May 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1Lo que Necesitas Saber sobre la Batalla Legal de SB 4

2How the Texas Legislature Reached a Dangerous Stalemate on Vaccines

3Is Competence Enough? Mike Collier is Counting on it in Race Against Dan Patrick

4How Texas’ Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Win Even While Losing in Court

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

6Loon Star State: Gerrymandering in Texas

Most Recent in Environment:

1Getting Wise to Bad Air: North Texans Take Smog Monitoring Into Own Hands

2Mean to Green: How the Texas Legislature Took its Toll on the Environment This Session

3Governor Abbott’s Beef with Tree Ordinances Has Its Roots in a Pecan Tree He Destroyed to Build a New Home

4After 17 Years, EPA Settles Racial Discrimination Case Against TCEQ

5Texans Could Soon Be Jailed for Flying Drones over Oil Facilities, Animal Factory Farms

6Endangered Science

Most Recent in Border:

1Lo que Necesitas Saber sobre la Batalla Legal de SB 4

2What You Need to Know About the SB 4 Legal Battle

3After Five Years in Exile, Mexican Journalist Fears He’ll Never Be Able to Go Home

4Both Sides of the U.S.-Mexico Border Want to Renegotiate NAFTA

5Attorneys Who Halted Trump’s Travel Ban Will Take on Senate Bill 4

6Photos: SB 4 Protesters Flood Capitol to Jump-Start ‘Summer of Resistance’

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Attorney: Matt Rinaldi’s Call to ICE Will Likely Be Used Against SB 4 in Lawsuit

2Indicted Senator Carlos Uresti Exchanged Campaign Funds with Alleged Co-Conspirators

3Texas Republican Called ICE on SB 4 Protesters, Threatened to Shoot Colleague

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

5Texans Could Soon Be Jailed for Flying Drones over Oil Facilities, Animal Factory Farms

6Texas Bill Could Send People to Jail for Driving a Woman to an Abortion, Lawmaker Says

Most Recent in Education:

1After Freedom Caucus Kills Her Legislation, Lawmaker Announces Anti-‘Lunch Shaming’ Campaign

2Texas’ ‘Lunch Shaming’ Problem and the Fight to Fix It

3CPS Caseworker: Lawmakers Are ‘Shifting the Blame’ by Privatizing Child Welfare System

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

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

6Dan Patrick Offers Vouchers as Solution to Special Ed Failures that He Helped Create

Most Recent in Health Care:

1How the Texas Legislature Reached a Dangerous Stalemate on Vaccines

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

3How Texas’ Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Win Even While Losing in Court

4Governor Greg Abbott Vetoes Women’s Health Committee Despite Ongoing Crises

5Texas’ Maternal Mortality Rate: Worst in Developed World, Shrugged off by Lawmakers

6Texas Bill Could Send People to Jail for Driving a Woman to an Abortion, Lawmaker Says

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:

1We Were the Safety Net

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

3Valeria Luiselli’s ‘Tell Me How It Ends’ Is the First Must-Read Book of the Trump Era

4In the Age of Trump, the First All-Latino Sci-Fi Anthology Hits too Close to Home

5In ‘Blue Texas,’ a Historical Blueprint for Texas Activists

6Austin Writer Ed Ward Celebrates the Black Musicians Who Made Rock

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: May 2015

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March 2015, Texas Observer cover

COVER STORY

Navigating a New Reality

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta

Mon, May 11, 2015 |

While lawmakers have filed dozens of anti-abortion bills, a growing group of activists and volunteer-led organizations are providing resources for women seeking access to abortion in Texas. Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

Texas Churches Make Infamous Anti-LGBT Hate Groups List

Too Young to Jail

by Patrick Michels

Can a Socialist Sway Texas Democrats?

by Christopher Hooks

Alamo City Mayoral Race Heats Up

by Christopher Hooks

News

Closing the Gap: Seeking Better Care for Foster Kids in Texas

by Beth Cortez-Neavel

Strangest State: A Twelve-Foot Chair and a Trunk-Load of Shrimp

by Patrick Michels

CULTURE

Direct Quote: An Inside View

by Daniel Blue Tyx

‘I’ve Been There’

by Grady Gaines

Book Review: Austin, Our Austin

Columns

To Save Lives, Close the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint

by Forrest Wilder

Greater State: The Just-World Theory Paradox

by Michelle Garcia

State of the Media: Building a Better Punditocracy

by Andrea Grimes

Loon Star State

Loon Star State: The Legislature’s New Approach to Ethics

Eye on Texas

Eye on Texas: Cowboys & Cul-De-Sacs