Our Most-Read Stories of 2024

Web traffic is a fickle thing, somewhat subject to the whims of tech overlords. And an overemphasis on traffic is also a path to sacrificing journalism’s higher callings, as sensationalism and even misinformation tend to sell rather well. 

Still, online readership data is one useful tool for us to figure out what you, the Texas Observer audience, want from us and what we should consider doing more often. So, for my benefit and hopefully yours, here’s a list of 10 of our most-read stories of 2024 (measured by web traffic only). 

The top two stories here, investigations of social media nazis and charter schools, were far and away our most-read of the year. After that, the list is lightly curated to reflect the diversity of Observer stories that y’all loved this year.

Here’s to a 2025 of once again afflicting and comforting the proper respective targets. Lord knows, we’ll have our hands full.

1. Revealed: the Operators Behind Four Major Neo-Nazi X Accounts. Anonymity has long been a tactic used by extremists to spread their ideology while avoiding social consequences, from Klansmen hoods to online pseudonyms. By Steven Monacelli and Tristan Lee

(Screenshot collage)

2. Mike Miles Moved Texas School Funds to Colorado Through a Possible Shell Corporation Without a Paper Trail. An Observer investigation has found irregularities in how the Houston ISD superintendent’s Colorado charter school nonprofit did business in Texas. By Josephine Lee

Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles speaks to reporters during a press conference in 2023. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

3. Texas State Police Gear Up for Massive Expansion of Surveillance Tech. DPS plans to spend millions in taxpayer dollars on a controversial software, used first as part of Governor Abbott’s border crackdown, to “disrupt potential domestic terrorism.” By Francesca D’Annunzio

DPS state troopers at the Capitol in 2020 (Michael Barajas)

4. Ivan Cantu Is Set to Be Executed. But Did He Get a Fair Trial? Texas courts refused to hear new legal arguments that could support the Dallas man’s innocence. By Michelle Pitcher

Ivan Cantu sat on death row at Texas’ Polunsky Unit since 2001. (Michelle Pitcher/Texas Observer)

5. The Company You Keep. Ken and Angela Paxton have ties to a jet-setting lobbyist-turned-CEO caught in a tangled web of alleged fraud involving a powerful business clan and a commercial shipping giant. By Justin Miller 

(Illustration/Jon Stich)

6. Transphobic Dress Code Prompted Turmoil in Agriculture Department, Emails Show. The Texas agency’s policy may be ripe for a lawsuit. By Kit O’Connell

Texas state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (Michael Donhauser/AP Images)

7. Texas Is Taking Back the State Highway 288 Tollway—at a Steep Price. The private firms who have operated the tollway will be paid $1.7 billion by TxDOT, adding to the profit they’ve already made in toll revenues, construction contracts, and sales of shares. By Josephine Lee

(Shutterstock)

8. Neo-Nazi Gang Affiliates Attacked a Mixed-Race Family in Martindale, Only One Was Arrested. Members or supporters of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, identified by the Texas Observer and Bellingcat, appear to have perpetrated a possible hate crime at the location of a river tubing company. By Steven Monacelli and Tristan Lee

(Screenshot collage)

9. The New Apostolic Reformation Wants God’s Government Back. A “prophetic” movement, led in part by Texans, is gaining ground—and everyone should pay attention. By David R. Brockman

Chuck Pierce speaks during the Worship at the Border event in Del Rio. (Joseph Rushmore for the Texas Observer)

10. The Vet, the Cattle Prod, and the ‘Guttural Wail.’ An equine surgeon and Texas A&M professor has been convicted of animal cruelty after repeatedly shocking a horse in front of students, among other misdeeds, exposing the shaky ethics training of some veterinarians. By Caroline Collier

Heather Kutyba ties up her horse, Leo, in September in Cypress. (Mark Felix for The Texas Observer)

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The post Our Most-Read Stories of 2024 appeared first on The Texas Observer.