☎️ The voter-fraud tip line comes for its founder
Paxton's own voting address is under scrutiny, the Bible's headed to Texas classrooms, ICE kills a man in Houston, Democrats float $1,500 checks — and flesh-eating flies enter the feral-hog debate.
Brian Gaar
Brian is founding member of The Barbed Wire team. A longtime Texas journalist, he has written for the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas Monthly, and more. He was also a writer and producer at Rooster Teeth.
Camp Mystic files for bankruptcy, a heated Senate race, one missing giraffe🦒
Howdy y’all, it’s Brian Gaar with The Barbed Wire. Welcome back to Texas, which continues to be the only state capable of producing all of these headlines at the same time. Nearly a year after the deadly Hill Country floods, Camp Mystic is filing for bankruptcy, and the
Flesh-Eating Worms, Hemp Chaos, and a Blue Texas?
Democrats think they might finally flip Texas, state officials are fighting over flesh-eating worms, hemp retailers are once again trying to determine whether their businesses exist in a legal dimension, and Texas Tech is embroiled in a controversy.
🗣️The Texans Who Refused To Shut Up
This week’s stories are about the Texans who built communities, whether that meant opening Black-owned bookstores during a racial reckoning or organizing queer mutual aid in Dallas, decades before Stonewall.
Trump Finally Endorses Paxton, Cornyn Reduced to ‘Good Man’ Status
Donald Trump has officially endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, bucking his party's mainstream donors and siding with the MAGA favorite in the May 26 Republican runoff. In a statement roughly the length of a Russian novel, Trump praised Paxton as an “America First
Did Whataburger ‘Fall Off’? We Sent a Team of Texas Comedians to Investigate.
EXCLUSIVE It was 6 p.m. in downtown Austin. Traffic was humming, and responsible adults were bustling, which is to say it was absolutely the wrong time to eat Whataburger. Whataburger is 2 a.m. food. Eating it while the sun is still up feels like seeing a teacher at
‘I Hate This.’ Texas Cracks Down on THC, Maddening Us All.
Texas is about to Thanos-snap a big chunk of what’s sitting on hemp shop shelves. Thanks to a rules shift taking effect on Tuesday, products that were legal yesterday are suddenly failing the test, sending retailers and THC fans into a tailspin. The Texas Department of State Health
The Texas GOP’s Senate Cage Match Goes to Overtime
Get ready for John Cornyn vs. Ken Paxton: The Sequel Nobody Asked For. After nearly $95 million in attack ads, divorce drama and enough Republican infighting to require protective year, Texas voters have generously decided we all get to do this again in May. Yes, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn
PBS Was a ‘Cultural Life Vest’ for Kids Like Me Before the Internet. The Fight to Keep Public Media Alive Feels Personal.
It was the ‘80s, and I was a kid who had trouble sleeping. In the wee small hours of the morning, there was one station that remained on the air: PBS. Watching on my black-and-white TV with a screen no bigger than a deck of cards, I remember
Woman Placed in Solitary After Viral Cat Fundraiser Is Back in Regular Housing, Texas Prison Officials Say
We’ve got an update on the Texas inmate who was thrown in solitary confinement after her daughter raised money to help a sick cat (yes, really): She’s finally back in regular housing. Texas prison officials confirmed that Sonya Reed, 53, is no longer in administrative segregation, which is
After a Prison Cat Fundraiser Went Viral, Texas Officials Put His Caretaker in Solitary Confinement
Just days after a fundraiser to save a sick stray cat at a Central Texas women’s prison raised nearly $11,000, Texas prison officials placed the incarcerated woman who cared for the cat into solitary confinement — despite the fact that she did not organize the fundraiser or receive any
‘I Didn’t Know So Many People Cared.’ How the Daughter of an Incarcerated Woman Raised $11,000 for a Sick Prison Cat.
In a place defined by razor wire, locked doors, and long sentences, a stray cat named OJ became something rare: a constant, living comfort for women who have access to very little else. And recently when OJ fell seriously ill inside a Central Texas prison, his survival came down to