Most Recent in Politics:

1Texas Lawmaker Sponsors Far-Right Rally Against ‘Far-Left Violence’

2‘Stalwart Battler for Justice’: Remembering Babe Schwartz (1926-2018)

3In Their Rush to Appear Pro-Israel, Texas Lawmakers May Have Stepped on Free Speech

4How Anti-Abortion Activists are Training Their ‘Next Generation of Pro-Life Leaders’

5In New ‘Spray Box’ Decision, Sid Miller Dances Himself Right Back to Where He Started

6The Christian Right’s Politics of Cruelty

Most Recent in Environment:

1Trump’s Border Wall Could Decimate These Rare Species

2The Texas-Mexico Border Wall Comes with a Dangerous, Costly Side Effect: Flooding

3In a Warming World, the Fight for Water Can Push Nations Apart — or Bring Them Together

4Will Hurricane Harvey Recovery Sink or Save a Texas City Already Fighting for Survival?

5Border Patrol’s Efforts to Inform the Public About Trump’s Wall Are ‘Careless’ and ‘Inadequate,’ Advocates Say

6The Day the Windows Shook

Most Recent in Border:

1The Texas-Mexico Border Wall Comes with a Dangerous, Costly Side Effect: Flooding

2In a Warming World, the Fight for Water Can Push Nations Apart — or Bring Them Together

3100 Ways to Draw a Line

4Texas Congressman Demands Answers from ICE about Van Crash, Misinformation

5ICE Estrelló una Camioneta Llena de Madres Separadas, Después Negó que Haya Sucedido

6ICE Crashed a Van Full of Separated Mothers, Then Denied It Ever Happened

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1In Texas, 3 Out of 4 County Jail Inmates Haven’t Been Convicted of a Crime

2Who Gets Mercy on Death Row? Chris Young’s Execution Raises Questions of Racial Bias

3Zero-Tolerance Policies Meant to Protect Against School Threats May Lead to Misguided Arrests

4Legislation to Abolish ICE Indicates Movement is Gaining Mainstream Traction

5College Degree Options Are Disappearing for Women in Texas Prisons

6After Years of Working with ‘Ritmo’ Detainees, I Know the Inhumane Facility Doesn’t Deserve a Second Chance

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:

1How Anti-Abortion Activists are Training Their ‘Next Generation of Pro-Life Leaders’

2Professor Trill

3Tinkering with the Human Heart in ‘Ticker’

4Amid Record Youth Suicide Attempts, Texas Lags in Prevention Training for Teachers

5Will Hurricane Harvey Recovery Sink or Save a Texas City Already Fighting for Survival?

6Documentary Follows a Family’s Fight to Change Texas Law that Turned Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman into an ‘Incubator’

Most Recent in The Interview:

1The Interview: Veronica Escobar is Poised to Make History

2Redistricting Guru Michael Li on Texas’ Gerrymandered Maps

3Senfronia Thompson Says #MeToo: Texas Lawmaker on 45 Years of Sexism, Racism at the Capitol

4Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Sanctuary Cities, Police Unions and Tommy Guns

5Meet Nueces County’s New DA, a Self-Professed ‘Mexican Biker Lawyer Covered in Tattoos’

6The Interview: Joaquin Castro Says Texas Democrats are Poised for a Comeback

Most Recent in Books:

1‘American Hate’ Author on Hate Crimes, Free Speech and Alex Jones

2‘I Can’t Date Jesus’ Chronicles Growing up Black, Queer and Catholic in Houston

3Tinkering with the Human Heart in ‘Ticker’

4In ‘Homelands,’ Alfredo Corchado Punctures the Myth of the American Dream

5Announcing the Eighth Annual Observer Short Story Contest

6A Vampire Book That Does Not Suck

Most Recent in Postcards:

1The Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Lower Pecos

4Field Notes from Santa Ana

5The King of Pulp

6Ride Like a Girl

Most Recent in Essay:

1The Day the Windows Shook

2Women’s Work

3I Grew Up on the Texas-Mexico Border, but Now I Barely Recognize It

4Somewhere It Hides a Well

5Drinking the Kool-Aid at the Garden of Eden

6The Road to Huntsville

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’

Tag Archives: Alpine

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

Top