I am also very happy to share I will continue in the environment and climate world! I will be joining the amazing team at @insideclimatenews.org covering Southern California. My new email is [email protected] and at the top of my account! Tips/intro emails are welcome.

It is once again a beautiful day to file some FOIAs.

Elephant Butte Reservoir could go as low as 2% capacity this summer. I reported from Santa Fe on the Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting as Colorado, New Mexico and Texas contend with less water after a dismal winter and warm spring. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/2004202...

Next Tuesday I'll be presenting with a powerhouse panel of reporters about the oil industry's wastewater problem. You can register here: 👇 events.propublica.org/wastewater-c...

The wells on Jackie Chesnutt's ranch barely produce any oil. She's tired of spills on her land. She just wants the wells plugged. But the company says no can do. Texas has tens of thousands of wells like this with no end in sight. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/1904202...

A West Texas river guide and church preservation group, along with a national advocacy group, are suing the Trump administration for bypassing federal environmental laws to speed up border wall plans in the Big Bend region.

I got really excited when I filled up on $3.66 gas in Las Cruces today. Asi las cosas.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian is peddling a new crypto token tied to the value of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest given his position as an official to the state agency that oversees Texas' oil and gas industry.

Perhaps the greatest skill I learned from six years working in Mexico was how to write a polite but firm email to a bureaucrat.

Texas' only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years: www.texasobserver.org/immigration-...

Jim Wright ran for the Railroad Commission of Texas six years ago as a reformer. But his reforms drew the ire of powerful oil tycoons who are now trying to unseat him. @insideclimatenews.org (1) insideclimatenews.org/news/1304202...

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

El Paso County is filing a lawsuit against the federal government over the failure to respond to a request for information about the planned immigration detention center in Socorro, Texas. My story:

Even ICE oversight inspectors are finding violations at Camp East Montana in El Paso, according to a report published yesterday. Inspectors found 49 violations during a visit in February. My story for the El Paso Times:

I obtained documents from Texas Parks & Wildlife that show how Border Patrol is seeking access to parcels in three state parks (Big Bend Ranch, Seminole Canyon and Bentsen-RGV) for border wall construction. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/0204202...

"I said to her, 'You don’t need to be in a war zone to do good journalism,' and she told me, 'I think my work is worth something when I am in those areas.'"

A planned 1.3-mile wall across Monte Cristo Rey has drawn opposition from environmentalists and the local Roman Catholic Diocese, which owns most of the mountain.

great opportunity to attend the IRE conference this year for border and immigration reporters! www.ire.org/training/fel...

"El Paso Electric said it chose the Enchanted Rock configuration because that’s what Meta preferred" I'm very glad Diego Mendoza-Moyers is back on the data center beat here in El Paso!! elpasomatters.org/2026/03/29/m...

It's Semana Santa in the Borderland, which means the annual Good Friday walk up Mt Cristo Rey. But this year the mountain looks different: federal contractors are blasting it for the border wall. I reported for @insideclimatenews.org w/ Puente News Collaborative insideclimatenews.org/news/3003202...

If TX continues to install A/C at its current pace, it would take ~70 years for all inmates to have climate control, Judge Robert Pitman wrote in an order throwing out TDCJ's motion for summary judgment last week. 90,000 inmates don’t. Plaintiffs are asking cells be kept b/w 65-85 degrees #txlege

Attorneys for Texas prisoners say the conditions expose inmates and staff to dangerously high temperatures and have caused several deaths.

El Paso had the highest fine particulate matter levels in the USA last year, thanks to all of our dust storms. I'm quoted in this article in Inside Climate News. Thanks @psskow.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/2403202...

I dread every summer, but especially this one!

Caroline Tracey’s “Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History,” explores the rise and decline of saline lakes—and how “queer ecology” might help us navigate and belong within fragile, ever-changing environments.

With my colleague @keertigopal.bsky.social, I wrote about a new report on global air pollution--that shows how climate change is making it worse. insideclimatenews.org/news/2403202...

