Barge hits a bridge in Galveston, Texas, damaging the structure and causing an oil spill

“A barge hit a bridge in Galveston, #Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a small island, officials said.”

https://apnews.com/article/6c112f0032ab88fbdd0c78d1957247c8

Galveston bridge: Barge damages structure, causes oil spill

Officials say a barge has hit a bridge in Galveston, Texas, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a small island.

^{AP News}

“They almost annihilated us, and that genocide continues. To destroy the environment you have to destroy the people who protect it.”

From our magazine: An industrial buildout on the southern tip of #Texas is erasing the last traces of an ancient world that still hasn’t died. From Correspondent Dylan Baddour: https://www.texasobserver.org/forgotten-keepers-of-the-rio-grande-delta/

#news #politics #USpol #environment #ClimateChange #Indigenous #SouthTexas

Defenders of the Delta: A Tribal Leader Fights for Ancestral Land in South Texas

Juan Mancias leads the Carrizo/Comecrudo, unrecognized and little-known, in a struggle against fossil fuels, SpaceX, and historical erasure.

^{Dylan Baddour (The Texas Observer)}

Living on the edge 🐞

#Photography #Wildlife #Nature #Insects #Ladybug #WildlifePhotography #NaturePhotography #Texas

Migrants and asylum seekers reach through a border wall for clothing handed out by volunteers as they wait between two border walls to apply for asylum in San Diego. Hundreds of people remain waiting between the two walls, many for days

Photograph: Gregory Bull/AP

@photography
#migrants
#Texas

A family wriggles under concertina wire along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas

Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

@photography
#migrants
#Mexico
#Texas

The powerful Laredo congressman is indicted for allegedly acting as a foreign agent for Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank in exchange for at least $600,000 in bribes. New today from Lise Olsen and Justin Miller ... https://www.texasobserver.org/henry-cuellar-indictment-bribery-azerbaijan-mexico/

#Texas #corruption

If money is speech, and corporations are people, then #UTAustin, through the #UTIMCO non-profit corporation that manages its endowment, should be allowed to divest from any investment vehicle it so chooses, regardless of what #abbott or any other #Texas lawmaker thinks to the contrary. I'd love to see that conundrum make its way to our present supreme court.

#scotus #BDS #israel #palestine #gaza #austin #AustinTX #atx #CitizensUnited #MittRomney

Earlier: From Joe Biden to Colin Allred, #Democrats are flip-flopping on an issue at the heart of the American experiment. Shouldn't we expect better from them? https://www.texasobserver.org/border-immigration-cowardice-democrats-biden-allred/

#border #news #politics #USpol #Biden #immigration #HumanRights #Texas

Borderline Cowardice: Democrats Flip-Flop on the American Dream (Again)

From Joe Biden to Colin Allred, election-season Dems take too lightly an issue at the heart of our national experiment: immigration.

^{Gus Bova (The Texas Observer)}

The arrest of two city council members in a small #Texas town set off a firestorm of legal controversy that's reaching all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. From Correspondent Jason Buch, in our magazine: https://www.texasobserver.org/small-town-politics-national-consequences/

#news #politics #USpol #SCOTUS #police #CriminalJustice #law #SouthTexas

Did a Tiny Texas Town Misuse Arrests to Silence Critics?

A power struggle in the suburban enclave of Castle Hills got so bad that the Supreme Court is being asked to clarify the definition of retaliatory arrests.

^{Jason Buch (The Texas Observer)}

UT Austin, my employer, beats and jails students engaged in peaceful protest, then manufactures propaganda that deeply misrepresents what the students were doing and had planned to do.

How am I supposed to work at an institution willing to hurt any students I recruit to come here? This is untenable.

#UTAustin #Texas

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2024-05-03/uts-war-on-students/

UT’s War on Students

A peaceful protest spiraled when law enforcement showed up. Now the university has doubled down.

^{www.austinchronicle.com}

The #DOJ is expected to announce the #indictment of longtime Rep #HenryCuellar, US House of Representatives #Democrat of #Texas.

Cuellar’s home & campaign office in Laredo, Texas, were raided in Jan 2022 as part of a federal investigation into #Azerbaijan & a group of US businessmen who have ties to the country. His office had pledged to cooperate w/the investigation.

#law #Congress
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/doj-expected-announce-indictment-texas-democratic-rep-henry-cuellar-so-rcna150567

DOJ expected to announce indictment of Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, sources say

Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar is expected to be indicted by the Justice Department.

