March 2016 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1The New U.S. Food Safety Czar is a Texas Researcher with Close Ties to the Meat Industry

2Texas Republicans’ Pandemic Performance Is True to Form

3Texas Democratic and Republican Parties Spar Over How to Hold Elections During a Pandemic

4How The Coronavirus Pandemic Exposed Abbott’s Hypocrisy On Local Control

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

6With Paid Leave Policies, Texas Cities Tried to Prepare for Coronavirus

Most Recent in Environment:

1COVID-19 Could Be a ‘Double Whammy’ for Those in Pollution Hotspots

2Coronavirus is Exposing the Faulty Foundations of the Texas Fracking Industry

3In Big Spring, a Rural Community Braces for Another Oil Bust

4In Southeast Lubbock Neighborhood, Residents are Fed Up With a Feedlot

5With Coal Plants Offline, the Air in Central and East Texas Has Cleared

6It’s Illegal to Take Drone Photos of Cattle Feedlots in Texas. Press Groups Say That Violates the First Amendment.

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:

1Scientist Peter Hotez on Why Vaccine Development is ‘Critical to the Security of Our Nation’

2COVID-19 Could Be a ‘Double Whammy’ for Those in Pollution Hotspots

3Abortion Clinics in Texas Rely on Traveling Doctors. Coronavirus is Keeping Some of Them Home.

4The COVID-19 Crisis Points the Way Toward a Better Texas

510 Ways to Help Your Fellow Texans Endure the Coronavirus Pandemic

6Some Texas Officials Want to Divert People from Jail Amid Coronavirus Scare

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:

1In a Pandemic, Poor Defendants Could Pay With Their Lives

2Loneliness in the Age of Coronavirus

3‘Cheer’ Takes an Overlooked Sport Off the Sidelines

4Governor Abbott’s Campaign Against the Homeless Isn’t Just Cruel—It’s Dangerous

5Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence

6Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

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: March 2016

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March 2015, Texas Observer cover

COVER STORY

Free Lunch

by Patrick Michels

Mon, Mar 14, 2016 |

Texas' largest corporate welfare program lets school districts give away unlimited tax breaks — more than $7 billion so far — with only loose state oversight. What could go wrong?Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta

Winds of Change

by Naveena Sadasivam

News

Strangest State: A Ghostly Cat, Recumbent Rudeness and a Turtle on the Lam

by Patrick Michels

Winds of Change

by Naveena Sadasivam

CULTURE

Turning Hard Right

by Christopher Hooks

Poem: ‘Poets And Antidepressants’

by Sally McGreevey Hannay

Photos of Dystopia

by Michael Agresta

The New Migrants

by Sarah Smarsh

Columns

by Andrea Grimes

State of Texas

State of Texas: The Hills Have Allies

by Naveena Sadasivam

Loon Star State

Loon Star State: D.C. Forbids Travelers From Texas