Jon Niermann, chair of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, says he does not understand the term 'environmental racism.' But the effects of pollution tend to fall hardest on poor, minority neighborhoods that surround industrial sites.
Staff writer Delger Erdenesanaa looks at a troubled state agency currently under review by the Sunset Advisory Commission.
|
|
Is a dried up river still a river?
"Today, more than 100 miles of Rio Grande riverbed are dry or hold stagnant water. At Santa Elena Canyon, one of the park’s most popular sights, visitors have gawked at the striking absence of water," writes contributor Dylan Baddour.
|
|
Can a prison setting be licensed by the State of Texas as a childcare facility? A group of immigrant moms did not think so. They fought their way to the Texas Supreme Court to stop the inhumane detention of children and families. And they won. Staff writer Michelle Pitcher unpacks years of complicated litigation.
|
|
|
Support the Texas Observer with a tax-deductible
donation or become a member to get the print magazine.
|
|
|
Civilian police oversight offices exist to hold Texas police departments accountable to the public. Michelle Pitcher dives into the push-and-pull between the departments and the police associations tied to them, and residents who seek transparency and accountability in response to abuse of police powers.
|
|
Editorial fellow Laura Morales sat down with Cesar A. Gonzalez of the Mayo Clinic and with Dr. Colton St. Amand, a gender therapy specialist who is also a licensed doctor, to discuss what happens when Texas criminalizes heathcare for some Texas kids.
Dr. St. Armand says, "Gender-affirming care is critical for transgender patients of all ages. We know now from decades of clinical practice, and now over the last couple of decades of research, that the earlier that we affirm someone, the better outcomes they have in terms of mental health and physical health. We found that people generally do really well with treatment. Gender-affirming care is life-saving."
|
|
This Independence Day weekend, Texas Observer invites y'all to skip the fireworks—most parts of Texas are too hot, too dry and in a drought. Instead, make your way back to the land and, if you can find it, the water.
That's what author Joe Nick Patoski did back in July 2005, when he ventured deep behind East Texas' pine curtain to immerse himself in Caddo Lake. Aiming to explore the "Only Honest Lake in Texas," he discovered some of America's most unexpected—and most effective—environmental activists.
|
|
|
JULY/AUGUST 2022 PRINT ISSUE
|
|
Roe v. Wade, a "Texas case brought by a Texas lawyer on behalf of a Texas woman," was struck down days ago by the Supreme Court.
"To look forward," editor-in-chief Gabe Arana writes in a note to readers, "we have chosen to look back at the dark era in which abortion was outlawed."
Become a member to subscribe to Texas Observer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
