Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Texas explosion raises concerns for other towns eying fertilizer plants

Apr 18, 2013
Small communities are fighting to get fertilizer factories to locate nearby. After the West, Texas, explosion, some people who live near proposed plants are reconsidering the risk.
Smoke rises in the distance about half a mile from the West Fertilizer Company April 18, 2013 in West, Texas. A massive explosion at the fertilizer company injured more than 100 people and left damaged buildings for blocks in every direction.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

At South by Southwest, techies are the new rock stars

Mar 8, 2013
What was first known as an indie music gathering and then a music and film festival, starts out this year as very much an interactive, startup, new media hotspot.

Yee-haw! Why Houston's housing market is growing so fast

Mar 1, 2013
Why was Houston, Texas, just named the "healthiest housing market for 2013?" Realtor Thai Klam helps explain.

Which is better for business: Texas or California?

Feb 11, 2013
Texas Governor Rick Perry visits California to attract companies away from the Golden State with promises of low taxes and fewer regulations.

A library without any shelves -- or books

Jan 28, 2013
In one Texas county, the new library will look more like an Apple store than a Barnes & Noble.

Texas schools districts suing state over budget cuts

Oct 23, 2012
The trial begins this week. Cash-starved school districts are arguing that big budget cuts violate the state constitution's guarantee of fair and adequate education for all its citizens.

Border town business grapples with Mexican gang violence

Oct 11, 2012
This week Mexican marines took out the leader of one of Mexico's most powerful drug gangs, the Zetas. There's some hope this might disrupt their reign of terror there and open up cross-border business and trade.

For public good, not for profit.

Some see energy in abandoned wells

Sep 18, 2012
An oil well may seem pretty useless when the light sweet crude stops flowing. In Texas, researchers and entrepreneurs see a chance to recycle old wells and create geothermal power.

In Texas, water may be free, but it's not forever

Aug 10, 2012
Tapping the Ogallala Aquifer decades ago turned the Panhandle into fertile farmland. Drought is reviving concern that water in the ground, like oil, eventually runs out.