The Contrarian - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Activists Take Paid Sick Leave Fight to San Antonio with 144,000 Signatures

2What Could Happen if Trump Cuts Family Planning Funds from Planned Parenthood? Look at Texas.

3Taking Stock of Texas Democrats After the 2018 Runoff Election

5Here’s How ‘Berniecrat’ Candidates Did in the Texas Runoffs

617-Term State Rep Loses Runoff in Brownsville After DWI Charge

Most Recent in Environment:

1No Resolution in Sight For Ranchers and Farmers Fighting Over San Saba River

2Austin’s on the Wrong Side of the 100th Meridian

3Unpublished Federal Report Projects Bleak Future for Central Texas Mussels and Rivers

4In Washington, D.C., Republicans are Writing the Recipe for a Smoldering Panhandle

5Despite Trump, Water Agency Fosters Cross-Border Cooperation Between U.S. and Mexico

6Trump’s Border Wall Lands Rio Grande on List of Nation’s Most Endangered Rivers

Most Recent in Border:

2ICE Issues More Detainers in Texas, Withholds Crucial Data

3In Presidio, a New Public Art Project Crosses Borders

4Trump’s Border Wall Lands Rio Grande on List of Nation’s Most Endangered Rivers

5Militarization of Texas-Mexico Border a Sign of Complacency, but Not From Border Residents

6Elecciones presidenciales en México. ¿Finalmente puede ganar la izquierda?

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

2Something Has Changed in the Gun Debate in Texas

3Ahead of Mother’s Day, Activists Bail Out Young Black Moms Across Texas

4A Catch-22 in the Crimmigration System in Harris County

5Lawyers Seek to Reform ‘Ethical Minefield’ of Public Defender’s Office Controlled by Texas Prison System

6Women in Texas Prisons Denied Same Academic, Job Training Opportunities as Incarcerated Men

Most Recent in Education:

1SMU Just Lost Its Independent Student Newspaper. Is Your College Next?

2Lawsuit: Texas Art Teacher Suspended Because She Told Students About Her Wife

3Texas Teachers ‘Blow the Whistle’ After Conservatives Accuse Them of (Gasp!) Getting out the Vote

4Nazis Go To School

5‘I Would Have to Drop Out’: 200 Texas Grad Students Walk Out to Protest GOP Tax Bill

6Homelessness in Texas Public Schools is a Suburban and Rural Problem, Too

Most Recent in Health Care:

1What Could Happen if Trump Cuts Family Planning Funds from Planned Parenthood? Look at Texas.

2Texas Has the Most Cities More than 100 Miles from an Abortion Clinic, Study Finds

3Trump Administration Orders Refugee Shelters to Direct Pregnant Teens to Anti-Abortion Clinics

4Lawmaker: State Metric for Success of Women’s Health Program is ‘Totally Misleading’

5‘Heart-Wrenching, Gut-Wrenching’: How Child Therapy Providers Deal with State Budget Cuts

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Meet Nueces County’s New DA, a Self-Professed ‘Mexican Biker Lawyer Covered in Tattoos’

2The Interview: Joaquin Castro Says Texas Democrats are Poised for a Comeback

3The Interview: Beto O’Rourke on Trump, the Border and How to Revive the Democratic Party

4The Interview: Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith

5The Interview: Lupe Valdez

6The Interview: Paul Quinn College’s Michael Sorrell

Most Recent in Books:

1A Masterful New History Explores the Contradictions and Complexities of Ciudad Juárez

2The Ghosts of Abandoned Texas Buildings Rise Up in an Eerie New Photo Book

3Troubled Waters: New Book Plunges into Texas’ Convoluted Water Law

4How a Texas Author Learned to Love Cockroaches (and Other Tales of Off-Putting Creatures)

5Jorge Ramos’ New Book, ‘Stranger,’ is a Journalist’s Manifesto

6On Giant’s Shoulders: New Cinema History Dissects Texas Tropes

Most Recent in Postcards:

1The Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Lower Pecos

4Field Notes from Santa Ana

5The King of Pulp

6Ride Like a Girl

Most Recent in Essay:

1I Grew Up on the Texas-Mexico Border, but Now I Barely Recognize It

2Somewhere It Hides a Well

3Drinking the Kool-Aid at the Garden of Eden

4The Road to Huntsville

5The Impossible City

6Dear Governor Abbott: The ‘Bathroom Bill’ Endangers Trans Texans Like My Son

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Gentrification in East Austin

2Eye on Texas: Transgender Youth in Texas

3Eye On Texas: Hurricane Harvey

4Eye on Texas: Fantastical Taxidermy

5Eye on Texas: Runners Take on 170-Mile Race in Big Bend

6Eye on Texas: Liberty Hill Hosts Texas Firearms Festival

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

2Parallel Planes

4Poem: ‘Resistance’

5Poem: ‘Screenplay for a Homemade Movie’

6Poem: ‘To Be One with the All’

The Contrarian

The More Things Change…

by Dave Mann | Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 14:21 CST

Ed Graf Trial Ends in Guilty Plea

Mon, Oct 20, 2014 |

The jury has begun deliberating the fate of Ed Graf, a Waco man being re-tried on controversial arson charges. Graf has spent 25 years in prison. ...Read More

At Ed Graf Trial, Prosecutors Rely on Circumstantial Evidence

Wed, Oct 8, 2014 |

On day two of Ed Graf's re-trial in Waco, the prosecution began laying out its circumstantial evidence....Read More

Re-Trial of Ed Graf’s Flawed Arson Case Begins in Waco

Mon, Oct 6, 2014 |

After 25 years in prison, Ed Graf is once again on trial for a crime he likely didn’t commit....Read More

Observer Nominated for National Magazine Award

Thu, Mar 27, 2014

For the second consecutive year, a Texas Observer reporter is a finalist for the National Magazine Award, the most prestigious award in magazine journalism....Read More

Welcome, Chris Hooks

Wed, Feb 12, 2014

The 2014 election is shaping up as one to remember in Texas, even by our high standards. Kinky Friedman is back on the ballot—oh, how we missed him—Ted Nuge...Read More

Wendy Davis speaking

Wendy Davis’ Media Fail

The campaign’s mismanagement of the press is damaging Davis' candidacy.

Fri, Jan 31, 2014 |

The Wendy Davis campaign’s mismanagement of the press is damaging her candidacy....Read More

It Was a Very Good Year

Tue, Dec 31, 2013

Every media outlet on earth is running year-in-review pieces this week. Here at The Texas Observer, we usually don’t follow the media crowd, but in this ...Read More

Ted Cruz

What Ted Cruz Really Wants

Wed, Sep 25, 2013 |

You’ve got to credit Ted Cruz: The man’s been in elected office less than a year, and he’s already a household name across the country. With his Ivy Leagu...Read More

Observer Story Wins SPJ Award

Wed, Apr 24, 2013

When Texas Observer staff writer Emily DePrang first met Josh Gravens in early 2012, his life was in shambles. The 25-year-old husband and father was still suff...Read More

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