December 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez Enters the U.S. Senate Race

2Texas Is at the Center of Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Facebook Ad Campaign

3Dan Patrick’s Long History of Toxic Immigrant-Bashing

4Molly Ivins on Universal Health Care

5John Cornyn’s Democratic Challengers Feel a Little Familiar

6White Terror on the Border

Most Recent in Environment:

1Climate Change Will Drive Up Energy Use in Texas and Beyond

2The Butterfly Effect

3Can a $2.5 Billion Bond Deal Fix Harris County’s Inequitable Flood Control?

4Whiplash Weather in the Valley Brings Fears of Flood, Drought, and Wildfires

5If a Glacier Melts in the Arctic, the Texas Coast Feels It

6TCEQ Report Could Pave the Way for Chemical Plants to Emit More Hazardous Air Pollutants

Most Recent in Border:

1Binational Community Struggles to Help Migrants Under ‘Remain in Mexico’

2Customs and Border Protection Wants To Know What You Think About The Wall

3‘Even the Police Officers Were Laughing at Me’: Transgender Immigrants Share Their Experiences of Abuse and Neglect in Detention

4Nuevo Laredo Shelter Director Reportedly Kidnapped After Protecting Cuban Migrants

5Texas Is at the Center of Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Facebook Ad Campaign

6White Terror on the Border

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1‘A Watershed Moment’ for Bail Reform in Harris County

2Ken Paxton Wants ‘Ultimate Home Field Advantage’ in Felony Case

3The High Cost of Hays County’s Decision to Keep Prosecuting Low-Level Marijuana Cases

4A Poor Defense

5Texas’ New Medical Marijuana Law Doesn’t Cover Veterans Suffering from PTSD

6Death of Dog Trainer Highlights Strenuous Heat and Working Conditions at Texas Prisons

Most Recent in Education:

1The Cost of Carve-Outs

2Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

3Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

4‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’

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

6In Violation of Texas Law, Most High Schools Aren’t Giving Students the Chance to Register to Vote

Most Recent in Health Care:

1A Texas Anti-Abortion Group Dramatically Missed its Family Planning Targets. Now its Founder is Suing the Federal Government for More Money.

2Molly Ivins on Universal Health Care

3The Trauma of Teen Mothers Held in Border Patrol Lockups

4Meet the ‘Abortion Abolitionists’ Shaping Policy in the Texas GOP

5Texas’ New Medical Marijuana Law Doesn’t Cover Veterans Suffering from PTSD

6Yet Another Rural Texas Hospital is in Jeopardy After Anti-Tax Activists Kill Funding Proposal

Most Recent in The Interview:

1If a Glacier Melts in the Arctic, the Texas Coast Feels It

2Without Transmission Lines, Renewable Energy Still has a Long Way to Go — Literally

3The Dissenter

4The Interview: Mass Resistance

5Meet Jim Allison, Texas’ Newest Nobel Laureate (and Three-Time Cancer Survivor)

6Dolores Huerta is Still Knocking on Doors and Registering Voters at 88

Most Recent in Books:

1‘Black Light’ is a Weird, Wonderful Fever Dream of a Book

2A Riveting New History of an Ancient West Texas Canyon

3‘Texas Flood’ is a Soulful Portrait of Stevie Ray Vaughan

4‘Seadrift’ Dredges Up a Little-Known—and Deeply Disturbing—Texas Story

5Book Review: Scapegoating the Media Ignores Other Major Problems in American Politics

6Without Transmission Lines, Renewable Energy Still has a Long Way to Go — Literally

Most Recent in Features:

1Little Arthouse on the Prairie

2The Clothes that Make the Man

3Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

4Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

5At Home in the World

6Plight at the Museum

Most Recent in Essay:

1To Understand the El Paso Massacre, Look to the Long Legacy of Anti-Mexican Violence at the Border

2Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

3The Trouble with Yoga

4Heads in the Mud

5The Day the Windows Shook

6Women’s Work

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

2Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

3Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

4Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

5Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

6Eye on Texas: Fiesta Protesta

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

2Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

3Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

4Parallel Planes

5Options

6Poem: ‘Resistance’

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

by John Wright

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

by Sarah Angle

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’

by Chris Yan

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

by Brad Tyer

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

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