Most Recent in Texas Politics:

1For Greg Abbott, All the Border’s a Stage

2How Far Can Texas Democrats Take the Quorum Break?

3After Kelcy Warren’s Energy Transfer Partners Made Billions from the Deadly Texas Blackouts, He Gave $1 Million to Greg Abbott

4Texas House Republicans Vote to Track Down Absent Democrats and Arrest Them If Necessary

5Greg Abbott’s Summer Special Session Sideshow

6Texans With Disabilities Fear Voting Will Get Harder for Them as Special Session on GOP Restrictions Nears

Most Recent in Environment:

1Battleground Plant

2In West Texas, Astronomers Worry About Growing Oilfield Light Pollution

3After Kelcy Warren’s Energy Transfer Partners Made Billions from the Deadly Texas Blackouts, He Gave $1 Million to Greg Abbott

4Communities of Color in Houston Will Face Another Hurricane Season Without Adequate Flood Control

5“People Are Wiped Out”: Costs Pile Up as Hurricane Season Begins

6In the Drill Zone, Children’s Health Is Looking Bleak

Most Recent in Border:

1For Greg Abbott, All the Border’s a Stage

2Moments From the Reopening of Balmorhea Pool

3Undocumented Immigrants Continue to Be Expelled From the U.S. Under Title 42 COVID-19 Measures

4Follow the Money

5Siguiendo La Ruta Del Dinero

6Texas Activists Took Their Fight Against a Natural Gas Project Abroad—And They’re Winning

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1In Memory of Santos Rodriguez

2Home, But Not Free: NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Adjusts to Her Release From Prison

3A Wrongful Execution in Texas Points to the Fallibility of the Death Penalty

4Mentally Ill and Sentenced to Death

5An Irreversible Sentence

6Yet Again, Texas Lawmakers Face Crisis Conditions in Texas Prisons

Most Recent in Education:

1Resignation Letter

2The Unlikely Demise of Texas’ Biggest Corporate Tax Break

3Texas Educators Worry Bill Limiting the Teaching of Current Events and Historic Racism Would “Whitewash History”

4‘I Felt Like They Were Demonizing My People’: Advocates and Families Point to Biases in Texas Curricula

5The Long, Winding Road that Led to the SBOE’s Decision for Texas Schools to Teach Abstinence-Plus Sex Education

6Efforts to Save What’s Left of Mary Allen Seminary Reveal The Challenges of Preserving Black Placemaking in Texas

Most Recent in Health Care:

1Texas Veterans Homes Overseen by George P. Bush Were Often the Deadliest Places to Be During COVID-19 Pandemic

2The People’s Scientist

3Profit Before Patient

4Texas Expands Access to Medical Cannabis—But Advocates Say It’s Not Enough

5In the Drill Zone, Children’s Health Is Looking Bleak

6Editorial: Even ‘Turning Texas Blue’ Won’t Fix Us If We Don’t Face Some Hard Truths

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Researcher Howard Henderson on Reimagining Policing in the U.S.

2Texas Observer Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Reflects on 65 Years of Publication

3How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

4Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

5Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform

6American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

Most Recent in Books:

1In ‘Al Norte,’ a Through Line of Transience That Is Still True Today

2A Feminist Rewrite of Lot

3‘Forget the Alamo’ Unravels a Texas History Made of Myths, or Rather, Lies

4‘On Juneteenth’ Refuses Easy Answers About the Importance of People of Color to Texas History

5‘Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing’ Tours Dark Places That Are Hard to Call Home

6Jung Young Moon’s Strange Novels Cross Continents

Most Recent in Features:

1How to Die in Texas

2Young Texans Keep Spelling Bees Going From Home

4San Antonio Embraces Mandaean Refugees

5The Ghosts of Jefferson

6Little Arthouse on the Prairie

Most Recent in Essay:

1Battleground Plant

2An Irreversible Sentence

3Editorial: Look Down Ballot for Democratic Wins in Texas

4What the Black Lives Matter Protests Mean for East Texas

5Raise a Glass to the Class of COVID-19

6What’s a Bookstore for?

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: The Essential Women of Austin

2Eye on Texas: A House Divided

3Eye on Texas: The Black Yearbook

4Eye on Texas: Border Tuner

5Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

6Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Poem: ‘Late Night at the Lege’

2‘My Cousin Dies, Like a Deer, On the Side of the Road’

3Poet Claudia Delfina Cardona on Her Debut Poetry Chapbook

4Author Saeed Jones on Empathy, the Power of Memoir, and Growing up Gay in North Texas

5Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

6Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

Articles tagged: HPD

Houston Police Dept. Plagued By Fresh Scandal, Old Denial

Fri, Sep 26, 2014 |

HPD has plenty of problems--sexual harassment, forged tickets, neglected homicides--but the overarching one is denial....Read More

The StarChase GPS Launcher.

Texas Police Departments Adopt New Crime Fighting Technology

Tue, Dec 10, 2013 |

New police technology has the potential to make police encounters safer for innocent civilians, not just officers....Read More

How the Houston Cop Who Killed an Unarmed, Disabled Man Was Found Innocent

Police misconduct in shootings is "very very difficult" to prove, FBI agent says.

Mon, Nov 4, 2013 |

The Houston Police Department announced the results of its yearlong investigation into the shooting death of Brian Claunch, a mentally ill double amputee killed...Read More

Access to Planned Parenthood

by Jonathan McNamara

Observer Radio Episode 32: Prop 6, the Death of Brian Claunch and Texas’ Anti-Abortion Law

Fri, Nov 1, 2013 |

Observer associate editor Forrest Wilder tells us everything we'd possibly want to know about Prop 6, which some claim is a solution to Texas' water woes. ...Read More

Conroe Police Officer Indicted for Shooting Unarmed Teen

Tue, Oct 1, 2013 |

An off-duty Conroe police sergeant has been indicted for apparently shooting a teen in the back of the head. A Harris County grand jury hasn't indicted an offic...Read More

HPD badge

Crimes Unpunished

At the Houston Police Department, a lax discipline system keeps negligent cops on the streets.

Wed, Jul 10, 2013 |

HPD's discipline process, having evolved over decades of negotiations between the city and police union, now functions like a modern version of the notorious �...Read More

Grand Jury Acquits HPD Cop Who Killed Unarmed, Disabled, Mentally Ill Houston Man

Sat, Jun 15, 2013 |

On Monday, a grand jury declined to indict the Houston police officer who in September shot and killed Brian Claunch, a mentally ill, wheelchair-bound double am...Read More

Houston’s New DA Brings Back “Trace” Felonies, the Eighties

Fri, Feb 15, 2013 |

Houston's old DA made having less than 1/100 gram of crack a misdemeanor. The new DA brought back the trace felony, and questions about unequal enforcement. ...Read More

US Justice Department Investigates HPD for Excessive Force

Wed, Dec 5, 2012

The Houston Chronicle reported today that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating six relatively recent cases of shootings or alleged use of force violatio...Read More

Top