Emily Pyle

When the Evins Regional Juvenile Center was built in 1990 to house young males convicted of serious crimes, it was located well outside the tiny South Texas town of Edinburg. In those days, Evins’ nearest neighbor was a trailer park. … Read More

In the media, discussions of same-sex marriage tend to be accompanied with pictures of men exchanging rings and short-haired women kissing. Public debate revolves chiefly on the morality of homosexuality itself. What this debate ignores is that marriage, at least … Read More

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How We Got to Be 37th BY EMILY PYLE Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business–and Bad Medicine Donald L. Barlett & James B. Steele Doubleday 279 pages, $24.95 at your veggies. Do cardio. Take vitamins. Whatever … Read More

The Lubbock City Cemetery lies east of downtown, on the far side of a treeless subdivision where “you won’t see a white face,” one local told me, “unless the police come around.” In the days of segregation, the white part … Read More

Houston City Bus # 1 begins its loop in a gritty North Houston neighborhood of tire shops, wrecking yards, and all-but-abandoned hair salons. The marquee on the front of the bus simply says “Hospital.” It winds through streets grown up … Read More

It sounded almost like a faint echo of a long-awaited consensus. Sweaty and reluctant at the front microphone on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives, Amarillo Republican John Smithee summed up the feelings of the House. “Members, I … Read More

Since her appointment in January, Shirley Neeley, Governor Rick Perry’s new education commissioner, has made dozens of public appearances. Her main task is to stump for proposals of Perry’s that could come up if and when the governor calls a … Read More

Texas children went back to school this fall in districts strained almost to the breaking point. School boards scrambled all summer to balance district finances, laying off teachers, aides, and office workers, jettisoning enriched curriculum, and delaying the purchase of … Read More