At the Texas Capitol maybe 10 minutes now. There is a dinosaur with a Trump/Epstein sign. Not sure if this merits National Guard intervention. Assuming not, I am observing possible need for troops to deliver cold water or little handheld fans

Update: Crowds largely dispersed, some people still being directed through the streets of Austin by law enforcement. Austin Statesman

I honestly don't know whether it's worth it to promote stories like this on this site anymore. But, anyhoo, here's a good story about refugees in San Antonio: texasobserver.org/afghan-refugee…

A 287(g) ICE-police task force is pending for this tiny chunk of Houston: ice.gov/identify-and-a…

guy who tries to do a Zohran style campaign in Houston but he has to walk on the part of Westheimer where it's 4 lanes both ways

Austin Community College moves to intervene in the lawsuit to end the Texas Dream Act, says it has 440 students impacted: documentcloud.org/documents/2598…

Some news for y'all: I'm now the News & Politics Editor for the Texas Observer, leading our coverage of the Lege, elections, and other Texas news. If you've got a pitch, a tip, or anything else, email is in the bio #txlege

Texas Senate Bill 4--think back two years--remains blocked. 5th circuit opinion affirms preemption of state taking over immigration enforcement:

NEW w/Neena Satija : After the July 4 flood, a Kerr County official said “nobody saw this coming." But it seems they did - a 2016 study recommended key flood alert system improvements. The county has been trying to get the state to fund it ever since: houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…

NEW: For eight years, Kerr County sought help from Texas officials to pay for a $1 million early flood warning system. Twice, they were rejected. The third time the state agreed to chip in just 5% of the cost. With Keri Blakinger houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…

Now that I have become an aged, desk-bound editor, I can't get much difficult reporting done, so I pray that y'all will support my new career as a book critic: texasobserver.org/texas-eugenics…

We’re proud to welcome to the Observer masthead @candicebernd.bsky.social and Mary Tuma as special investigative correspondents, joining steven monacelli as freelance reporters helping us tackle the environment, reproductive rights, and extremism respectively: texasobserver.org/home/staff/

Texas appellate court tosses out lower ruling against the "Death Star" bill, dismisses cities' case: search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.as…

NEW: Nearly 1.5 million Texans now live in jurisdictions where sheriffs or police chiefs have agreed to train some of their officers to act as immigration agents in the streets of their communities. 🧵 texasobserver.org/ice-task-force…

The Texas House redistricting committee will hold a hearing at 10am Friday at the Capitol to get feedback on the proposed map. Testimony limited to 10 hours So far this is the only hearing scheduled

The good folks at Texas Legislative Council were kind enough to provide me with 2022 and 2024 statewide election data for the proposed Congressional redistricting map. 2024: drive.google.com/file/d/1UxnIHf… 2022: drive.google.com/file/d/1ZdxQxb…

One underrated reason to support the Texas Observer is we have the best political cartoonist still working in the state: texasobserver.org/loon-star-stat…

Not yet!

Can Texas Dems' quorum break halt a seemingly inevitable gerrymandering arms race? texasobserver.org/texas-house-de… #txlege

NEW: Trump's hiring freeze scuttled a key, federally-funded role in Texas's emergency response apparatus. The person was selected in Jan. and would've been in place Texas Division of Emergency Management well ahead of the July floods. Their job: help translate warnings into action. texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…