August 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Court Revives Possibility that Texas Sheriffs Could be Jailed for Refusing ICE Detainers

2Destruction of Lizard’s West Texas Habitat 10 Times Worse Than Previously Thought

3Where do Texas Democrats Stand on Single-Payer Health Care?

4State Plans to Restore Services after Advocates in Wheelchairs Surprise Officials

5Trump Nominee to FEC Tried to Shred Texas’ Already-Weak Ethics Laws

6Religious Right Takes Bathroom Fight Back to Schools after Defeat at Capitol

Most Recent in Environment:

1Destruction of Lizard’s West Texas Habitat 10 Times Worse Than Previously Thought

2Reports of Livestock Deaths, Other Ag Losses Trickle in After Harvey

3Flood Expert Jim Blackburn: Houston Must Plan or Perish

4Experts: Much of Harvey-Related Air Pollution was Preventable

5‘Look & See’ Is a Love Letter to Family Farming, Rural America and Wendell Berry

6The Impossible City

Most Recent in Border:

1Court Revives Possibility that Texas Sheriffs Could be Jailed for Refusing ICE Detainers

2Civil Rights Group’s Budget Nearly Halved by Foundation with Ties to Texas Supreme Court

3ICE Detained This Trafficking Victim on Her 18th Birthday. Why?

4‘Los Zetas Inc.’ Author on Why Mexico’s Drug War Isn’t About Drugs

6Salvadoran Man Seeks ‘Sanctuary’ from Deportation in Austin Church

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Court Revives Possibility that Texas Sheriffs Could be Jailed for Refusing ICE Detainers

2Body Cam Policies in Texas Exacerbate a System Designed to Protect Police, Critics Say

3Civil Rights Group’s Budget Nearly Halved by Foundation with Ties to Texas Supreme Court

4ICE Detained This Trafficking Victim on Her 18th Birthday. Why?

5The Road to Huntsville

6In San Antonio, Cops Punch Down

Most Recent in Education:

1Despite ‘Hardship’ Funding, Rural Texas Schools Face Difficult Financial Future

2Loon Star State: Texas Public Schools

3Dan Patrick Accuses Joe Straus of Ponzi Scheme Ahead of Special Session

4Critics Fear New Texas Law Giving SBOE Wide Discretion Over Textbooks

5After Freedom Caucus Kills Her Legislation, Lawmaker Announces Anti-‘Lunch Shaming’ Campaign

6Texas’ ‘Lunch Shaming’ Problem and the Fight to Fix It

Most Recent in Health Care:

1Where do Texas Democrats Stand on Single-Payer Health Care?

2State Plans to Restore Services after Advocates in Wheelchairs Surprise Officials

3Judge Temporarily Halts New Texas Abortion Ban

4Despite Self-Congratulation, Lawmakers Did Virtually Nothing about Maternal Mortality Crisis

5Introducing the Texas Observer’s Rural Reporting Project

6Red is the New Orange: Handmaids Bring More than Just Silence to the Abortion Fight

Most Recent in The Interview:

1The Interview: Joaquin Castro Says Texas Democrats are Poised for a Comeback

2The Interview: Beto O’Rourke on Trump, the Border and How to Revive the Democratic Party

3The Interview: Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith

4The Interview: Lupe Valdez

5The Interview: Paul Quinn College’s Michael Sorrell

6The Interview: Judge John Dietz on Texas’ School Finance Crisis

Most Recent in Books:

1Short Story Contest Finalist: ‘A Thunder Note in an Angry Sky’

2Short Story Contest Finalist: ‘Malena’

3The King of Pulp

4‘Sip’ Seeks Dystopian Depth, and Fine Dining, in the Shadows

5The Rising Storm

6Stalking Horse

Most Recent in Postcards:

1The King of Pulp

2Ride Like a Girl

Most Recent in Essay:

1The Impossible City

2Dear Governor Abbott: The ‘Bathroom Bill’ Endangers Trans Texans Like My Son

3Stalking Horse

4Protecting Immigrant Families: A Call for an Economic Boycott of Texas

5Cut from the Same Cloth: Wearing Hijab in Houston, Post-Trump

6Going It Alone

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Fantastical Taxidermy

2Eye on Texas: Runners Take on 170-Mile Race in Big Bend

3Eye on Texas: Liberty Hill Hosts Texas Firearms Festival

4Eye on Texas: TX Open Swim

5Eye on Texas: Blessing of the Hands in San Antonio

6Eye on Texas: Austin’s Chapels

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Parallel Planes

3Poem: ‘Resistance’

4Poem: ‘Screenplay for a Homemade Movie’

5Poem: ‘To Be One with the All’

6Poem: ‘Whitewashing’

The Magazine: August 2015

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March 2015, Texas Observer cover

COVER STORY

The Fight for Fair Housing

by Gayle Reaves

Tue, Aug 4, 2015 |

Two lawsuits are dragging Texas—and maybe the whole country—closer to the goal of integrated neighborhoods.Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

About Those Nondiscrimination Ordinances…

Ghosts of Truancy Laws Past

by Patrick Michels

State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione’s Support for Joe Straus Sparks Backlash

by Christopher Hooks

Immigration Agents Find Common Cause with Hate Groups

by Melissa del Bosque

News

The Truth About How Pregnant Women Are Treated in Texas County Jails

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta

State of Texas: The Future’s So Bright You Gotta Wear Shades

by Forrest Wilder

Strangest State: A Christian Burger Challenge and a Roadside Sign from Jesus

by Patrick Michels

CULTURE

Direct Quote:
Renaissance Woman

Unearthing a Lost World

by Asher Elbein

The Book Report: Loving Day Provides a Contemporary Look at Racial Identity

by Ashley Hope Perez

Poetry: Politics Aside

by Carie Juettner

The Great Mellowing

by Michael Agresta

In the Austin of Andrew Bujalski’s Results, Aimlessness is a Sin

by Josh Rosenblatt

Columns

State of the Media: Small-Town News

by Andrea Grimes

Greater State: The Racism of States’ Rights

by Bob Ray Sanders

Reintroducing Myself

by Forrest Wilder

State of Texas

State of Texas: The Future’s So Bright You Gotta Wear Shades

by Forrest Wilder

Loon Star State

Ben Sargent’s Loon Star State: Ken Paxton, Culture-Warrior-in-Chief

Eye on Texas

Eye on Texas: Bhutanese Refugees