December 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1He May Not Be a Candidate, but Beto O’Rourke is Rebuilding His Texas Organizing Machine for 2020

2Trump Harvests Support in America’s Farmlands

3As Fossil Fuel Industry Invests Billions in New Texas Facilities, it Could Unleash a Huge Emissions Bomb

4Loon Star: The Governor Shows His Concern for the Homeless

5The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.

6Ken Paxton Says New Anti-Abortion Law Bars State Employees from Donating to Planned Parenthood

Most Recent in Environment:

1As Fossil Fuel Industry Invests Billions in New Texas Facilities, it Could Unleash a Huge Emissions Bomb

2Trump Has Kneecapped Another Environmental Safeguard. Could That Spur Expanded Uranium Mining in South Texas?

3Five Times the Effects of Climate Change Loomed Over Texas in 2019

4The EPA Faces Lawsuit Over Slaughterhouse Pollution in Waterways

5Report: As TCEQ Sits Idle, Polluters Double Illegal Air Pollution in 2018

6Bald Eagle Numbers at Lake Buchanan Are Declining. No One’s Exactly Sure Why.

Most Recent in Border:

117 Great Books on the Border to Read Instead of ‘American Dirt’

2ICE Quietly Lowers (Already Low) Standards at Some Immigrant Detention Facilities

3‘Life is a Fight’: Scenes from a Migrant Tent Camp in Juárez

4A Radical Proposal Calls for a Moratorium on Deportations

5‘Baby Jails’ Chronicles America’s ‘Shameful’ Treatment of Migrant Kids

62020: The Year Trump’s Wall Rises or Falls

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Jail Deaths in Bexar County Highlight ‘Callous’ Care in Custody

2A Solitary Condition

35 Texas Criminal Justice Stories to Watch in 2020

4Report: Sexual Assault is Common in Immigrant Prisons, but Survivors Aren’t Getting Help

5In Dallas, Churches Break the Law to Shelter Homeless People on Freezing Nights

6Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence

Most Recent in Education:

1‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD

2The Creature of Martin Creek Lake Won’t Die

3The Cost of Carve-Outs

4Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

5Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

6‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’

Most Recent in Health Care:

1Jail Deaths in Bexar County Highlight ‘Callous’ Care in Custody

2Trump Administration Approves Medicaid Funds for Texas While Excluding Planned Parenthood

3In Texas, Thousands of Kids Lose Medicaid Coverage Each Month

4We Asked You About Health Care in Rural Texas. Here are Your Stories.

5How the San Antonio Police Are Rethinking Mental Health

6Ken Paxton Says New Anti-Abortion Law Bars State Employees from Donating to Planned Parenthood

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Texas Observer Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Reflects on 65 Years of Publication

2How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

3Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

4Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform

5American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

6Thousands of Rape Kits in Texas Went Untested For Years. Lavinia Masters Is Ending That.

Most Recent in Books:

117 Great Books on the Border to Read Instead of ‘American Dirt’

2The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.

3The 30 Best Texas Books of The Decade, from Amarillo to Utopia

4A World Without Immigrant Prisons

5Two New Books Explore the Limits of the #MeToo Movement in Texas and Beyond

6I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore

Most Recent in Features:

1The Ghosts of Jefferson

2Little Arthouse on the Prairie

3The Clothes that Make the Man

4Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

5Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

6At Home in the World

Most Recent in Essay:

1‘Cheer’ Takes an Overlooked Sport Off the Sidelines

2Governor Abbott’s Campaign Against the Homeless Isn’t Just Cruel—It’s Dangerous

3Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence

4Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

5A Chain Reaction

6Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

2Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

3Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

4Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

5Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

6Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Author Saeed Jones on Empathy, the Power of Memoir, and Growing up Gay in North Texas

2Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

3Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

4Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

5Parallel Planes

The Magazine: December 2015

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March 2015, Texas Observer cover

COVER STORY

Homeland Insecurity

by Melissa del Bosque and Patrick Michels

Mon, Dec 7, 2015 |

What good are more boots on the ground if the men and women wearing them also work for the cartels? What benefit is an 18-foot wall when criminals can bribe their way through the gate?Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

Dan Patrick Finds The One

by Christopher Hooks

WilCo Candidate Won’t Settle ‘Religious Test’ Lawsuit

Bonding Behind Bars

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta

News

State of Texas: What Obamacare Has Done for Texas

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta and Hannah McBride

Strangest State: Errant Emus, a Reading Dog and a Giant Chair

by Patrick Michels

CULTURE

Our Blue Period

Postcard from the Incredible Electric Oyster Reef

by Hannah McBride

Eye on Texas: Family Detention

by Ilana Panich-Linsman

Poem: Chris Yan’s ‘How I Love You In This House Today’

Dramas of Family and State Unfold in ‘All the Houses’

Columns

What California Can Teach Us About Texas

by Christopher Hooks

Greg Shames the Sheriff

by Andrea Grimes

State of Texas

State of Texas: What Obamacare Has Done for Texas

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta and Hannah McBride

Eye on Texas

Eye on Texas: Family Detention

by Ilana Panich-Linsman