September 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1‘I’m Really Scared Now to Go to School’: Texas Students Lead Walkout to Protest Gun Laws

2Jorge Ramos’ New Book, ‘Stranger,’ is a Journalist’s Manifesto

3Blake Farenthold and the Consequences of Extreme Gerrymandering

4The Good News (and the Bad) for Beto O’Rourke in that Quinnipiac Poll

5Beto’s Not the Only Texas Democrat with a Big-Dollar Haul

6Who is Mary Street Wilson?

Most Recent in Environment:

1Despite Trump, Water Agency Fosters Cross-Border Cooperation Between U.S. and Mexico

2Trump’s Border Wall Lands Rio Grande on List of Nation’s Most Endangered Rivers

3Alleging ‘Environmental Racism,’ El Paso Activists File Civil Rights Complaint Against School District

4‘The Natural History of Texas’ Celebrates the State’s Lesser-Known Critters and In-Between Places

5How the Fate of Texas’ Endangered Mussels Could Affect Water Usage Statewide

6Investigation Finds Culprit in Panhandle ‘Chemical Drift’ Case, State Yet to Take Action

Most Recent in Border:

1Trump’s Border Wall Lands Rio Grande on List of Nation’s Most Endangered Rivers

2Militarization of Texas-Mexico Border a Sign of Complacency, but Not From Border Residents

3Elecciones presidenciales en México. ¿Finalmente puede ganar la izquierda?

4Will Mexico Elect its First Leftist President Since 1934?

5Courts: Police Can Shoot and Kill People As Long They Are Across the Border

6I Grew Up on the Texas-Mexico Border, but Now I Barely Recognize It

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Galveston Lawsuit Is Writing on the Wall for Other Counties that Haven’t Ended ‘Wealth-Based Detention’

2Bail Lawsuit Accuses Dallas County of Violating Poor People’s Rights in Secret Hearings

3Courts: Police Can Shoot and Kill People As Long They Are Across the Border

4AG Opinion: Texas Cops Under Investigation Can Watch ‘Any’ Body Cam Footage Before Answering Questions

5Texas Prison System Sheds Men, Swallows Even More Women

6A Prison By Any Other Name

Most Recent in Education:

1Texas Teachers ‘Blow the Whistle’ After Conservatives Accuse Them of (Gasp!) Getting out the Vote

2Nazis Go To School

3‘I Would Have to Drop Out’: 200 Texas Grad Students Walk Out to Protest GOP Tax Bill

4Homelessness in Texas Public Schools is a Suburban and Rural Problem, Too

5Another Strikeout for Mexican-American Studies in Texas

6Amid Anti-Confederate Push, San Antonio School District Changes Lee High School … to LEE High School

Most Recent in Health Care:

2What’s Going on with Texas’ Maternal Mortality Rate?

3In Her Own Letter to Trump Officials, Texas Republican Fact-Checks Ken Paxton’s False Claims on Women’s Health

4Texas AG Ken Paxton is Very Angry About Women’s Health Programs He Doesn’t Seem to Understand

5Anti-Vaxxers are Claiming Victory After Texas Primaries. Will Their Influence Grow?

6‘Get High With Ricki Lake!’: New Film on Medical Marijuana Leaves Out Texas Families

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Meet Nueces County’s New DA, a Self-Professed ‘Mexican Biker Lawyer Covered in Tattoos’

2The Interview: Joaquin Castro Says Texas Democrats are Poised for a Comeback

3The Interview: Beto O’Rourke on Trump, the Border and How to Revive the Democratic Party

4The Interview: Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith

5The Interview: Lupe Valdez

6The Interview: Paul Quinn College’s Michael Sorrell

Most Recent in Books:

1Jorge Ramos’ New Book, ‘Stranger,’ is a Journalist’s Manifesto

2On Giant’s Shoulders: New Cinema History Dissects Texas Tropes

3In ‘God Save Texas,’ Lawrence Wright Explains the Lone Star State to Outsiders

4‘The Natural History of Texas’ Celebrates the State’s Lesser-Known Critters and In-Between Places

5‘The Red Caddy’ Is Charles Bowden’s Pithy, Witty Posthumous Tribute to Edward Abbey

6Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

Most Recent in Postcards:

3Field Notes from Santa Ana

4The King of Pulp

5Ride Like a Girl

Most Recent in Essay:

1I Grew Up on the Texas-Mexico Border, but Now I Barely Recognize It

2Somewhere It Hides a Well

3Drinking the Kool-Aid at the Garden of Eden

4The Road to Huntsville

5The Impossible City

6Dear Governor Abbott: The ‘Bathroom Bill’ Endangers Trans Texans Like My Son

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Gentrification in East Austin

2Eye on Texas: Transgender Youth in Texas

3Eye On Texas: Hurricane Harvey

4Eye on Texas: Fantastical Taxidermy

5Eye on Texas: Runners Take on 170-Mile Race in Big Bend

6Eye on Texas: Liberty Hill Hosts Texas Firearms Festival

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: September 2015

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March 2015, Texas Observer cover

COVER STORY

That Sinking Feeling

by Christopher Hooks

Mon, Aug 31, 2015 |

Ken Paxton’s rapid ascent from state representative to state senator and then to the attorney general’s office in the span of just three years has been an object lesson in the dysfunctions of contemporary Texas politics.Read More

In this Issue

Political Intelligence

McAllen Catholic Church Continues to Open Its Doors to Central American Migrants

by Melissa del Bosque

Progreso ISD Fights State Over Students’ Residency

by Patrick Michels

Dallas Ranks No. 3 in Nation for Rate of Fatal Police Shootings

News

King’s Gambit

by Patrick Michels

That Sinking Feeling

by Christopher Hooks

CULTURE

‘Deep Web’ Probes Mastermind Behind Online Black Market

by Josh Rosenblatt

Insurgent Medicine

by Daniel Blue Tyx

Columns

State of the Media: Joining the GOP Circus

by Andrea Grimes

The Borderlands, So Far from Austin

by Forrest Wilder

Greater State: Rick Perry Emerges as GOP’s Voice of Reason

by Jason Stanford

State of Texas

State of Texas: Behind Bars with a Mental Illness

by Alexa Garcia-Ditta and Teresa Mioli

Loon Star State

Loon Star State: Ken Paxton Wants a Piece of the Action

Eye on Texas

Eye on Texas: Bastrop Wildfires

by Spencer Selvidge