June 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1A ‘Stay-at-Home’ Order by Any Other Name

2The New U.S. Food Safety Czar is a Texas Researcher with Close Ties to the Meat Industry

3Texas Republicans’ Pandemic Performance Is True to Form

4Texas Democratic and Republican Parties Spar Over How to Hold Elections During a Pandemic

5How The Coronavirus Pandemic Exposed Abbott’s Hypocrisy On Local Control

6How Christian Nationalism Moved from the Fringe to the White House

Most Recent in Environment:

1Lessons on the Long Game from Goose Island’s Whooping Cranes

2COVID-19 is Buying Time for Gulf Coast Towns Fighting Oil and Gas Projects

3COVID-19 Could Be a ‘Double Whammy’ for Those in Pollution Hotspots

4Coronavirus is Exposing the Faulty Foundations of the Texas Fracking Industry

5In Big Spring, a Rural Community Braces for Another Oil Bust

6In Southeast Lubbock Neighborhood, Residents are Fed Up With a Feedlot

Most Recent in Border:

1In Migrants Camps Along the Texas-Mexico Border, Close Quarters and Closing Borders Raise Concerns

2U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Trump Administration on ‘Remain in Mexico’

3Following a Protest, ICE Moves Asylum-Seekers For the Second Time in Two Weeks

4Trump’s Wall May Have to Avoid Multiple Historic Cemeteries

5Following a Protest, ICE Transfers Dozens of Asylum Seekers to an Isolated Laredo Facility

6In the Trump Era, Practicing Immigration Law is Like ‘Swimming in Molasses’

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Families of Sick Prisoners Plead for Compassionate Release as Coronavirus Spreads Behind Bars in Texas

2In a Pandemic, Poor Defendants Could Pay With Their Lives

3Some Texas Officials Want to Divert People from Jail Amid Coronavirus Scare

4Texas Prosecutor Races Offer Competing Visions for Criminal Justice Reform

5Texas Prisons Ban Greeting Cards, Expand Drug-Sniffing Dog Searches to Visitors

6Alec Karakatsanis on the ‘Usual Cruelty’ of the Criminal Justice System

Most Recent in Education:

1Tough Decisions Ahead for School Leaders in Rural Texas

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

3The Creature of Martin Creek Lake Won’t Die

4The Cost of Carve-Outs

5Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

6Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

Most Recent in Health Care:

1‘I Think I’m Gonna Die’: Coronavirus Compounds Risk for Dialysis Patients in the Rio Grande Valley

2Scientist Peter Hotez on Why Vaccine Development is ‘Critical to the Security of Our Nation’

3COVID-19 Could Be a ‘Double Whammy’ for Those in Pollution Hotspots

4Abortion Clinics in Texas Rely on Traveling Doctors. Coronavirus is Keeping Some of Them Home.

5The COVID-19 Crisis Points the Way Toward a Better Texas

610 Ways to Help Your Fellow Texans Endure the Coronavirus Pandemic

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:

1A New Book on the Sutherland Springs Shooting Explores Resilience, Forgiveness, and Grace

2‘Trust Me’ Tackles Politics, Power, and Perception

3In a New West Texas Novel, Women Kick Ass and Take Names

413 Small Texas Presses to Read Right Now

5How Christian Nationalism Moved from the Fringe to the White House

6In ‘Barn 8,’ an Unsparing Look at the Industrial Chicken Industry

Most Recent in Features:

1San Antonio Embraces Mandaean Refugees

2The Ghosts of Jefferson

3Little Arthouse on the Prairie

4The Clothes that Make the Man

5Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

6Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

Most Recent in Essay:

1Lessons on the Long Game from Goose Island’s Whooping Cranes

2In a Pandemic, Poor Defendants Could Pay With Their Lives

3Loneliness in the Age of Coronavirus

4‘Cheer’ Takes an Overlooked Sport Off the Sidelines

5Governor Abbott’s Campaign Against the Homeless Isn’t Just Cruel—It’s Dangerous

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

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Border Tuner

2Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

3Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

4Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

5Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

6Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

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: June 2015

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

Letters from Death Row: The Biology of Trauma

by Alex Hannaford

Mon, Jun 22, 2015 |

Texas executes more of its citizens—almost all of them men—than any other state. New studies show that trauma biologically alters the brains of young boys in ways that affect their adult behavior, raising the moral implications of the death penalty. Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

Dragging the State Board into the Present

by Patrick Michels

Texas Public Policy Foundation as the Underdog?

by Christopher Hooks

Lawmaker Pushes for ‘Liberty Cities’

Detainees Fight for Freedom of Speech

by Melissa del Bosque

News

Strangest State: On the Lookout for Black Helicopters and Falling Prices

by Patrick Michels

A Neighborhood Apart

by Priscila Mosqueda

CULTURE

Zellner Brothers’ Latest Film Explores Fact as Fiction

by Josh Rosenblatt

Direct Quote: Celebrating Gender Diversity Through Art

At Rest in the Fields

by Sarah Wambold

Creatures Great and Small

by Alex Dropkin

The Book Report: Small Town Dreams

by Mónica Teresa Ortiz

Columns

State of the Media: The Scene of the Crimes

by Andrea Grimes

Resurrecting the Legacy of Selena

by Michelle Garcia

State of Texas

State of Texas: Who We Kill

by Joe Cutbirth

Loon Star State

Ben Sargent’s Loon Star State: Greg, Are You Down There?

Eye on Texas

Eye on Texas: Hot Fun in the Summertime