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Most Recent in Politics:

1Why is Beto Running for President, Exactly?

2Texas Lawmakers are Promoting ‘Anti-New York’ Bills to Limit Abortions

3Republicans Push Back Against Making Election Day a Texas Holiday

4Dan Patrick May Have Just Sparked Bathroom Bill 2.0

5How Tea Partiers Fueled Texas’ Latest ‘Voter Fraud’ Freakout

6Airbnb is the Latest Target of Texas’ Anti-BDS Crusade

Most Recent in Environment:

1A New Study Shows that the Oil and Gas Industry is Wasting a Shocking Quantity of Natural Gas in Texas

2Texas State Park Could Close as Vistra Energy Seeks to Sell Land Near Shuttered Power Plant

3El Paso School Consolidation Exposes More Kids to Lead and Other Hazards, Parents Say

4Could Kinder Morgan’s ‘Permian Highway’ Scar the Hill Country?

5Millions of Plastic Pellets in Lavaca Bay? Formosa Says it’s Just ‘Trace Amounts’

6Environmentalists Fear Conservative Group’s Push to End Corporate Subsidies is Really Just a Hit on Renewables

Most Recent in Border:

1The Interview: Mass Resistance

2‘The River and The Wall’ is a Visually Stunning Borderland Adventure

3Instead of Building Family-Friendly Jails for Migrants, We Should Just Stop Jailing Them

4Many Texans Want a Border Wall Without a Federal Land Grab. That’s Impossible.

5The Borderlands are a Sacrifice Zone for Our Terrible Politics

6Valeria Luiselli’s Third Novel Reckons with the Trauma Inflicted on Migrant Kids

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Texas Legislature Considers Bills to Break the Cycle of Debtor’s Prison

2Texas Prison Reformers Demand Dignity for Incarcerated Women

3Third Time’s The Charm? Marijuana Decriminalization Gets Another Chance in Texas

4Why Doesn’t Texas’ Most Liberal County Have a Public Defender?

5Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

6The Tattooed Star of the ‘Progressive Prosecutor’ Movement Braces for His First Death Penalty Trial

Most Recent in Education:

1‘We’re Not Stupid’: Texas Teachers Take on Dan Patrick and the Legislature over Dismal Education Funding

2In Violation of Texas Law, Most High Schools Aren’t Giving Students the Chance to Register to Vote

3Amid Record Youth Suicide Attempts, Texas Lags in Prevention Training for Teachers

4Cash-Strapped Rural Texas Schools Look to Universities for Help

5What’s in a Name? Texas SBOE Tentatively Approves ‘Ethnic Studies: Mexican American Studies’

6SMU Just Lost Its Independent Student Newspaper. Is Your College Next?

Most Recent in Health Care:

1In Texas, Three More Measles Cases and Four New Anti-Vaccine Bills

2Texas Lawmakers are Promoting ‘Anti-New York’ Bills to Limit Abortions

3‘Breakthrough’ Chronicles Nobel Prize Winner Jim Allison’s Long Fight for Science

5Amid Measles Outbreak, Texas Lawmakers Want to Make it Even Easier to Opt Out of Vaccines

6The ‘Fetal Heartbeat’ Bill Has 57 Authors. All but 3 of them Are Men.

Most Recent in The Interview:

1The Interview: Mass Resistance

2Meet Jim Allison, Texas’ Newest Nobel Laureate (and Three-Time Cancer Survivor)

3Dolores Huerta is Still Knocking on Doors and Registering Voters at 88

4The Interview: Veronica Escobar is Poised to Make History

5Redistricting Guru Michael Li on Texas’ Gerrymandered Maps

6Senfronia Thompson Says #MeToo: Texas Lawmaker on 45 Years of Sexism, Racism at the Capitol

Most Recent in Books:

1Swamp City Serenade

2A Sweeping History of Texas Blues Celebrates Little-Known Musicians

3Elizabeth McCracken’s ‘Bowlaway’ Spins a Dark, Magical Tale of Love, Loss and Bowling

4Valeria Luiselli’s Third Novel Reckons with the Trauma Inflicted on Migrant Kids

5‘Last Woman Standing’ Tackles Toxic Masculinity and Keeps the Pages Turning

6The Texas Observer’s Best Features of 2018

Most Recent in Features:

1The Texas Observer’s Best Features of 2018

2Raspa Revolution

3100 Ways to Draw a Line

4Homeward Bound

5The Sisterhood

6The Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Lower Pecos

Most Recent in Essay:

1Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

2The Trouble with Yoga

3Heads in the Mud

4The Day the Windows Shook

5Women’s Work

6I Grew Up on the Texas-Mexico Border, but Now I Barely Recognize It

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

2Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

3Eye on Texas: Fiesta Protesta

4Eye on Texas: Remembering Draylen Mason

5Eye on Texas: Gentrification in East Austin

6Eye on Texas: Transgender Youth in Texas

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

2Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

3Parallel Planes

5Poem: ‘Resistance’

6Poem: ‘Screenplay for a Homemade Movie’

Floor Pass

The Winners and Losers of the Battle for Campus Carry

by Kelsey Jukam | Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 19:22 CST

Lawmaker Pushes for ‘Liberty Cities’

Tue, Jun 2, 2015 |

Collectively referred to as "liberty cities," Texas conservatives have come up with a way to defend local control while denying municipalities the freedom to en...Read More

2015 Inauguration Day Capitol

by Christopher Hooks

WTF Sine Die: #TxLege History Edition

Mon, Jun 1, 2015 |

While it pales in comparison to previous sessions, the 84th Texas Legislature proved that our state government still likes to entertain some dysfunction....Read More

by Alisa Semiens

Truancy Reform Legislation Headed to the Governor

Mon, Jun 1, 2015 |

Truancy reform legislation, which would decriminalize Texas’ punitive system for handling students who miss school, has made it to the governor's desk....Read More

by Christopher Hooks

Democrat Tanks Bill Strengthening Consumer Loan Regulation

Sat, May 30, 2015 |

Last week, Democrats killed a bill that advocates say would have built up the ability of an important state agency to regulate consumer loans....Read More

by Forrest Wilder

Dan Patrick to the Rescue on Hays County Groundwater Bill

Fri, May 29, 2015 |

After his tour of the Wimberley flood damage, Dan Patrick revived a groundwater bill that if passed would protect residents’ water wells in Hays County....Read More

by Kelsey Jukam

House Divided Over Cop-Blocking Open Carry Provision

Thu, May 28, 2015 |

If added to the open carry bill, the "Dutton amendment" would ban police officers from stopping someone solely because they're openly carrying a handgun. This w...Read More

LGBT Advocates Laud Passage of Homeless Youth Study

Wed, May 27, 2015 |

Thanks to a proposal by Rep. Sylvester Turner, Texas is set to take a more holistic approach to studying homeless youth, a large portion of whom identify as LGB...Read More

by Christopher Hooks

Ethics Reform Buffeted by GOP Infighting

Wed, May 27, 2015 |

Ethics reform was a headlining initiative of Gov. Greg Abbott's at the start of the session, but with a week to go, reform's prospects look ... complicated....Read More

Reproductive rights supporters wear hospital gowns and carry signs reading "I support Jane."

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta

Restrictive Abortion Bill Targeting Teens One Step Closer to Law After Senate Approval

Mon, May 25, 2015 |

Opponents raised concerns that the bill may violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the bypass process must be confidential and expeditious, and endangers alre...Read More

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