Mexican man detained after taking an Irish man, his British wife and their infant across the Niagara River in a raft www.cbp.gov/newsroom/loc...

I wrote about a camp, 27 girls who drowned due to astonishing failures to plan, and hundreds of families going back anyway. nymag.com/intelligence...

No one knows what happens when you line a dynamic river with hundreds of miles of industrial buoys. But that’s exactly what the federal government has planned for the Rio Grande.

The U.S. is quietly deporting thousands of migrants to Mexico who have no connection to the country. Many are homeless and quasi-stateless: undocumented in Mexico but unable to return home. “They’re sending them here to die,” a shelter official told me. www.latimes.com/world-nation...

The federal government plans to install 536 miles of massive, cylindrical buoys in the Rio Grande to prevent unauthorized crossings. The buoys could cost upwards of $3 billion, at a moment when crossings are at record lows. (photo by Michael Gonzalez)

A U.S. senator calls for an investigation after satellite monitoring reveals that emissions from the Permian Basin in West Texas and southeast New Mexico are four times greater than official estimates.

it's a beautiful day to file some FOIAs

An investigation by The New York Times found extensive evidence that Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers co-founder, groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement.

Water shortages could hit Corpus Christi within weeks when contract terms mandate a 10% reduction in the city’s draw from its largest remaining reservoir, according to local officials City leaders previously said water curtailment could begin in November insideclimatenews.org/news/1703202...

Mexico’s Vista Pacifico cancelled, dimming hopes of LNG exports gasoutlook.com/analysis/mex...

NEW: They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth. Two Florida women had to attend virtual court hearings while in labor to argue for their right to choose their own medical care. By @amyyurkanin.bsky.social

I reported on Trump's announcement of a new oil refinery in Brownsville. The proposal has been around for a decade, but new investment could make it happen. TCEQ gave the company until Oct 2027 to start building or lose their permits. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/1203202...

A widespread attack on desalination plants in the Middle East could cause a humanitarian crisis. The fossil-fuel-powered plants also contribute to further climate change in a region heavily impacted by a warming world.

We have updated the story about the change in who is managing Camp East Montana. We have included information about the company that DHS intends to contract for management of the site.

just thinking about how hard all my journalist friends are hustling these days and how thankless this industry often is. i see you!

Camp East Montana has new management, according to the Department of Homeland Security. This comes after months of abuses and three deaths at the massive detention facility. This is confirmed by DHS and Sam.gov My breaking story:

Two teenage brothers and mariachi stars who visited the White House last summer were released with their family on Monday from an ICE detention center in South Texas. Rep. Joaquin Castro led a delegation of Democrats to the center to press for the release.

I was in Roma, TX 12 days ago as this island was being cleared. Now a resident shared this photo that it's almost entirely devegetated. None of the relevant state or federal agencies answered my questions about the border security work being done in Roma. insideclimatenews.org/news/0403202...

Texas is now the leader in electricity generation from utility-scale solar, and other news from the latest batch of federal energy data.

The decision capped a rapid downfall for the three-term lawmaker and former Navy cryptologist. bit.ly/4scTze5

Here are some butterflies that Juan Moreno has seen along the Rio Grande in Roma, Texas. Now instead of observing butterflies, he's documenting contractors clearcutting the riparian ecosystem and stringing razor wire for border barriers. insideclimatenews.org/news/0403202...

"Residents are raising the alarm that border wall construction and border buoys will irrevocably change the landscape, harm wildlife and violate the rights of property owners." @psskow.bsky.social @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/0403202...

Border walls, wire, and clearcutting are reshaping the Rio Grande near Roma, Tx—threatening native habitat and blocking community access.

Last week I was in Starr County, Texas, where contractors are clearing islands of vegetation and border wall construction is underway. I met a high school teacher who is documenting the loss of native habitat in the name of border security (1)