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2Ted Cruz Won Because of Rural Texas, but Beto Made Small Gains for Democrats

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4Trump’s Sabotage of ACA Enrollment Is Particularly Dangerous in Texas

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4Exxon Appears to Mislead State to Secure Tax Break

5After the Flood, the Political Storm?

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5More Than 150 Families Separated at the Border Remain Locked Up in Texas

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1New Contract Could Give Austin One of the Most Transparent Police Departments in the Country

2Ken Paxton’s Strange Quest to Execute an Intellectually Disabled Man

3The Midterms Trigger a Seismic Shift in Harris County’s Courts

4Harris County Judges May Face a Reckoning Over Bail On Election Day

5Dallas County’s Cop-Convicting DA Is Among the Most Vulnerable Down-Ballot Republicans This Election

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

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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?

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4We Support Pre-Existing Condition Protections, Say Republicans Who’ve Repeatedly Tried to Eliminate Them

5Meet Mikael Love, the OB-GYN Who Doesn’t Prescribe Birth Control

6Without Planned Parenthood, Almost Half the Providers in Texas’ Women’s Health Program Saw No Patients

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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’

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1Octavio Solis’ ‘Retablos’ Recounts a ‘Beautiful, Messy’ Youth on the Border

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

3Casey Gerald’s Memoir Isn’t the Inspirational Tale You Think It Is

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

5Author Shane Bauer on How the Racist Roots of Private Prisons Still Permeate the System

6Best of the 2018 Texas Book Festival: An Observer Staff Guide

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2The Day the Windows Shook

3Women’s Work

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5Somewhere It Hides a Well

6Drinking the Kool-Aid at the Garden of Eden

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2Eye on Texas: Gentrification in East Austin

3Eye on Texas: Transgender Youth in Texas

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

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1Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

2Parallel Planes

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Tag Archives: criminal justice reform

What’s next for Texas criminal justice reform?

by Scott Henson

Raising the Bars

What's next for Texas criminal justice reform?

Mon, Mar 21, 2016 |

Here's what Texas lawmakers can, and should, do for criminal and racial justice in the state in the wake of Sandra Bland's death while in police custody....Read More

Harris County

by Emily DePrang

Poor Judgment

In Harris County, the indigent defense system works great — for everyone but the indigent.

Mon, Oct 12, 2015 |

The state exercises almost no oversight of indigent defense, and most counties still administer their programs through an antiquated process rife with conflicts...Read More

Harris County Juvenile Justice System

by Patrick Michels

More Girls Locked Up Longer in Texas’ Juvenile Justice System

Fri, Sep 25, 2015 |

Nationwide, girls are entering the system at a higher rate than before, even though overall youth delinquency has gone down over the last 20 years. A new study ...Read More

by Chantel L. Jones

Why This Texan Won’t Be Celebrating Juneteenth This Year

Thu, Jun 18, 2015 |

With Juneteenth approaching, now’s a good time to consider the living legacy of slavery in our state. ...Read More

Direct Quote: An Inside View

Thu, May 28, 2015 |

Lauren Johnson knows all too well the stigma that's often associated with having a felony conviction. Johnson now advocates with Austin-based nonprofit Grassroo...Read More

by Christopher Hooks

Bipartisan Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform Debuts

Thu, Sep 18, 2014 |

Next session seems set to be pretty contentious, but a new bipartisan coalition is raising hopes for comity on an important issue—criminal justice reform....Read More

by David Peterson

Public Defender: Prison Reform Must Include Undocumented Immigrants

Thu, Aug 22, 2013 |

Crime rates have been steadily declining in America, requiring a rethinking of drug prosecutions. So too with immigration prosecutions....Read More

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