Josephine Lee

Crypto's Cryptic Texas Takeover State regulators don't want you to know about the 60-plus Bitcoin mines guzzling public water and electricity—even though consumers are already paying the price.

Our top story, by @candicebernd.bsky.social: A Texas Observer analysis found since 2021, at least 60 cryptomines have been developed or are under construction in at least 33 counties statewide. Experts worry our grid, and water supply, can't handle the load.

At Barton Springs, Trans Existence Becomes Resistance Following a transphobic incident earlier this year, community members gathered to "protect trans joy."

In our magazine: Weeks after a transphobic attack, dozens of trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming folks gathered on the “free side” of Austin’s Barton Springs to swim, celebrate, and fearlessly take up space.

@kitoconnell.com was there to witness this moment of queer joy and resilience...

Black Bookstore Owners, Government Spies, and Murder At the 2025 Texas Book Festival, authors bring new insights to complex stories in nonfiction.

In books: “There were so many Black booksellers and historians who were and who are counting on me to tell the story right. It truly is the first full-length book to chronicle the history of Black-owned bookstores in this country.”

Texas’ Top Voucher Vendor Taps Abbott Allies in Contract Bid, Program Rollout The New York firm Odyssey is now running the state’s lucrative voucher scheme with a little help from the governor’s friends.

New from @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: Even as the lege debated school vouchers, corporate vendors were already competing behind the scenes for the lucrative contract. A closer look at how Odyssey became the big winner... and whose influence helped make the decision.

Pro-Life, Anti-Death Penalty Nan Tolson is the face of the conservative movement against capital punishment in Texas.

By @michellepitcher.bsky.social in our magazine: "There’s a very strong pro-life argument. As a society, we are capable of keeping people safe, & we can do that while honoring that every life has inherent dignity and worth, and that includes people on death row who have committed unspeakable acts."

Texas Turns Its Sprawling State Police Force Into Immigration Agents for Trump The notorious 287(g) task force program has finally reached DPS, raising fears of widespread racial profiling.

New from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: Texas Department of Public Safety and ICE signed a pair of agreements that will authorize state police within DPS’s Criminal Investigations and Highway Patrol divisions to effectively operate as ICE agents, on a statewide basis.

Texas’ Top Voucher Vendor Taps Abbott Allies in Contract Bid, Program Rollout The New York firm Odyssey is now running the state’s lucrative voucher scheme with a little help from the governor’s friends.

In winning the bid to administer Texas’ school vouchers, the venture-capitalist- backed firm, Odyssey, cultivated close ties to the political world of Gov Abbott, by @byjustinmiller.bsky.social. @texasaft.org @democracymoms.bsky.social @hft2415.bsky.social www.texasobserver.org/texas-vouche...

Houston's Top Magnet High Schools Could Become Private Partnership Charter Schools, Raising Equity Concerns Texas' largest school district may even convert its renowned performing arts institution under a program that benefitted the state-appointed superintendent in his previous career.

Houston ISD’s top schools may no longer be accessible to all its students through its open-enrollment lottery system under a proposal to turn these schools into private partnerships: www.texasobserver.org/houston-magn...

Fort Worth ISD Parents Fear the Same Chaos that State Takeover Has Brought to Houston ISD TEA intervention into locally controlled school districts has become increasingly common—despite mixed results.

“An appointed board of managers is beholden not to local citizens. They’re beholden to Mike Morath and ultimately, Greg Abbott.”

New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: Despite months of protest, TEA announced that the takeover is coming.

Fort Worth ISD Parents Fear the Same Chaos that State Takeover Has Brought to Houston ISD TEA intervention into locally controlled school districts has become increasingly common—despite mixed results.

Fort Worth ISD fear the same chaos that state takeover has brought to Houston ISD: www.texasobserver.org/fort-worth-i... @texasaft.org @hft2415.bsky.social

States jostle over $50 billion rural health fund as Trump's Medicaid cuts trigger scramble States are battling for their piece of $50 billion in federal rural health funding, but it's not just hospitals vying for the money. Tech startups and policy demands are raising the stakes as Medicaid...

The $50 billion rural health fund was set up to help rural hospitals shoulder cuts from Trump’s OBBBA. It’s looking unlikely that will happen… www.cbsnews.com/news/states-...

Exclusive | Trump Team Plans IRS Overhaul to Enable Pursuit of Left-Leaning Groups The effort would install a Trump ally at the IRS’s criminal unit who has drawn up a list of investigative targets.

“The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily, according to people familiar with the matter.” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

“We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.” @nicolefoy.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/immi...

For Greg Abbott, Free Speech Is Just Another Political Prop Charlie Kirk defended the First Amendment. Texas betrays it in his defense.

