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Goodbye to the Amarillo Art Mall
After 14 years, the artist colony inside a former Amarillo shopping mall is being laid to rest. Now the Panhandle creative-types who called the place home “are just gonna get scattered.”
Christopher Collins
Christopher Collins is a freelance writer and formerly an associate editor at the Texas Observer. The Wichita Falls native graduated from Midwestern State University in 2012 with a degree in Mass Communication. He previously has worked as a reporter at the Abilene Reporter-News and the Wichita Falls Times Record News.
Articles by Christopher Collins
Little Arthouse on the Prairie
In tiny Albany, Texas, you can’t shop at Walmart or buy a beer, but you can see one of the state’s best and quirkiest art collections.
For Some Texas Farmers, Tariff Relief Payments Are Supersized
Trump promised to help farmers burned by his trade war with China, but the state’s most powerful producers have received aid far exceeding the federal cap.
Mosquitoes Are Bad. So Are the Chemicals Some Texas Cities Are Using to Kill Them.
As an impressively wet Texas spring turns into summer, mosquitoes are coming to a neighborhood near you. Cities aim to eradicate the pesky insects, but at what cost?
A Poor Defense
A countywide public defender's office would've saved Victoria County $1.3 million in its first two years alone. So why did the new DA kill the proposal?
Nearly 500,000 Texans Live in Communities with Contaminated Groundwater. Lawmakers Aren’t Doing Much About It.
Despite growing national concern about the health effects of “forever chemicals,” the state’s Congressional delegation has barely made a peep.
Yet Another Rural Texas Hospital is in Jeopardy After Anti-Tax Activists Kill Funding Proposal
As rural hospitals struggle across the state, local voters killed a proposition to create a hospital taxing district meant to keep a facility in La Grange open for the foreseeable future.
Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults
Suicide is quiet crisis in Texas, especially in rural communities. As the dust settles on the 86th Legislature, advocates say most initiatives to curb suicide deaths failed.
Warning Signs
Rural East Texas has some of the highest suicide rates in the state. But the safety net for people who need help is being stretched thin, and some Texans are falling through.
Ready, Set, File: Transparency Bills Passed by Legislature Could Open the Door to Once-Public Records
The measures would sew up the so-called Boeing loopholes, which the government has used thousands of times to keep taxpayer-funded deals private.