Josephine Lee
@josephinelee.bsky.social
Reporter at the Texas Observer Email: lee@texasobserver.org Signal: Josephineklee.14 https://www.texasobserver.org/author/josephine-lee/
Kids as young as 10 are being arrested and cited in school for common misbehavior. The state can raise the age of criminal responsibility to address this. www.texasobserver.org/texas-school...
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 o...
texasobserver.org
Our July/August cover story today, a major investigation from @josephinelee.bsky.social into arrests and criminal citations of Texas students as young as 10. The state can absolutely raise the age of criminal responsibility to mitigate this. www.texasobserver.org/texas-school...
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 o...
texasobserver.org
NEW: No state has taken over as many local public school districts as Texas. Four of those came this spring. At least another 10 are at risk of takeover, including the Austin Independent School District. By @josephinelee.bsky.social @texasobserver.org
Texas State Takeover of Local School Districts Expands, Raising Concerns
Since 2020, the state education agency has taken over eight school districts — four in just the past few months — and installed leaders linked to Houston’s controversial superintendent, Mike Miles. At...
propublica.org
“The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will decide on a key constitutional question …: Do undocumented immigrants have the same right to challenge their detention as citizens and legal immigrants?” @ujohnnyg.bsky.social www.texastribune.org/2026/05/21/t...
Can undocumented immigrants legally challenge detention?
Last year the Trump administration launched a policy of keeping all immigrants arrested by ICE in detention without the right to request bond, reversing decades of established law.
texastribune.org
“Despite the federal investigation, HISD appears to be continuing its plan to move some students with disabilities to new campuses.” www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...
HISD under federal investigation over plans for special education services
Despite the federal investigation, HISD appears to be continuing its plan to move some students with disabilities to new campuses.
houstonchronicle.com
After 20 years in office, opponents say Texas State Rep. Hubert Vo is becoming out of touch and absent. Now, he must survive a runoff against Alief school board member Darlene Breaux. www.texasobserver.org/hubert-vo-in...
In Diverse Southwest Houston, Longtime Incumbent Hubert Vo Forced into Runoff Row
After 20 years in office, opponents say he’s become out of touch and absent. Now he must survive a runoff against Alief school board member Darlene Breaux.
texasobserver.org
New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: In one of Texas most diverse districts, state representative Hubert Vo is up against Darlene Breaux, a school board member, in an increasingly divisive electoral battle.
In Diverse Southwest Houston, Longtime Incumbent Hubert Vo Forced into Runoff Row
After 20 years in office, opponents say he’s become out of touch and absent. Now he must survive a runoff against Alief school board member Darlene Breaux.
texasobserver.org
School voucher billionaire Jeff Yass “is the top beneficiary of a state tax loophole that allows the wealthy to write off billions in donations to private and religious schools.” By @freddy-brewster.bsky.social www.levernews.com/how-a-tax-lo...
How A Tax Loophole Drained Schools And Enriched A Trump Megadonor
Billionaire GOP donor Jeffrey Yass scored millions in private-school tax credits while he bankrolled the lawmakers who expanded them.
levernews.com
Interesting story about how one man’s push for limited government in Texas cities is leaving residents without services and affecting Dallas. www.propublica.org/article/art-...
Meet the Mayor of a Tiny Texas Town Who Wants to Limit How Cities Can Govern
A push to restrict local governments’ ability to decide how they spend their money and which policies they can adopt is having downstream effects in tiny towns and big cities like Dallas.
propublica.org
573 baristas in 29 Starbucks stores in Texas are unionized. And it’s growing. @sbworkersunited.org www.texasobserver.org/contract-neg...
As Contract Negotiations Drag On, Texas Starbucks Workers Have Learned the Power of Organizing
“We have an in everywhere. It's not hard to talk to other people that do the same thing that you do on a daily basis, and oftentimes they have the same grievances that you do."
texasobserver.org
New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: It’s the fastest-growing union campaign in modern history. Workers at 29 Texas Starbucks stores have unionized since June 2022. Nationally, that figure stands at 582, out of nearly 17,000, according to a spokesperson at Starbucks Workers United.
As Contract Negotiations Drag On, Texas Starbucks Workers Have Learned the Power of Organizing
“We have an in everywhere. It's not hard to talk to other people that do the same thing that you do on a daily basis, and oftentimes they have the same grievances that you do."
texasobserver.org
State appointed superintendent Mike Miles cancels moonlighting contract, which appears to violate state law. www.texasobserver.org/mike-miles-m...
Mike Miles Cancels Moonlighting Contract with His Former Charter School Network
Houston ISD says its state-appointed superintendent has ended a paid agreement with Third Future Schools, after the Observer obtained the contract and requested comment. A 2025 state law restricts moo...
texasobserver.org
New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: Mike Miles’ contract with Houston ISD allowed him to do outside consulting. But contract work as a consultant for Third Future Schools may have violated state law. Miles canceled the contract after the Observer asked about it.
Mike Miles Cancels Moonlighting Contract with Former Charter School Network
Houston ISD says its state-appointed superintendent has ended a paid agreement with Third Future Schools, after the Observer obtained the contract and requested comment. A 2025 state law restricts…
texasobserver.org
New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: Under threat of possible takeovers by the Texas Education Agency, 9 school districts are set to hand over 15 public schools to Third Future Schools-Texas, a charter school operator previously run by state-appointed Houston ISD superintendent Mike Miles.
