If anyone has watched a documentary on Love Canal and the origin of EPA Superfund Sites....yeah, we're doing it again.

EXCLUSIVE: Parents told us their children’s headaches and dizziness appeared during the school year and cleared up during breaks. One mother said she suspected her daughter was making things up — until she read @saulelbein.bsky.social’s story in @thebarbedwire.com thebarbedwire.com/2026/05/05/h...

This is such a horrible situation and as someone w/chronic diseases that took years to develop, I really want to assure parents that the stakes to kids faking sickness, especially pain, are high enough that you should err on the side of believing your kid.

I voted for this

horrible. this country’s turn away from science based medicine in the name of “wellness” is killing children and will kill a lot more. www.propublica.org/article/more...

It’s Love Canal all over again!

Nothing will radicalize you about environmental health like being a parent and witnessing the complete carelessness of school administrators

🧵

Hey, he should stop doing that.

If you say you support more oil and gas production, this is what you are supporting (in addition to the climate and air pollution ramifications from burning them)

fwiw for $5 you can buy us a coffee for $50 you can buy us a public records request for $500 you can buy us a personal essay (editing not incl) for $5000 you can buy us a piece of impactful reporting thebarbedwire.com/spring-fundr...

shout out to whomever mailed $50 in cash to our P.O. Box in an envelope that says “thank you for your efforts”!!!!

“The builder is advertising the final lots in Phase 1 and pre-selling Phase 2 — which is being built, the whistleblower said, on the precise part of the property where he helped bury the highest concentration of toxic waste. Homes are available for $339,990 to $584,990 apiece.”

When the Abundanceers start to get all 🤩🤩🤩 about how much better dreamy deregulated Texas is for building housing than California, that means traffic, sprawl built in floodplains, and this kind of thing.

Things like this are why Congress wrote CERCLA and later SARA. The EPA, OSHA, and acts like these exist because the profit motive is murderous in its unregulated forms. Here we are again, declawing regulations and letting corporations poison our children. www.epa.gov/superfund/su...

This story is horrific and frustrating. the DFW metroplex is a strange place with profoundly evil vibes, maybe because the land has been poisoned

“In 2018, neighbor Sue Beaton told Texas state environmental regulators that fumes from the decommissioned mud farm had stripped the paint from her house and her car, left a foul odor in her pool, and that dying animals, which she assumed came from the site, kept ending up on her property.”

We’re still not sure @thebarbedwire.com will make it to its second birthday in August, but this has been some of the most important investigative reporting I’ve ever edited.

EXCLUSIVE: Parents told us their children’s headaches and dizziness appeared during the school year and cleared up during breaks. One mother said she suspected her daughter was making things up — until she read @saulelbein.bsky.social’s story in @thebarbedwire.com thebarbedwire.com/2026/05/05/h...

“The Challenger is a voice of people on the street,” according to its website. “We are 95% homeless written.”

“I realized I was making more off the newspaper than I was at Arby's,” said Jesse Greiner, the paper treasurer and a distributor, who is also experiencing homelessness. “And I actually enjoy doing what I did.” thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/29/w...

Ken Paxton has become a huge name in state politics — not just for his popularity with staunch conservatives, but for a string of scandals. He’s been in Texas politics for over 20 years, and he’s been making headlines for just as long. thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/17/k...

“This is why we need to stop building on top of old plugged wells,” said Sarah Stogner, the district attorney for the 143rd Judicial District of Texas. “They don’t always stay plugged.” This story is republished from @insideclimatenews.org thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/27/o...

