The Texas Observer

The Troubling Disappearance of ‘El Gallito’

A Rio Grande Valley murder case was botched and evidence lost by local police and by Texas Rangers. Will anyone ever be held responsible?

In Texas Schools, a Crisis of Arrests of Kids as Young as 10

A groundbreaking data analysis shows how districts across the state are arresting and citing children for common misbehavior, leaving lasting trauma as the Legislature rejects bills to raise the age of criminal responsibility and floods schools with even more police.

The Vet, the Cattle Prod, and the ‘Guttural Wail’

An equine surgeon and Texas A&M professor has been convicted of animal cruelty after repeatedly shocking a horse in front of students, among other misdeeds, exposing the shaky ethics training of some veterinarians.

The Forgotten Children of Texas

Each year, thousands of foster children in Texas are shuffled into little-known “treatment centers” where they are frequently neglected and abused. State officials have largely ignored allegations of wrongdoing and calls for reform.

Life and Limb

Each diabetic amputation represents not just a personal tragedy, but a failure of the U.S. health-care system.