Steven Monacelli works as the Special Investigative Correspondent for the Texas Observer and is the publisher of Protean, a nonprofit literary publication. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, WIRED, Nieman Lab, and more.
Investigations
EXCLUSIVE At least 30% of adults turn to dating websites to find love these days. The largest platforms — like Match, Bumble, and Hinge — cater to a general audience. Others, like ChristianMingle and JDate, cater to specific ones. Then, there’s White Date. “Ive never joined a dating site before, so
News
“If a fascist is merely someone who opposes democracy, then let me be clear: I oppose democracy — and have always opposed democracy,” Jason Lee Van Dyke wrote. That was a part of a lengthy response I received after I’d emailed the North Texas lawyer to ask a few questions
News
In the conservative Christian movement, Charlie Kirk was more than a far-right activist — to many, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, the self-described free speech advocate who founded Turning Point USA was a martyr who died for his cause. That sentiment was on full display Tuesday night at an
Immigration
On July 12, Amber Lowrey arrived at her sister’s apartment in Fort Worth. The FBI had raided it days earlier, Lowrey said, and she surveyed the wreckage: shattered windows, broken doors, damaged floorboards from a flash bang. Agents seized four “pages of map documents,” according to a property receipt
News
EXCLUSIVE Editor’s note: This story includes quotes in which the subject uses offensive racial slurs and references to racial terror. The Barbed Wire does not condone the use of such language, but believes them to be newsworthy, important context. Any racist language has been censored with hyphens. This is
News
Texas Democrats have a message for all American voters: You’re in the redistricting fight, whether you know it or not. “This is a real stress test for democracy, and if they get away with it in Texas, then it's likely to come to a state near you,
News
The Austin Fire Department is facing another blow after a chaotic two weeks. Austin’s city manager released a proposed budget on Tuesday that includes a $8.3 million overtime funding cut for the Austin Fire Department as the Central Texas region is still reeling from catastrophic July 4 flooding
Perspectives
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you know that a young democratic socialist just swept away establishment opposition in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary election. Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman in New York defied polling odds — and conventional wisdom
News
Local lawmakers in Texas are responding to recent reports that some law enforcement agencies are using automated license plate reader technology to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. Last week, The Barbed Wire delved into data first reported by 404 Media and found that at least five law enforcement agencies
Immigration
Many law enforcement agencies across the nation, including in Texas, use networks of cameras to automatically track cars — and some are using them to support federal immigration enforcement. That’s the topline from data recently obtained through a public records request first reported by 404 Media that The Barbed Wire
Perspectives
In the late 1940s through the 1950s, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy were leading figures in the Second Red Scare. The campaign of persecution targeted people accused, often falsely, of being communist and subjected them to public shaming, blacklists, and raids. You may know it
Immigration
In a mere three months, the Trump administration has arrested legal residents, stripped them of their status, accused them of being members of transnational gangs, and sent them to a prison labor camp in a foreign country. Upon scrutiny, many of these cases reveal a disturbing pattern: many of those