Nate Blakeslee
By Nate Blakeslee:
New Evidence of Altered Documents in TYC Coverup
Overlooked Heroes
Three staffers led effort to overhaul the Texas Youth Commission
In a session that will be remembered for its stalled legislation and discordant ending as much as anything actually accomplished, passage of an ambitious reform bill for the troubled Texas Youth Commission seems to have happened almost effortlessly. Just a … Read More
Capitol Offense
TYC Sex Scandal Cover-up Widens
A disciplinary report confirming misconduct by former West Texas State School Assistant Superintendent Ray Brookins was altered with the apparent approval of Texas Youth Commission Inspector General Ray Worsham shortly after Brookins was given a promotion, documents obtained by the … Read More
Hidden in Plain Sight
How did alleged abuse at a youth facility in West Texas evade detection for so long?
When Dwight Harris, executive director of the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), appeared before the Senate Finance Committee at the Capitol on February 1 to discuss his agency’s fiscal needs for the next biennium, he came prepared for some tough questions. … Read More
End of an Era
The clock runs out on the state's infamous drug task forces
A major chapter in the drug war is ending in Texas, not with a bang, but with a whisper. After 18 years of untold numbers of highway stops and undercover busts of mostly small-time pot and cocaine dealers, funding for … Read More
The Worst Judges in Texas
In these courtrooms, justice comes to a screeching halt
*A clarification has been appended to this story. It’s not a good time to be a Texas judge. President Bush’s nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remained caught in the … Read More
What Rocky Wrought
Mandatory minimum, maximum pain-a review of "Life on the Outside: the Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett"
Dateline Texas
Free at Last?
Tom Coleman entered the courtroom on Thursday afternoon, March 13, wearing an Italian-style black leather jacket over a blue shirt and black tie. The war with Iraq had begun the night before, and Coleman wore a flag pin in his … Read More
Capitol Offenses
Meet the New Boss
Pete Laney looked strange sitting at his desk on the first day of the 78th Legislature. Not smaller, exactly, but ill at ease. Seated in the left rear of the chamber, he was about as far as physically possible from … Read More
Capitol Offenses
Read My Lips
Combining as it does a projected budget shortfall of up to $12 billion and a slew of newly elected Republicans running–and winning–on a pledge to hold the line on taxes, the 78th Legislature may be remembered in years to come … Read More