Mike Miles’ Former Charter School Network Expands Its Footprint in Texas
Some school district leaders say they believed they had only one option for a partnership to avoid state takeover.
texasobserver.org
Some school district leaders say they believed they had only one option—to enter into a partnership with the Houston superintendent's former charter network— to avoid state takeover. www.texasobserver.org/mike-miles-f...
Mike Miles’ Former Charter School Network Expands Its Footprint in Texas
Some school district leaders say they believed they had only one option for a partnership to avoid state takeover.
texasobserver.org
Putting Texans first, huh? www.texastribune.org/2026/03/27/d... and www.texastribune.org/2026/03/26/t... by @kaylaguo.bsky.social
Texas House speaker puts New Mexico secession on 2027 agenda
The Republican speaker’s interim charges also covered water resources, foreign threats and government accountability.
texastribune.org
Charles Flores is on death row based on wavering evidence from a witness, police hypnosis and other unreliable testimony. Listen to more about the ins and outs of Betty Black’s murder and the search to find the truth behind it by @michellepitcher.bsky.social www.texasobserver.org/riding-shotg...
'Riding Shotgun': New Observer True Crime Podcast Explores Death Row Case of Charles Flores
With Free Range Productions, Michelle Pitcher digs deep into a conviction involving a dubious hypnosis technique.
texasobserver.org
“Even sites once protected by Congress, including a butterfly refuge and a historic church, are slated for fencing funded by the “one big beautiful bill”—while the river itself is transformed by a floating barrier.” www.texasobserver.org/trump-border...
After 20 Years of Resistance, Trump Is Walling Off the Rio Grande Valley
Even sites once protected by Congress, including a butterfly refuge and a historic church, are slated for fencing funded by the “one big beautiful bill”—while the river itself is transformed by a floa...
texasobserver.org
“If you follow poker, you know the line about the folly of drawing to an inside straight. The odds are about 10-to-1 against your drawing the right card. To continue the poker metaphor, what Trump has done with Republican judges is to fold a straight flush.” prospect.org/2026/03/20/h...
How Trump Lost the Courts - The American Prospect
With every passing day, another federal judge issues a scathing order to contain Trump’s autocracy and Trump keeps alienating the Supreme Court.
prospect.org
Drive around Fort Worth, or any populous Texas city, and you’ll see Muslim mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, Sikh gurdwaras, and Jewish synagogues, as well as Christian churches of all sizes and varieties. A diversity that depends on a wall of separation. www.texasobserver.org/a-wall-thats...
A Wall That’s Worth Defending
Some evangelical Christians are hammering away at the very church-state separation that allowed them, and other believers, to first flourish in America.
texasobserver.org
Featured story: "It didn’t take long before Tammy Fogle, the leader of our local Moms for Liberty group, issued 27 book challenges. She had no children attending our schools, but SB 13 had opened the door for her."
How a High School Librarian in Abilene Fought Back Against Moms for Liberty
I entered this profession just as the storm clouds of the current book-banning push were starting to gather; now I’m in the middle of it.
texasobserver.org
Last week's top story, from Texas Observer magazine: “Long term, it’s going to set a lot of precedent that pushes the law away from environmental protection, which will either lead to more-harmful outcomes for the environment or will necessitate the development of new legal and policy approaches.”
Man v. Nature: Trump Appointees Are Shredding Environmental Protections
Federal appellate courts are enacting an anti-environment agenda—especially in the ultraconservative 5th Circuit, new analysis shows.
texasobserver.org
From @dylanbaddour.bsky.social at @insideclimatenews.org: City officials in Corpus Christi on Tuesday released modeling that showed emergency cuts to water demand could be required as soon as May as reservoir levels continue to decline.
Corpus Christi Cuts Timeline to Disaster as Abbott Issues Emergency Orders
The governor’s office said the city’s two main reservoirs could dry up by May, much sooner than previous timelines. But authorities still offer no plan for curtailment of water use.
texasobserver.org
“The U.S. Education Department is handing off a portion of its student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department, a first step toward shedding management of all student loans as Trump administration officials dismantle the federal education agency.” www.dallasnews.com/news/educati...
Some student loans moved from Department of Education. What does it mean for borrowers?
The agreement outlines a stunning realignment of the federal student loan programs, which have been overseen by the Education Department since it was created...
dallasnews.com
Straight up- on the closure of 12 HISD schools. youtu.be/R2R-TivoFQk
Board of Puppets Feb 26, 2026
YouTube video by HISD Board of Puppets
youtu.be
“Harris County landlords dodged $119M in property taxes last year using controversial tax-break deals” www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...
Harris County landlords dodged $119 million in property taxes, report shows
Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy tallied the property taxes being avoided through public facility corporations and other tax-break deals.
houstonchronicle.com
🚨BREAKING: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is publicly offering to abandon his U.S. Senate campaign if Senate Republicans agree to change the filibuster rules and pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping anti-voting bill. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Paxton offers to drop Senate bid if Republicans pass SAVE America Act
The message quickly drew praise from online far-right activists.
democracydocket.com
U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday sent panicked residents of the capital, Tehran, into the streets and parents racing back to schools where they had just dropped off their children. Follow live updates. trib.al/yRLAlzO
“This is the eighth military intervention of Trump’s second term in office”
U.S. launches 'major combat operations' in Iran, Trump says
On Saturday Donald Trump announced the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran with strikes designed to prevent nuclear weapons and help Iranians.
ms.now
“Nobody’s coming to save the working class and the regular American, so we might as well step up and save ourselves.” www.texasobserver.org/texas-labor-...
Can Labor Candidates Help Texas Dems Win Back Power?
A slate of union-affiliated candidates are taking the labor movement on the campaign trail up and down the ballot.
texasobserver.org