^{Ryan Nobles (NBC News)}

👀DOJ expected to announce indictment of #Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, sources say

Federal authorities searched the Democrat's home in Laredo in 2022 as part of an investigation into the country of Azerbaijan and a group of U.S. businessmen.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/doj-expected-announce-indictment-texas-democratic-rep-henry-cuellar-so-rcna150567

DOJ expected to announce indictment of Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, sources say

Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar is expected to be indicted by the Justice Department.

^{Ryan Nobles (NBC News)}

For all the hand-wringing over “illegals” breaking the law, this story of an illegal dam that messed with the water supply of millions of people downstream, built on the private ranch of one of the *border wall contractors*, is something.

#Texas #Water

https://www.kxan.com/texas-water/illegal-dam-on-james-river-torn-down-while-another-dam-pops-up-in-mason-county/

NEW: Border communities in #Texas have purchased a technology that tracks people through their Bluetooth and WiFi signals. It can track you through your wireless earbuds. The product is called Trafficatch & it's integrated into license plate reader systems

https://www.notus.org/technology/war-zone-surveillance-border-us

War Zone Surveillance Technology Is Hitting American Streets

At least two Texas communities along the U.S.-Mexico border have purchased technology that tracks people’s locations using data from personal electronics and license plates.

^{Byron Tau (NOTUS)}

It's important to know that Texas has a law that re-affirms the 1st amendment and guarantees that public college campuses can be used for public demonstrations.

Watch this 👇🏿

#UTAustin #Texas #FreePalestine

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration Monday for expanding federal sex discrimination protections under Title IX to include LGBTQ+ students.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/lgbtq/2024/04/29/484892/texas-sues-biden-administration-to-block-expansion-of-lgbtq-student-protections/

#LGBTQ #News #Politics #Texas #KenPaxton #SexBasedDiscrimination #TitleIX #TransRights

Texas sues Biden administration to block expansion of LGBTQ+ student protections

The new Title IX rules expanded the definition of sex-based harassment. Paxton said the change distorted the original intent of the law.

^{Sneha Dey (Houston Public Media)}

Barricades are going up around the clock tower and I've seen some state troopers on motorcycles approaching the area. Activists are still chanting and holding space.

#Palestine #Austin #Texas #UTAustin

Here is the official dispersal order issued to students on the South Lawn of #UTAustin.

#Palestine #Austin #Texas

Activists are linking arms and have tables in the way to protect those putting up tents at the South Lawn of #UTAustin. Police are here but outnumbered.

#Austin #Texas #Palestine

Hundreds of people are here to support #Palestine and for a rally for educators and staff affected by the ban on #DEI at #UTAustin.

#Austin #Texas #news #activism

“When members of the public are engaged in a peaceful #protest in a public space—assuming they are not obstructing traffic, or disrupting campus activities—there is very little legal basis for law enforcement to demand they leave.”

From yesterday: A UT professor and expert on freedom of expression weighs in on the controversial arrests of 57 individuals on campus. https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-palestine-first-amendment/

#FreeSpeech #UTAustin #Palestine #activism #Austin #Texas #police #StudentSpring

Did Texas Police Violate First Amendment Rights of Pro-Palestine Protesters?

A UT professor and expert on freedom of expression weighs in on the controversial arrests of 57 individuals, including a journalist, at a campus demonstration.

^{Francesca D’Annunzio (The Texas Observer)}

Army National Guard soldiers stand in the background as Michel, 26, of Venezuela, protects her seven-year-old daughter Aranza from Mexican immigration authorities patrolling near the dry riverbed of the Rio Grande as the migrants search for entry into the United States from the international boundary between Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas April 24. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

@photography
#migrants
#Mexico
#Texas
#women
#children

#Texas Appeals Court Throws Out Defamation Lawsuit Against ProPublica, Houston Chronicle
==

The news outlets’ 2018 investigation into famed #Houston heart surgeon Bud Frazier provided a “fair, true, and impartial account,” the court said in its ruling, potentially bringing a close to the nearly six-year legal battle.

#News #Law #Journalism

https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-appeals-court-dismisses-defamation-suit-propublica-houston-chronicle-frazier

Appeals Court Dismisses Defamation Suit Against ProPublica, Houston Chronicle

The news outlets’ 2018 investigation into famed Houston heart surgeon Bud Frazier provided a “fair, true, and impartial account,” the court said in its ruling, potentially bringing a close to the nearly six-year legal battle.

