Texas political economy reporter @HoustonChron. Stories @nytimes @citylab @texasmonthly. Author of CITY LIMITS @CrownPublishing. Professionally curious.
Austin, TX
Joined July 2009
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hello, some news: CITY LIMITS is now available in paperback!!! with a new afterword & updated reporting. To celebrate, here's a🧵with some of my favorite coverage of the book.
Megan Kimble retweeted
Counties across Texas have reported record-breaking turnout during the first week of early voting, including tens of thousands of mail-in ballots. But as of Friday, the totals on the state’s election website didn’t match many of those being touted by local officials. bit.ly/3Ugwprb
Discrepancies between early vote totals reported on state’s election website and those reported by counties is due to the state's glitch-plagued voter roll system, local election officials say. NEW in @HoustonChron houstonchronicle.com/politic…
Megan Kimble retweeted
TCEQ has now suspended at least 17 permits issued to data center-related projects since Abbott's pause, @PublicCitizenTX reports
15 stormwater and 2 wastewater permits
citizen.org/news/tceq-backtr…
TCEQ has now shut down its electronic filing system while it evaluates which applications are related to data centers
www3.tceq.texas.gov/steers/
🚨NEW: Nearly a quarter of the 630 data centers planned, under construction or operating in Texas are in areas without any groundwater regulation, according to an exclusive @HoustonChron analysis. houstonchronicle.com/politic…
Megan Kimble retweeted
Texas regulators have advanced at least 16 permit applications related to data center projects since Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a pause last month. houstonchronicle.com/politic…
Megan Kimble retweeted
Lot of people pretending to be Texas experts on TV these days. But do you want to know how @KenPaxtonTX can still win this race - from folks on the ground?
@sgonzalezkelly @caseyrmurray & I spanned out across The Great State to show what's happening on the ground & Paxton's path
No gut feelings. Real data. houstonchronicle.com/politic…
Megan Kimble retweeted
Lots of tough talk in recent weeks from Abbott and Paxton over getting data centers to report water consumption.
But the penalty for noncompliance?
$500.
via @alereports
texastribune.org/2026/10/14/…
HALF of Texas families have someone skipping meals or eating less as food costs rise, new poll says. From @keratx keranews.org/health-wellness…
Megan Kimble retweeted
Breaking: A federal judge has ordered Texas to air condition all of the state’s prisons by the end of 2029.
Just over a third of the agency’s 104 facilities were fully air conditioned as of Sept. 1. bit.ly/3TFB0TD
Megan Kimble retweeted
woah. Court just unsealed Summary Judgment motions in New York Times v OpenAI / Microsoft.
Easy to see why the AI companies had so many redactions (pink). Their own people wrote the lede for NYT, the "largest theft of labor in human history"... "more and more substitutive..." /1
NEW: Texas' insurance commissioner "encourages" insurers to offer discounts to homeowners that harden their homes against natural disasters.
Mandatory reductions would have to come from the legislature next year.
background @HoustonChron houstonchronicle.com/politic…
Megan Kimble retweeted
The ground is swelling with oilfield wastewater along the Texas-Louisiana border, a well-documented problem. Some of that waste pollutes drinking water sources. houstonchronicle.com/news/in…
texans: can we have some trains?
txdot: how about "air taxis"?
Launching a new way to fly in Texas. We’re kicking off a pilot program to test what are commonly called “air taxis” at an event in Fort Worth with @SecDuffy @USDOT #TxDOTAviation
Megan Kimble retweeted
The effort is the latest in a series of recent escalations over dwindling water resources across much of the state, and especially in arid West Texas. houstonchronicle.com/politic…
NEW in @HoustonChron: A water fight is brewing in West Texas, where a distant public utility has bought the right to pump almost all of the available water from an aquifer near Fort Stockton that is a lifeline for dozens of local ranchers.
houstonchronicle.com/politic…
Megan Kimble retweeted
Scoop: The Texas Public Policy Foundation disclosed what conservatives may want to do amidst the data center and transmission backlash — pass legislation to penalize solar and wind so fossil energy supplies more energy to the AI hyperscaler boom. For @heatmap_news
Megan Kimble retweeted
We’ve got exclusive new polling on local data center development at @heatmap_news.
Over the past year, we’ve asked Americans whether they would support or oppose a data center being built near where they live.
We haven’t changed the wording. When we first polled the question a year ago, Americans were split 43-42 on support/oppose.
When we asked again in Feb, a bare majority opposed data centers.
Today, 75% of Americans say they would oppose a data center being built near where they live, and 61% said they would “strongly oppose” such a proposal.
It’s a swift, massive shift in US public opinion on a scale that I wouldn’t have once thought possible. More details, including the party ID & rural/urban breakdown, in my new story: heatmap.news/daily/data-cent…
NEW in @HoustonChron: A group of homeowners is suing the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, saying the coastal insurer fraudulently lowered claims after Hurricane Beryl
houstonchronicle.com/politic…
Megan Kimble retweeted
At the West Texas Legislative Session, asked what the 90(R) priorities are, @Burrows4TX says: "It’s going to be a property tax, affordability session."
He also mentioned infrastructure and insurance.
"And also...I've got a great idea on feral hogs." #txlege
Megan Kimble retweeted
Megan Kimble's CITY LIMITS is out today in paperback!
This is an eye-opening investigation into how our expanding urban highways have accelerated inequality and fractured communities. It exposes the social and environmental cost, but also shines a light on the people fighting for a more sustainable and connected future.
Grab your copy wherever you like to shop!
penguinrandomhouse.com/books…
