March 2016 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Critics Fear New Texas Law Giving SBOE Wide Discretion Over Textbooks

2The GOP Health Plan Would Give Governor Greg Abbott Power Over Your Coverage

3Over the Wall: How Texas Border Communities Are Gearing Up to Fight Trump

4State Attorneys: Senate Bill 4 Is ‘Moderate’ Compared to Arizona’s ‘Papers, Please’ Law

5Protesters Surround Courthouse as First Major SB 4 Hearing Begins

6This Week: Texans’ Health Under Attack by Republican Lawmakers

Most Recent in Environment:

1Over the Wall: How Texas Border Communities Are Gearing Up to Fight Trump

2Getting Wise to Bad Air: North Texans Take Smog Monitoring Into Own Hands

3Mean to Green: How the Texas Legislature Took its Toll on the Environment This Session

4Governor Abbott’s Beef with Tree Ordinances Has Its Roots in a Pecan Tree He Destroyed to Build a New Home

5After 17 Years, EPA Settles Racial Discrimination Case Against TCEQ

6Texans Could Soon Be Jailed for Flying Drones over Oil Facilities, Animal Factory Farms

Most Recent in Border:

1Over the Wall: How Texas Border Communities Are Gearing Up to Fight Trump

2State Attorneys: Senate Bill 4 Is ‘Moderate’ Compared to Arizona’s ‘Papers, Please’ Law

3Protesters Surround Courthouse as First Major SB 4 Hearing Begins

4Lo que Necesitas Saber sobre la Batalla Legal de SB 4

5What You Need to Know About the SB 4 Legal Battle

6After Five Years in Exile, Mexican Journalist Fears He’ll Never Be Able to Go Home

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1State Attorneys: Senate Bill 4 Is ‘Moderate’ Compared to Arizona’s ‘Papers, Please’ Law

2Attorney: Matt Rinaldi’s Call to ICE Will Likely Be Used Against SB 4 in Lawsuit

3Indicted Senator Carlos Uresti Exchanged Campaign Funds with Alleged Co-Conspirators

4Texas Republican Called ICE on SB 4 Protesters, Threatened to Shoot Colleague

53 A.M. ‘Sanctuary’ Protest at Governor Abbott’s Mansion Blares Mariachi Music

6Texans Could Soon Be Jailed for Flying Drones over Oil Facilities, Animal Factory Farms

Most Recent in Education:

1Critics Fear New Texas Law Giving SBOE Wide Discretion Over Textbooks

2After Freedom Caucus Kills Her Legislation, Lawmaker Announces Anti-‘Lunch Shaming’ Campaign

3Texas’ ‘Lunch Shaming’ Problem and the Fight to Fix It

4CPS Caseworker: Lawmakers Are ‘Shifting the Blame’ by Privatizing Child Welfare System

5‘Academic Freedom’ Bill Provides Cover to Teach Creationism, Climate Denial in Classrooms

6‘Another Book, Another Month, Another Day Closer to You’

Most Recent in Health Care:

1The GOP Health Plan Would Give Governor Greg Abbott Power Over Your Coverage

2This Week: Texans’ Health Under Attack by Republican Lawmakers

3Who Really Gets Government Benefits In Texas?

4How the Texas Legislature Reached a Dangerous Stalemate on Vaccines

5Getting Wise to Bad Air: North Texans Take Smog Monitoring Into Own Hands

6How Texas’ Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Win Even While Losing in Court

Most Recent in The Interview:

1The Interview: Joaquin Castro Says Texas Democrats are Poised for a Comeback

2The Interview: Beto O’Rourke on Trump, the Border and How to Revive the Democratic Party

3The Interview: Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith

4The Interview: Lupe Valdez

5The Interview: Paul Quinn College’s Michael Sorrell

6The Interview: Judge John Dietz on Texas’ School Finance Crisis

Most Recent in Books:

1‘The Potlikker Papers’ Wants You to Eat Your Grits with a Side of Discomfort

2We Were the Safety Net

3‘Cornyation’ Celebrates San Antonio’s Most Fabulous Fiesta Tradition

4Valeria Luiselli’s ‘Tell Me How It Ends’ Is the First Must-Read Book of the Trump Era

5In the Age of Trump, the First All-Latino Sci-Fi Anthology Hits too Close to Home

6In ‘Blue Texas,’ a Historical Blueprint for Texas Activists

Most Recent in Postcards:

5Feathering Their Nest

6The Business of Burying Horses

Most Recent in Essay:

1Going It Alone

2The Observer’s Founding Editor: ‘Bring the Fight Back’ to Texas Politics

3A Texan’s Political Guide to Resisting Trump

4The Resistance Against Donald Trump Begins in Texas

5What a 1940 Novel Can Teach Us About Fighting Trump

6A Single Mom’s Search for ‘School Choice’ in Texas

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Runners Take on 170-Mile Race in Big Bend

2Eye on Texas: Liberty Hill Hosts Texas Firearms Festival

3Eye on Texas: TX Open Swim

4Eye on Texas: Blessing of the Hands in San Antonio

5Eye on Texas: Austin’s Chapels

6Eye on Texas: Portico Tejas

Most Recent in Poetry:

2Poem: ‘Resistance’

3Poem: ‘Screenplay for a Homemade Movie’

4Poem: ‘To Be One with the All’

5Poem: ‘Whitewashing’

6Poem: ‘Rice and Beans’

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