^ProPublica

This is not Iran or China. It's Austin, Texas:

#texas #journalism #democracy #fediverse #usa #america #campusprotest #columbia #mit #police

Statements on today's #police violence against peaceful protesters at the UT #Austin campus. Ryan Alter is on Austin City Council. Jeremi Suri is Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and married to Austin City Council member Alison Alter.

#Palestine #Texas #activism #police

About 50 #Texas DPS State Troopers were sent out in response to a peaceful attempt to march and occupy a Plaza at UT #Austin today. Reportedly three arrests according to those on scene.

DPS troopers detain protest organizer at UT Austin pro-Palestine demonstration
https://cbsaustin.com/amp/news/local/dps-troopers-detain-protest-organizer-at-ut-austin-pro-palestine-demonstration

#Palestine #news #politics #USpol

Cops just arrested the Fox 7 reporter live on their own livestream. https://www.youtube.com/live/zDN8GEVSCxs?si=UXWSCyfDJpCbvUJy

#journalism #media #Palestine #Texas #Austin

Palestine college protest: Texas students walk out; state troopers on campus | FOX 7 Austin

Hundreds of University of Texas students walked out of class for a rally organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee. Hundreds of police officers are als...

^YouTube

From yesterday: Environmental advocates called it “a land grab of Boca Chica State Park land for a private space corporation that is clearly not in the public interest.” So why is the state parks agency seemingly so eager to work with #SpaceX? https://www.texasobserver.org/spacex-tpwd-park-land-musk/

#politics #ElonMusk #news #USpol #Texas #corruption #environment #pollution #SouthTexas

The SpaceX Land Swap Is Only the Latest Texas Public Park Giveaway

Does the state parks agency serve the people, or corporate interests?

^{Lise Olsen (The Texas Observer)}

I’m probably the last person on earth to learn this, or at least the last Texan to learn this: lady longhorns…have long horns. I just assumed big horns = bull. There’s two longhorn cows that live on land near my neighborhood, every time I drive by I say ‘I should take their photo’. Finally, on Sunday, I drove by & saw they were out. Went back to house, grabbed camera and swung back. Looking at the photos later I was udderly amazed to see…udders on them thar #longhorns.

#cows #photography #Texas

“It is likely that there are many more heat-related injuries and deaths than TDCJ has acknowledged because hyperthermia is known to be an underreported cause of #death...”

New plaintiffs have expanded a 2023 lawsuit against TDCJ, accusing the agency of “cooking [prisoners] to death”. From Staff Writer Michelle Pitcher: https://www.texasobserver.org/prison-heat-lawsuit-tdcj/

#news #politics #USpol #prison #HumanRights #Texas

'There Have to Be Limits': Lawsuit Urges Scorching Prisons to Cool Down ‘There Have to Be Limits’: Lawsuit Urges Scorching Prisons to Cool Down

^{Michelle Pitcher (The Texas Observer)}

Utility-related fires are wreaking havoc across the United States. Since 2017, fires related to electricity transmission have burned at least 3 million acres.

New today: A closer look at the #Texas Panhandle fire, and why it's a grim preview of our near future. From our friends at Sierra Club magazine ... https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-panhandle-fire-climate-environment/

#wildfire #ClimateChange #environment #news #politics #USpol #weather #fire #drought #energy

The Epic Texas Panhandle Fire Is Just a Preview

Texas officials go to bat for oil and gas while the climate-fueled Smokehouse Creek Fire still rages.

^{Christopher Collins (The Texas Observer)}

Wut.

Via Kyle Cheney:

Apparently, in #Texas, state bar investigators did such a "scattershot" job putting together its complaint against #SidneyPowell for her role in the 2020 election that an appeals court has thrown the case out. #legal 🤦🏻‍♀️
https://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=430b390e-0f80-43e2-9d6b-53a97caf9fb9&MediaID=e591d629-9c76-4d77-920d-f04faab58bf7&coa=%22%20+%20this.CurrentWebState.CurrentCourt%20+%20@%22&DT=Opinion

“We must have this national conversation. How are we going to deal with long #COVID?”

Featured post: Medical experts and those suffering from this challenging condition are demanding better—more research and healthier air to breathe. https://www.texasobserver.org/long-covid-texas-clearing-the-air/

(Edit: adjusted word choice based on reader feedback 🤠)

#LongCovid #Health #news #politics #USpol #science #healthcare #research #CovidIsNotOver #Austin #Texas

Clearing the Air: Long COVID Sufferers Call for a Healthier World

Even young, healthy Texans can suffer for years after COVID infections.

^{Kit O'Connell (The Texas Observer)}