that today: texasobserver.fundjournalism.org/join/

"Drone Star State." Texas' "inventory has ballooned to more than 450 drones, and nearly 400 employees are trained to remotely operate them." "That puts the Texas state police in the same league as the U.S. Border Patrol." #Texas #USA #Mexico #Surveillance #Technology #Policing

By Bianca Alyssa Pérez in our magazine: Everything here is split in two. If it isn’t the train tracks, it’s the river, if it isn’t the river, it’s my dad’s family.

Out today: “Surveillance technologies rarely stay cabined to their original purpose, expanding their reach and scale without any ability of ordinary citizens to push back.”

Featured story: "Captivating, funny, profane, contemptuous of establishment figures who busted unions, shut minorities out of power, and claimed ownership of the state’s Legislature and executive mansion, David always left you wanting more."