Editor’s Note: This story is a collaboration between Truthdig and the Texas Observer. In the late spring of 2009, Andrew Collins learned that an oil and gas drilling waste landfarm, operated by a Cleburne company called Excel Environmental Services, was … Continued
Permian Basin Democrats Tim McDaniel and Eli Hilbert took to the road on a Saturday in late August to knock doors in the small towns of Crane and McCamey. On either side of remote stretches of U.S. Route 385, pumpjacks … Continued
When she meets people who are visiting the Rio Grande Valley for the first time, Mollie Wallace—a 31-year-old occupational therapist in McAllen—usually asks whether they’ve gone to the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge yet. The refuge is a point of … Continued
It’s late June, more than two hours into the 2,518th episode of his mega-popular podcast, and Joe Rogan is critiquing part of James Talarico’s anatomy. With his guest, the conservative-leaning comedian Tim Dillon, Rogan was riffing on possible 2028 presidential … Continued
Seventy years ago, Black students in Mansfield went to federal court for the right to attend their own public schools. On August 30, 1956, their effort to enroll at Mansfield High School was met by an angry white mob and … Continued
On a sizzling Friday night in late May, Houstonians from all over the city flock to the Ensemble Theatre’s lobby. Under fluorescent lights, they greet one another before the show starts. The sound of various generations fills the lobby—a couple … Continued