Most Recent in Politics:

1As Fossil Fuel Industry Invests Billions in New Texas Facilities, it Could Unleash a Huge Emissions Bomb

2Loon Star: The Governor Shows His Concern for the Homeless

3The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.

4Ken Paxton Says New Anti-Abortion Law Bars State Employees from Donating to Planned Parenthood

5Hemp Snafu Offers Texas Cities a Way to Decriminalize Marijuana

6The Return of Karl Rove

Most Recent in Environment:

1As Fossil Fuel Industry Invests Billions in New Texas Facilities, it Could Unleash a Huge Emissions Bomb

2Trump Has Kneecapped Another Environmental Safeguard. Could That Spur Expanded Uranium Mining in South Texas?

3Five Times the Effects of Climate Change Loomed Over Texas in 2019

4The EPA Faces Lawsuit Over Slaughterhouse Pollution in Waterways

5Report: As TCEQ Sits Idle, Polluters Double Illegal Air Pollution in 2018

6Bald Eagle Numbers at Lake Buchanan Are Declining. No One’s Exactly Sure Why.

Most Recent in Border:

1‘Life is a Fight’: Scenes from a Migrant Tent Camp in Juárez

2A Radical Proposal Calls for a Moratorium on Deportations

3‘Baby Jails’ Chronicles America’s ‘Shameful’ Treatment of Migrant Kids

42020: The Year Trump’s Wall Rises or Falls

5Report: Sexual Assault is Common in Immigrant Prisons, but Survivors Aren’t Getting Help

6A World Without Immigrant Prisons

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

15 Texas Criminal Justice Stories to Watch in 2020

2Report: Sexual Assault is Common in Immigrant Prisons, but Survivors Aren’t Getting Help

3In Dallas, Churches Break the Law to Shelter Homeless People on Freezing Nights

4Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence

5Federal Report Flags High Rates of Sexual Abuse in Texas Juvenile Lockups

6A Top Cop Accused of Racism Forces Austin to Confront Bias in Law Enforcement

Most Recent in Education:

1‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD

2The Creature of Martin Creek Lake Won’t Die

3The Cost of Carve-Outs

4Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

5Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

6‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’

Most Recent in Health Care:

1We Asked You About Health Care in Rural Texas. Here are Your Stories.

2How the San Antonio Police Are Rethinking Mental Health

3Ken Paxton Says New Anti-Abortion Law Bars State Employees from Donating to Planned Parenthood

4This West Texas Town is a Reproductive Health Void

5A Decade of Texas Health Care By The Numbers

6Everyone Wants to End Surprise Medical Billing in Texas, but No One Wants to Pay for It

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:

1The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.

2The 30 Best Texas Books of The Decade, from Amarillo to Utopia

3A World Without Immigrant Prisons

4Two New Books Explore the Limits of the #MeToo Movement in Texas and Beyond

5I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore

6American Cities Weren’t Revitalized by the White ‘Creative Class.’ Immigrants Made Them Great.

Most Recent in Features:

1The Ghosts of Jefferson

2Little Arthouse on the Prairie

3The Clothes that Make the Man

4Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

5Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

6At Home in the World

Most Recent in Essay:

1‘Cheer’ Takes an Overlooked Sport Off the Sidelines

2Governor Abbott’s Campaign Against the Homeless Isn’t Just Cruel—It’s Dangerous

3Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence

4Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

5A Chain Reaction

6Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

2Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

3Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

4Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

5Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

6Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

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

Tag Archives: Alpine

by Christopher Collins

Government Transparency Suffers a Major Setback Thanks to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

The all-Republican court has removed criminal penalties for violating a portion of the state Open Meetings Act.

Thu, Feb 28, 2019 |

The windows of Texas government have been tinted even darker thanks to a landmark ruling Wednesday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The nine-member panel...Read More

An Alpine police officer stands watch outside the Purple Zone smoke shop during a federal raid in May.

by Patrick Michels

Alpine Synthetic Drug Case Ends in Plea Deal for Purple Zone Owner

Reason magazine features Purple Zone case in documentary alleging affair between shop owner and prosecutor

Sat, Nov 15, 2014 |

Since the Observer featured the strange tale of a synthetic drug crackdown in Alpine, the cases have ended in plea deals, and Reason magazine has detailed new a...Read More

Purple Zone merchandise on the shelves.

by Jonathan McNamara

Observer Radio Episode 69: How an Alpine Smoke Shop Became a National Civil Liberties Cause

Fri, Aug 1, 2014 |

Patrick Michels tells the tale of a controversial Alpine smoke shop swept up by the federal government's zeal to snuff out synthetic drugs....Read More

An Alpine police officer stands watch outside the Purple Zone smoke shop during a federal raid in May.

by Patrick Michels

The Thin Purple Line

After a controversial raid on a West Texas smoke shop, nothing is hazier than the truth.

Mon, Jul 28, 2014 |

After a controversial raid on a West Texas smoke shop, nothing is hazier than the truth. ...Read More

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