February 2016 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Six Texas Political Players Who Lost Power in 2018

2In South Texas, the Catholic Church vs. Trump’s Border Wall

3Texas Republicans Fail to Kick a Million People off Food Stamps After Trying for a Year

4As Speaker of the House, Will Dennis Bonnen be a Menace to the Environment?

5Texas GOP Chair: Racism and Bigotry are an ‘Extreme Exception’ in the Party

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

Most Recent in Environment:

1Is Texas’ Overcrowded, Underfunded State Parks System Being Loved to Death?

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

3How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States

4Audit Says State Windstorm Insurance Program is Failing… Again

5Trump Administration Report: Climate Change Is Hurting Texas

6In Texas, One of the World’s Oldest, Weirdest Fish Finally Gets its Due

Most Recent in Border:

1In South Texas, the Catholic Church vs. Trump’s Border Wall

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

3Border Patrol Calls Cops on Lawyers, Activists Trying to Attend ‘Stakeholder’ Meeting

5Border Residents Protest Trump’s Wall in Hidalgo County

6AUDIO: Melissa del Bosque and Rachel Poser on Border Patrol’s Unchecked Mission Creep

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: February 2016

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March 2015, Texas Observer cover

COVER STORY

The House Always Wins

by Gayle Reaves

Mon, Feb 1, 2016 |

Some legislators want to keep affordable housing out of their districts — and they've given themselves the power to do it.Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

Bad Credit: Are College Classes Working for High Schoolers?

by Patrick Michels

News

No Place for Old Men

by Dick J. Reavis

State of Texas: Cops in the Classroom

by Patrick Michels

CULTURE

How the 1% Gardens

by James E. McWilliams

Poem: ‘While I Was Trying to Avoid Falling in Love’

by Allyson Whipple

by Victor Espinoza and Nancy Nusser

Peter LaSalle Seizes the Day

by Ashley Hope Perez

Columns

Y’all, Hillary Could Lose

by Christopher Hooks

Trust Me, Trust Women

by Andrea Grimes

State of Texas

State of Texas: Cops in the Classroom

by Patrick Michels

Loon Star State

Loon Star State: Christian-Warrior-in-Chief

Eye on Texas

Eye on Texas: Portico Tejas

by Steve Masker