September 2015 - The Texas Observer

Most Recent in Politics:

1As Speaker of the House, Will Dennis Bonnen be a Menace to the Environment?

2Texas GOP Chair: Racism and Bigotry are an ‘Extreme Exception’ in the Party

3‘Damn Right, I’m a White Nationalist’ Declares Texas GOP Platform Committee Member

4John Guandolo is on a Crusade to Turn Texas Cops Against Muslims

5How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States

6How Beto Built His Texas-Sized Grassroots Machine

Most Recent in Environment:

1As Speaker of the House, Will Dennis Bonnen be a Menace to the Environment?

2How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States

3Audit Says State Windstorm Insurance Program is Failing… Again

4Trump Administration Report: Climate Change Is Hurting Texas

5In Texas, One of the World’s Oldest, Weirdest Fish Finally Gets its Due

6In East Texas, Chicken Plants are Polluting Rivers and Lakes with Oxygen-Sucking Contaminants

Most Recent in Border:

1How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States

2Border Patrol Calls Cops on Lawyers, Activists Trying to Attend ‘Stakeholder’ Meeting

4Border Residents Protest Trump’s Wall in Hidalgo County

5AUDIO: Melissa del Bosque and Rachel Poser on Border Patrol’s Unchecked Mission Creep

6More Than 150 Families Separated at the Border Remain Locked Up in Texas

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1When Prison Reform Goes Bad

2John Guandolo is on a Crusade to Turn Texas Cops Against Muslims

3State-Sanctioned Secrecy Shields Texas’ Death Penalty Machine from Scrutiny

4New Contract Could Give Austin One of the Most Transparent Police Departments in the Country

5Ken Paxton’s Strange Quest to Execute an Intellectually Disabled Man

6The Midterms Trigger a Seismic Shift in Harris County’s Courts

Most Recent in Education:

1In Violation of Texas Law, Most High Schools Aren’t Giving Students the Chance to Register to Vote

2Amid Record Youth Suicide Attempts, Texas Lags in Prevention Training for Teachers

3Cash-Strapped Rural Texas Schools Look to Universities for Help

4What’s in a Name? Texas SBOE Tentatively Approves ‘Ethnic Studies: Mexican American Studies’

5SMU Just Lost Its Independent Student Newspaper. Is Your College Next?

6Lawsuit: Texas Art Teacher Suspended Because She Told Students About Her Wife

Most Recent in Health Care:

1Four Texas Abortion Court Cases to Watch in 2019

2Meet Jim Allison, Texas’ Newest Nobel Laureate (and Three-Time Cancer Survivor)

3Struggling Rural Hospitals Say They’re Being Preyed Upon by Blue Cross Blue Shield

4Texas’ Uninsured Rate for Kids, Highest in the Country, Increased for the First Time in Years

5Meet the Scientist and Autism Dad Who’s Fighting the Anti-Vaccine Movement

6Trump’s Sabotage of ACA Enrollment Is Particularly Dangerous in Texas

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Dolores Huerta is Still Knocking on Doors and Registering Voters at 88

2The Interview: Veronica Escobar is Poised to Make History

3Redistricting Guru Michael Li on Texas’ Gerrymandered Maps

4Senfronia Thompson Says #MeToo: Texas Lawmaker on 45 Years of Sexism, Racism at the Capitol

5Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Sanctuary Cities, Police Unions and Tommy Guns

6Meet Nueces County’s New DA, a Self-Professed ‘Mexican Biker Lawyer Covered in Tattoos’

Most Recent in Books:

1Our 10 Favorite Texas Books of 2018

2The Lone Star State Teems with Snakes, Lizards and Toads in ‘Herping Texas’

3Octavio Solis’ ‘Retablos’ Recounts a ‘Beautiful, Messy’ Youth on the Border

4‘When I Spoke in Tongues’ Chronicles a Long Walk Away from the Church

5Casey Gerald’s Memoir Isn’t the Inspirational Tale You Think It Is

6‘Beyoncé in Formation’ is a Texas Professor’s Love Letter to Queen B

Most Recent in Features:

1Raspa Revolution

2100 Ways to Draw a Line

3Homeward Bound

4The Sisterhood

5The Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Lower Pecos

Most Recent in Essay:

1The Trouble with Yoga

2Heads in the Mud

3The Day the Windows Shook

4Women’s Work

5I Grew Up on the Texas-Mexico Border, but Now I Barely Recognize It

6Somewhere It Hides a Well

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Fiesta Protesta

2Eye on Texas: Gentrification in East Austin

3Eye on Texas: Transgender Youth in Texas

4Eye On Texas: Hurricane Harvey

5Eye on Texas: Fantastical Taxidermy

6Eye on Texas: Runners Take on 170-Mile Race in Big Bend

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