Support Watchtower
Independent journalism, no-cost municipal consulting, governance training, recovery work, and civil rights reporting for Texas local government. 100% reader-funded. Cities pay nothing.
How to Help.
Contributions underwrite the full scope of Watchtower’s work: public records requests, document analysis, interviews, on-the-ground reporting, municipal consulting, governance training, recovery work, travel between communities, business and legal expenses, and the infrastructure that keeps everything running. Watchtower operates without paywalls, advertisers, or corporate sponsorship and is fully reader-funded.
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By the Numbers
Why Your Support Matters
Watchtower’s work spans independent investigative journalism, municipal compliance consulting, financial oversight, governance training, municipal recovery, whistleblower investigations, civil rights reporting, and forum moderation. Every part of this is resource-intensive: filing public records requests, attending public meetings, traveling between communities, analyzing contracts, building investigations from primary-source documentation, engaging counsel on business and legal matters, and sustaining the operating infrastructure a statewide effort requires.
Every service Watchtower offers to Texas cities, counties, and special districts is provided free of charge. We take no money from the local governments we cover or consult with, no advertising, and no corporate sponsorship. Reader contributions are the only way this work happens.
Every dollar contributed keeps cities from having to pay for the oversight their residents already paid for once through taxes, and keeps our reporting and consulting independent of the bodies it covers.
Ways to Support
One-Time Contribution
A single contribution in any amount. Funds are applied directly to public records request fees, document analysis, interview and consulting travel, on-the-ground reporting, business and legal expenses, and the publication of Watchtower’s work.
ContributeMonthly Support
Recurring monthly contributions provide predictable operating funding. Sustained support enables long-range investigative planning, multi-month consulting and recovery engagements with specific cities, timely processing of public records requests, and the legal and business infrastructure that holds the operation together.
Subscribe MonthlyRecent Reporting Your Support Makes Possible
These are the investigations readers like you have funded. Every story started with a public records request.
Still Talking to Chief Gregory: An Update on Trinidad PD and the Side You May Be Missing
An update on Chief Charles Gregory and the Trinidad Police Department storyline after process service today, the side of the story most people are missing, and what is on the agenda for the May 28 council meeting.
Federal Lawsuit Targets Carthage Over Veteran's 'God Bless Our Homeless Vets' Sign
A veteran's sign outside Carthage City Hall in September 2024 ended with him being trespassed from all city property. The city manager apologized, rescinded the trespass, and sent him the body-camera footage himself. The federal complaint was filed May 21, 2026.
Otto the Watchdog Sues the City of Trinidad, Chief Gregory, and Three Officers in Federal Court
Winston Wesley Noles filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday over his May 12 arrest at Trinidad City Hall, alleging First Amendment retaliation, an unconstitutional Fourth Amendment seizure, and municipal liability against the City of Trinidad.
Two Arrests, Water Quality Problems, and TOMA Violations: My Current Trinidad Timeline
A connected timeline of recent Trinidad events: two arrests, on-record water-quality remarks from the city's contracted operator alongside a contrasting view from a neighboring mayor, and a call to action for the May 19 council meeting.
Where Your Money Goes
- Public records requests -- filing fees, copying costs, and labor charges assessed by government bodies under the Texas Public Information Act
- Document analysis -- tools and time spent reviewing contracts, financial records, meeting minutes, audits, and public filings across every service line
- Interviews and source work -- speaking with community members, public officials, witnesses, whistleblowers, and subject-matter experts to build complete, accurate accounts of what happened and why
- On-the-ground work -- attending city council meetings, conducting consulting visits, moderating forums, documenting conditions in covered communities, and being physically present where the work is
- Travel -- vehicle expenses, fuel, and overnight stays in the cities, counties, and special districts Watchtower covers, consults with, and serves across Texas
- Business and legal expenses -- business attorney fees, entity and regulatory compliance, pre-publication review, insurance, and counsel engaged to defend the right to report on public bodies
- Infrastructure -- website hosting, email hosting, secure document storage, a dedicated phone line, and the communication tools we rely on to coordinate with sources, officials, and the public
Watchtower is a private company. Payments are not tax-deductible charitable contributions. Your support is a payment to a private entity in exchange for sustaining independent journalism operations. Payments are processed securely by Stripe.