From @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: Two days after Kirk’s murder, the Texas House speaker and lieutenant governor announced a select committee on Civil Discourse & Freedom of Speech in Higher Education, an Orwellian title for a body to ostensibly oversee two recently enacted laws policing speech.

‘I Got a Lot of People Believing in Me’: Robert Roberson Stares Down Death, Again Set to be the first U.S. person executed based on the controversial “Shaken Baby Syndrome” diagnosis, Roberson told the Observer last week he hopes his story will mean something.

“We can prove that Robert is innocent, and no reasonable jury would find otherwise if presented with all relevant medical evidence.”

New from @michellepitcher.bsky.social: Despite the evidence, and overwhelming support, Robeson's execution date is set for October 16.

Important Medicaid programs are being cut right now. The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program is the sort of program the government SHOULD get rid of, instead it’s going after the health care benefits that people actually need. MERP is wasteful spending at its absolute worst.

“Are the complainants going to be chasing people down in bathrooms? That sounds hostile to me, and it’s not really clear.”

One Woman's Fight Against Texas' Medicaid Estate Recovery Program Her mother had been in a nursing home paid for by Medicaid. Now, the state wanted its money back: “It was like wild animals pouncing on meat."

From @juliepoole.bsky.social: When callers pose even basic questions about how to get claims on their family homes dismissed, they are often left without answers. When families are hit with enormous six-figure claims, no one advocates on their behalf.

A tall bookshelf labeled "Fiction" stands behind a young masculine-presenting person singing at the top of their lungs into a microphone as they play an electric guitar.

Out today from @michellepitcher.bsky.social: At Alienated Majesty Books, the "screamo bookstore," volumes from small and indie publishers, plus works in translation, comics, and poetry stand side-by-side with shoegaze, noise and hardcore punk bands. www.texasobserver.org/night-at-the...

In Juárez, a Militarized Border Makes Drug Use More Deadly Growing security deployments pose unique challenges for harm reduction groups.

Our top story: “If you go, like, to a shopping center, just to the store or a market, you will find a lot of military trucks full of soldiers. I work with people who are homeless, and the stories that they told us are very awful.”

'Failures and Grift’: Gina Hinojosa Wants to Stop Greg Abbott from Making History The five-term Austin state representative will wage an underdog campaign to deny the powerful Texas governor an unprecedented fourth term—and the chance to further entrench his “corruption.”

Greg Abbott is "running for an unprecedented fourth term on a record of schools in crisis, housing more expensive, groceries more expensive, electricity utility rates are up. This is a record of failure, and he owns it."

America Bet the Farm on Soybeans. Then Came Trump. Collapsing soybean exports reveal an agricultural sector rife with longstanding problems.

“Trump is simultaneously wrecking American agriculture while also subsidizing its foreign competition, where several friends of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent coincidentally have large business interests. America first!” @naomibethune.bsky.social prospect.org/politics/202...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

This is staggering. “The staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the journal that reports on health trends and emerging infectious threats, was also laid off.”

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

In This Black Louisiana Town, Forests are Browning and Animals are Dying After the industrial explosion in rural Louisiana town, the EPA still says there is no health threat.

The forests that once sheltered the small town of Roseland are turning brown. Now, many residents are left wondering: Is what was left behind after the Aug. 22 blast safe? If it’s making the trees ill, what about them?

War-ravaged Portland

Awarding Influence - Public Citizen

Public Citizen identified eight companies that received nearly $1B in non-competitive state contracts between 2014—2024. During those same years, these companies, their PACs, their officers, and their employees donated nearly $3M to Texans for Greg Abbott PAC.

www.citizen.org/article/awar...

Texas Domestic Workers Face Trump Attack on Minimum Wage Advocates warn a proposed rule by the Department of Labor will deepen the country’s “crisis of care.”

Trump hastens plan to deny domestic workers the minimum wage. www.texasobserver.org/texas-domest...

Texas Domestic Workers Face Trump Attack on Minimum Wage Advocates warn a proposed rule by the Department of Labor will deepen the country’s “crisis of care.”

“It’s anti-regulation, it’s anti-Black and anti-immigrant, and it’s anti-social safety net. So these cuts that are coming together really exacerbate the crisis of care.”

New from @josephineklee.bsky.social: New Department of Labor regulations could push already struggling caregivers over the edge.

Republicans Escalate Their War on America’s Cities While some establishment Democrats attack their leftward drift

“Republicans advanced 16 bills to strip Washington, D.C., of home rule” … and additionally, “an amendment to one of those bills that would repeal D.C.’s ban on right turns on red lights.” prospect.org/politics/202...