Abysmal compliance with a decades-old state law is leaving at least 180,000 high school seniors off the current voter rolls.
THIS WEEK: About two-thirds of Texas high schools are not following a state law that mandates giving all eligible students the opportunity to register to vote, according to a new report. That means hundreds of thousands of potential voters have been left off the rolls.
In our August cover story, Sophie Novack and Michael Barajas dig into the flawed disaster recovery process in a Texas city fighting for survival. As Port Arthur's population shrinks with each storm, the city’s future is now in question. And is the dizzying disaster recovery bureaucracy helping residents, or driving them further into poverty?
Even before last year's hurricane, parts of the city looked like a disaster zone. Blue FEMA tarps that predate Harvey can be spotted on roofs across the city, a sign that the city and its residents haven’t recovered yet from past storms. Further, Port Arthur’s Jefferson County was second only to Harris County in the number of damaged housing units from Harvey. Yet Port Arthur didn’t even make it on the state’s first list of long-term housing recovery programs approved early this year.
“They’re talking about people wanting to come back,” said Beatrice Sanders, who’s lived in a FEMA trailer next to her moldy home in Port Arthur for 8 months. “Come back to what?”
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From the archives
Cody Wilson, Austin's Edgelord Prince
Cody Wilson, a self-described "crypto-anarchist," is a 3D-printed-gun designer who lives in Austin. His company, Defense Distributed, has this week been the subject of a Donald Trump tweet and been on the wrong end of a federal judge's ruling.
From the story: “Wilson today can feel like old news, replaced by the new-new radical of the alt-right. Even so, he continues to busk for outrageous headlines and shock-value interviews from his home in Austin — here building a crowdfunding site called Hatreon to cater to hate groups banned from Kickstarter or Patreon, there developing ‘ghost gun’ technology to just barely comply with what federal gun laws will allow him to publish and sell. His international menace may have dimmed to mere local notoriety, but Wilson isn’t going anywhere.”
What’s Happening at the Observer
Submissions are still open for the eighth annual Texas Observer Short Story Contest. Enter by August 6 for the chance to win $1,000 and publication in our October issue. This year's guest judge is Natalia Sylvester.
The Texas Observer has a brand-new merch store! Here you can find all kinds of new ways to show your support for the work we do. Show the world your love for independent investigative journalism, and help pay for it all at the same time!
The "State of Drought" events are over — but the conversation doesn't have to end. We launched a Facebook group dedicated to a deep dive discussion of Texas' convoluted and outdated water policy. To join, follow this link and answer a simple screening question.
