December 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Texas Republicans Fail to Kick a Million People off Food Stamps After Trying for a Year

2As Speaker of the House, Will Dennis Bonnen be a Menace to the Environment?

3Texas GOP Chair: Racism and Bigotry are an ‘Extreme Exception’ in the Party

4‘Damn Right, I’m a White Nationalist’ Declares Texas GOP Platform Committee Member

5John Guandolo is on a Crusade to Turn Texas Cops Against Muslims

6How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States

Most Recent in Environment:

1As Speaker of the House, Will Dennis Bonnen be a Menace to the Environment?

2How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States

3Audit Says State Windstorm Insurance Program is Failing… Again

4Trump Administration Report: Climate Change Is Hurting Texas

5In Texas, One of the World’s Oldest, Weirdest Fish Finally Gets its Due

6In East Texas, Chicken Plants are Polluting Rivers and Lakes with Oxygen-Sucking Contaminants

Most Recent in Border:

1How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States

2Border Patrol Calls Cops on Lawyers, Activists Trying to Attend ‘Stakeholder’ Meeting

4Border Residents Protest Trump’s Wall in Hidalgo County

5AUDIO: Melissa del Bosque and Rachel Poser on Border Patrol’s Unchecked Mission Creep

6More Than 150 Families Separated at the Border Remain Locked Up in Texas

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Botham Jean’s Death Could Lead to an Overhaul of Police Oversight in Dallas

2When Prison Reform Goes Bad

3John Guandolo is on a Crusade to Turn Texas Cops Against Muslims

4State-Sanctioned Secrecy Shields Texas’ Death Penalty Machine from Scrutiny

5New Contract Could Give Austin One of the Most Transparent Police Departments in the Country

6Ken Paxton’s Strange Quest to Execute an Intellectually Disabled Man

Most Recent in Education:

1In Violation of Texas Law, Most High Schools Aren’t Giving Students the Chance to Register to Vote

2Amid Record Youth Suicide Attempts, Texas Lags in Prevention Training for Teachers

3Cash-Strapped Rural Texas Schools Look to Universities for Help

4What’s in a Name? Texas SBOE Tentatively Approves ‘Ethnic Studies: Mexican American Studies’

5SMU Just Lost Its Independent Student Newspaper. Is Your College Next?

6Lawsuit: Texas Art Teacher Suspended Because She Told Students About Her Wife

Most Recent in Health Care:

1‘How Can You Do This to People?’: After Rural Hospitals Close in Milam County, Residents Scramble to Find Care

2Four Texas Abortion Court Cases to Watch in 2019

3Meet Jim Allison, Texas’ Newest Nobel Laureate (and Three-Time Cancer Survivor)

4Struggling Rural Hospitals Say They’re Being Preyed Upon by Blue Cross Blue Shield

5Texas’ Uninsured Rate for Kids, Highest in the Country, Increased for the First Time in Years

6Meet the Scientist and Autism Dad Who’s Fighting the Anti-Vaccine Movement

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Dolores Huerta is Still Knocking on Doors and Registering Voters at 88

2The Interview: Veronica Escobar is Poised to Make History

3Redistricting Guru Michael Li on Texas’ Gerrymandered Maps

4Senfronia Thompson Says #MeToo: Texas Lawmaker on 45 Years of Sexism, Racism at the Capitol

5Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Sanctuary Cities, Police Unions and Tommy Guns

6Meet Nueces County’s New DA, a Self-Professed ‘Mexican Biker Lawyer Covered in Tattoos’

Most Recent in Books:

1‘Life Was Her Art’: Nadine Eckhardt Remembered as an Influential Cultural Conduit in Texas and Washington

2Our 10 Favorite Texas Books of 2018

3The Lone Star State Teems with Snakes, Lizards and Toads in ‘Herping Texas’

4Octavio Solis’ ‘Retablos’ Recounts a ‘Beautiful, Messy’ Youth on the Border

5‘When I Spoke in Tongues’ Chronicles a Long Walk Away from the Church

6Casey Gerald’s Memoir Isn’t the Inspirational Tale You Think It Is

Most Recent in Features:

1Raspa Revolution

2100 Ways to Draw a Line

3Homeward Bound

4The Sisterhood

5The Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Lower Pecos

Most Recent in Essay:

1The Trouble with Yoga

2Heads in the Mud

3The Day the Windows Shook

4Women’s Work

5I Grew Up on the Texas-Mexico Border, but Now I Barely Recognize It

6Somewhere It Hides a Well

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Fiesta Protesta

2Eye on Texas: Gentrification in East Austin

3Eye on Texas: Transgender Youth in Texas

4Eye On Texas: Hurricane Harvey

5Eye on Texas: Fantastical Taxidermy

6Eye on Texas: Runners Take on 170-Mile Race in Big Bend

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 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