It’s still rips im afraid. That being said, watching them introduce all the like fancy drinks and coffee stuff sometimes makes me grip the shotgun tighter like im watching someone who got bit by a zombie and I’m waiting for when they…turn

The two words that sum up why Whataburger still lands for me: Spicy Ketchup (The burgers are still good, too, obviously)

Love this. I used to be a "Whataburger has fallen off!" person, but I'm coming around to the belief that it's still good fast food, I'm nostalgic, but also 40+ years old now. It's fine! The family was PUMPED when the chain followed us out to Georgia and going is a special occasion for us.

olivia fun fact: my dad’s first job was flipping burgers at a Whataburger

Whataburger > Shake Shack I SAID WHAT I SAID

Look, the day we got a Whataburger in Auburn I was unreasonably emotional. (before that the closest was Montgomery, and then it closed, almost simultaneously with the closure of the sole Rita’s in ATL. It was a hard time for my specific intersections of nostalgia)

did you know you can just pop a Whataburger burger into your carryon and it's fine by tsa? makes for a great Plane Snack

another bombshell investigation from @thebarbedwire.com

Sponsored: Opening on April 24 at The Cathedral, ‘The Neon Republic’ brings together resident artist Autumn Mae and guest artist Chris Tobar in a show that doesn’t flinch from showcasing underrepresented, talented artists. thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/13/t...

In which intrepid journalist @briangaar.bsky.social asks: “Does the burger still hit — or is nostalgia the most powerful condiment on Earth?” thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/23/w...

The National Women’s Defense League report also acknowledged the likelihood that actual incidents of sexual misconduct were likely much higher than the numbers reported. thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/22/t...

“Given their persistent opposition to commonsense proposals and wild overreactions, it’s abundantly clear that the values of the police union are what’s “extreme” and that they do not align with the interest of the people of Houston.” Travis Fife writes thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/21/t...

well lookie what showed up in the mail: my very own @thebarbedwire.com tshirt

And this is the book excerpt we ran from @alexhannaford.com at @thebarbedwire.com — a story that’s only gotten more interesting, imo thebarbedwire.com/2024/10/01/h...

This was so fun! @alexhannaford.com is a gem I first met when I was just a cub reporter intern at the Texas Capitol, and last year @thebarbedwire.com ran an excerpt of his book about Austin. Love full circle moments. deadliners.substack.com/p/the-journa...

COMING SOON to @thebarbedwire.com: I investigate the biggest issue of our time -- has Whataburger fallen off since private equity got it. I enlist Austin comics @peezytx.bsky.social and Danny Goodwin to help get to the bottom of things.

In July 2025, The Barbed Wire reported on the unresolved murder of Felita Bailey. We return to her story as part of the ongoing conversation about femicide. thebarbedwire.com/2025/06/18/m...

I interviewed my pal @oliviamesser.bsky.social for the Deadliners Newsletter about journalism in the age of AI, the mistakes national media makes in Texas, and her mission @thebarbedwire.com to build newsrooms that actually serve the communities they cover. deadliners.substack.com/p/the-journa...

“My introduction to Texas was not the metroplex. Nor was it SMU,” writes @candibolden.bsky.social . “It was Selena Quintanilla.” On April 16, Texas celebrates Selena Day, honoring the birthday of the iconic Queen of Tejano music. thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/15/b...

Spent some hours illustrating Selena in honor of Selena Day on April 16. I wanted to do something special for this essay because it’s our social media manager @candibolden.bsky.social’s first byline, and I think it’s really lovely. thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/15/b...

This essay is an edition of Redemption Songs, a limited-run newsletter from @themarshallproject.org and @mauricechammah.bsky.social that dives into the music produced in prisons over the last century. We’ve republished it at @thebarbedwire.com 🎶 thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/14/t...

In recent days, Texas Tech University has come under fire by free speech advocates over its decision to shutter programs — and a first amendment lawsuit filed by a student after she was disciplined in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. thebarbedwire.com/2026/04/14/t...

they are removing My Department? the one i graduated in, the reason i chose ut to attend, the one with a dedicated and talented faculty they already started trying to scare off previously? deeply disappointing, especially given the dearth of options for russian majors in TX

anyway #txlege, I don’t often recommend listening to the former speaker of the Texas House, but on this score I gotta say I do [email protected]

Ugh

goes without saying, but i'm extremely disappointed in my alma mater