The recurring question that has come up in @Pdineclah's reporting, and the establishment of our Indigenous Affairs desk, is “What does it mean to be Indigenous in Texas?”

The answer: It's complicated, but verifiable. 1/5 texasobserver.org/identity-is-a-… 2/5 This week we had two stories from our Indigenous Affairs desk dive into the thorny issue of belonging. Here’s why ⬇️ texasobserver.org/identity-is-a-…

1/ After the Atlanta shooting last night, we’re revisiting this interview with @GeneforTexas in April 2020. He talked about how racist rhetoric from Texas Republican leaders was inflaming deep-seated prejudices against Asian Americans. texasobserver.org/gene-wu-on-cor… 2/ The interview came after Jose L. Gomez, a 19-year-old charged with three counts of attempted capital murder, allegedly wanted to kill an Asian American family because he thought they were Chinese and “infecting people with coronavirus.” texasobserver.org/gene-wu-on-cor…

1/ Since March, more than 600,000 Texans have been infected with COVID-19. As of late August, more than 12,500 had died.

We hear these numbers a lot. For each, there are people who care for them, hope for them, mourn them.

These are their stories.
texasobserver.org/covid-19-portr… 2/ “It’ll take your breath away, literally,” Michael Saenz says of COVID-19.

Saenz got sick after Mother’s Day and recovered around Father’s Day. Being separated from his family was the hardest part, he says.
texasobserver.org/covid-19-portr…

1/ Through ongoing deportations, the United States, which now has had more COVID-19 cases than any nation worldwide, has become a major exporter of the virus to Guatemala and other countries, too.
texasobserver.org/the-coronaviru… 2/ Since the pandemic began, @ICEgov has reported more than 4,000 cases among its detainees.

Thousands of deportees left on at least 450 flights bound for Latin America and the Caribbean between February 3 and August 4, according to @cepr_org.
texasobserver.org/the-coronaviru…

1/ There’s a shit storm brewing in the Texas Panhandle—literally.

Communities near cattle feedlots are being choked by tiny fragments of dried manure called fecal dust. And it’s about to get a whole lot worse.
texasobserver.org/cafos-panhandl… 2/ The Observer, in collaboration with @FERNnews and @IMidwest, spent four months investigating how fecal dust affects Texans and how the state does little to stop it.
texasobserver.org/cafos-panhandl…

1/ Ozona is in the middle of a devastating health care crisis.

The town is at the center of a swath of West Texas where people can’t obtain birth control, can’t deliver a baby, and can’t get an abortion.
texasobserver.org/labor-away-wom… 2/ Ozona lost its hospital in 1996.

Today, people seeking basic reproductive health services face a 170-mile round trip drive to San Angelo.

The closest abortion clinic is in San Antonio—400 miles round trip.
texasobserver.org/labor-away-wom…

1/ Texas Democrats have slapped a big target on Senator John Cornyn's back.

Several candidates have jumped into his 2020 reelection race, convinced they can build on the party’s historic inroads in 2018 and win statewide.

It likely won’t be that simple.
texasobserver.org/john-cornyn-pr… 2/ Cornyn, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002, has mastered the art of political subservience to the prevailing winds of his party and its leaders.

Just look at his relationship with Mitch McConnell.
texasobserver.org/john-cornyn-pr…

1/ “They’re not taking the suicides seriously.”

Rural East Texas has some of the highest suicide rates in the state. But the safety net for people who need help is being stretched thin, and some Texans are falling through. texasobserver.org/warning-signs/ 2/ @collins_reports spent more than a year examining the problem. The investigation found that as suicide has quietly gripped many communities here, the state’s mental health care system is being stretched well past its limit. texasobserver.org/warning-signs/

1/ As Trump visits El Paso today, congressional negotiators are scrambling to strike a border security deal and avert a shutdown. The deal might provide $2B for border “fencing” or “barrier.”

In Texas, that could be the same as funding Trump's “wall.” texasobserver.org/the-border-fen… 2/ Last month, Congressional Democrats took a stand, refusing to trade any wall money for an end to the government shutdown. But now, it's unclear what some are willing to fund, or what they'd call the structure they end up paying for. texasobserver.org/the-border-fen…

1/ President Trump is visiting the Texas-Mexico border to discuss The Wall.

What started as an applause line at Trump’s campaign rallies has morphed into one of the dumbest policy debates in the history of American politics, writes @cd_hooks: texasobserver.org/trumps-border-… @cd_hooks 2/ Trump promised a beautiful, coast-to-coast wall — maybe as high as 40 feet — and to force Mexico to pay for it, making it double humiliation for the “enemy.”

But it was clear from the beginning that it was a simple expression of racial resentment. texasobserver.org/trumps-border-…

1/ In Checkpoint Nation, @MelissaLaLinea takes powerful look at what’s come to be known as the “border zone,” where @CBP has been given free reign to trample on constitutional rights in the name of security.

texasobserver.org/checkpoint-nat… @MelissaLaLinea @CBP 2/ Nearly two-thirds of all Americans live within the zone, the area up to 100 miles from any U.S. boundary.

Here, authorities can set up checkpoints, search/detain people without a warrant and sometimes enter private land without permission.

texasobserver.org/checkpoint-nat…

1/ Alright folks, a thread on the sordid state of Texas’ Public Information Act (PIA), the law that gives you the right to access government documents, contracts and emails. "Access Denied" is @collins_reports' latest @TexasObserver feature: texasobserver.org/access-denied/ #txlege 2/ The PIA, passed after infamous Sharpstown Scandal in the 1970s, once was the gold standard of state open records laws. But since, #TxLege has hacked 63 exceptions into the law. State Supreme Court decisions, such as 2015’s Boeing v. Paxton, have further limited its usefulness.