December 2016 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Joe Barton Resurfaces with a Blueprint for How to Bail Out the Oil Industry and Worsen Climate Change

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

3On Rodney Reed Case, Greg Abbott Gets a Political Reprieve

4John Cornyn’s Weaselly Immigration Record

5Texas Congressional Candidate Shannon Hutcheson Defended Corporations Against the Vulnerable. EMILY’s List Endorsed Her Anyway.

6‘You Can Only Take So Much’: Low-Income Hurricane Harvey Survivors Sue Over ‘Discriminatory’ Recovery Process

Most Recent in Environment:

1Bald Eagle Numbers at Lake Buchanan Are Declining. No One’s Exactly Sure Why.

2How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

3As Port Neches Plant Smolders, Trump Rolls Back Safety Rules for Chemical Plants

4Joe Barton Resurfaces with a Blueprint for How to Bail Out the Oil Industry and Worsen Climate Change

5East Texas Rivers Could Become a Boiling Pot for Mussels

6The Long Battle to Stop the Kinder Morgan Pipeline

Most Recent in Border:

1A World Without Immigrant Prisons

2‘We Build the Wall’ Lands in South Texas, Vilifies Priest and Butterfly Refuge

3John Cornyn’s Weaselly Immigration Record

4Activists Rally for the Closure of Hutto Detention Center as Private Contract Rumors Swirl

5When ICE Emptied Out an All-Women Detention Center in Texas, Chaos Ensued

6The Fear—and Hope—of Living in Sanctuary

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1A Top Cop Accused of Racism Forces Austin to Confront Bias in Law Enforcement

2Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

3Texas’ Method for Funding Courts is a Colossal Waste of Time and Money

4On Rodney Reed Case, Greg Abbott Gets a Political Reprieve

5Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

6The Movement to Free Rodney Reed Illustrates the Growing Unease Over Texas’ Use of the Death Penalty

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:

1Everyone Wants to End Surprise Medical Billing in Texas, but No One Wants to Pay for It

2The Last Nurse in Memphis, Texas

3The Rural Health Care Crisis, Mapped

4Driving My Life Away

5Scenes from a Rural Hospital’s Final Day

6State Investigators Identify ‘Serious Contractual Violations’ by the Heidi Group

Most Recent in The Interview:

1How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

2Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

3Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform

4American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

5Thousands of Rape Kits in Texas Went Untested For Years. Lavinia Masters Is Ending That.

6Floodplain Maps Are Outdated. This Scientist Wants to Change That.

Most Recent in Books:

1A World Without Immigrant Prisons

2Two New Books Explore the Limits of the #MeToo Movement in Texas and Beyond

3I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore

4American Cities Weren’t Revitalized by the White ‘Creative Class.’ Immigrants Made Them Great.

5Short Story Contest Winner: ‘Dear Mr. Gottlieb’

6Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

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:

1Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

2A Chain Reaction

3Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

4Up From the Desert

5To Understand the El Paso Massacre, Look to the Long Legacy of Anti-Mexican Violence at the Border

6Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

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

6Options

The Magazine: December 2016

Subscribers to the bi-monthly print and digital editions of the Texas Observer get the first look at our in-depth, investigative reporting before it’s published online. Subscribe today so you don’t miss out! Visit our archives for more past issues.

March 2015, Texas Observer cover

COVER STORY

Don Willett’s Quiet Revolution

by Eric Benson

Thu, Nov 17, 2016 |

Social media’s most famous judge is at the forefront of a conservative legal movement that's redefining what it means to be a judicial activist. And he's on Donald Trump's Supreme Court short list. Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

Legal Loophole May Have Helped Houston Attorney Allegedly Defraud Immigrants

by Patrick Michels

Huge Oil Discovery May Endanger Solace of Balmorhea

by Naveena Sadasivam

News

Don Willett’s Quiet Revolution

by Eric Benson

CULTURE

In ‘Without Getting Killed or Caught,’ Guy Clark Defies Categorization

by Michael Sandlin

Poem: ‘Screenplay for a Homemade Movie’

by Kathleen Winter

State of Texas: The Bigger the Roof, the Closer to God

by Patrick Michels

by Leah Caldwell

If These Walls Could Talk

by Brad Tyer

Columns

State Leaders on Atrocious Child Welfare System: Don’t Blame Us!

by Christopher Hooks

Love Will Trump Hate (Eventually)

by Andrea Grimes

State of Texas

State of Texas: The Bigger the Roof, the Closer to God

by Patrick Michels

Loon Star State

Loon Star State: Trump and the ‘Rigged Election’

by Ben Sargent

Eye on Texas

Eye on Texas: ‘Normal Life’ in a Border Colonia

by Michael Cirlos

Top