Most Recent in Politics:

1Texas’ Presidential Candidates Break Out Briefly During the Democratic Debate

2Texas Leads in Polling Place Closures Since 2013

3Senator Lucio Draws Serious Primary Challenge

4As Texodus Continues, Tom DeLay’s Tall Political Shadow Fades

5They Persisted

6‘Mistakes Were Made’: Greg Abbott’s Non-Denial Denial on Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric

Most Recent in Environment:

1Climate Change Will Make Harmful Algae Blooms in Texas Waterways More Common

2The Large Ask

3Bridge to Nowhere

4How Texas Prairies Could Help Combat Climate Change

5Julián Castro’s Climate Plan Addresses Environmental Racism

6Two Houston Archives Gather Harvey Memories for Historians of the Future

Most Recent in Border:

1Migrants at Laredo Tent Court Tell Stories of Kidnappings and Violence While Pleading Not to Be Returned to Mexico

2The Trump Administration Blows Its Border Wall Budget in South Texas

3Journalists Blocked from Attending Secretive Immigration Tent Courts

4‘El Paso Firme’ Music Festival Calls on Texans to Peacefully Resist White Supremacy

5Thousands Have Disappeared Crossing the U.S.-Mexico Border. They Deserve to be Remembered.

6Starr County Proposes Alternative Border Wall Plan

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1‘A Watershed Moment’ for Bail Reform in Harris County

2Ken Paxton Wants ‘Ultimate Home Field Advantage’ in Felony Case

3The High Cost of Hays County’s Decision to Keep Prosecuting Low-Level Marijuana Cases

4A Poor Defense

5Texas’ New Medical Marijuana Law Doesn’t Cover Veterans Suffering from PTSD

6Death of Dog Trainer Highlights Strenuous Heat and Working Conditions at Texas Prisons

Most Recent in Education:

1The Cost of Carve-Outs

2Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

3Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

4‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’

5‘We’re Not Stupid’: Texas Teachers Take on Dan Patrick and the Legislature over Dismal Education Funding

6In Violation of Texas Law, Most High Schools Aren’t Giving Students the Chance to Register to Vote

Most Recent in Health Care:

1American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

2Thousands of Rape Kits in Texas Went Untested For Years. Lavinia Masters Is Ending That.

3‘My Congregation Trusts Women’: Progressive Faith Groups Counter Anti-Abortion Narratives

4A Texas Anti-Abortion Group Dramatically Missed its Family Planning Targets. Now its Founder is Suing the Federal Government for More Money.

5Molly Ivins on Universal Health Care

6The Trauma of Teen Mothers Held in Border Patrol Lockups

Most Recent in The Interview:

1If a Glacier Melts in the Arctic, the Texas Coast Feels It

2Without Transmission Lines, Renewable Energy Still has a Long Way to Go — Literally

3The Dissenter

4The Interview: Mass Resistance

5Meet Jim Allison, Texas’ Newest Nobel Laureate (and Three-Time Cancer Survivor)

6Dolores Huerta is Still Knocking on Doors and Registering Voters at 88

Most Recent in Books:

1In This Twisted Coming-of-Age Tale, the Monsters in the Closet Are Real

2Attica Locke’s New Mystery Novel Unearths East Texas Secrets

3The Large Ask

4How Earl Campbell Changed Football in Texas

5American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

6‘The Secrets We Kept’ is a Finely-Structured Story of Secrets, Spies, and Secretaries

Most Recent in Features:

1Little Arthouse on the Prairie

2The Clothes that Make the Man

3Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

4Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

5At Home in the World

6Plight at the Museum

Most Recent in Essay:

1To Understand the El Paso Massacre, Look to the Long Legacy of Anti-Mexican Violence at the Border

2Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

3The Trouble with Yoga

4Heads in the Mud

5The Day the Windows Shook

6Women’s Work

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

2Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

3Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

4Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

5Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

6Eye on Texas: Fiesta Protesta

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

2Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

3Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

4Parallel Planes

5Options

6Poem: ‘Resistance’

Tag Archives: Purple Zone

Purple Zone merchandise on the shelves.

by Patrick Michels

Can Texas Lawmakers Possibly Outlaw Synthetic Drugs?

Wed, Feb 4, 2015 |

From the spice-ravaged wilds of East Texas to the incense-dusted Panhandle plains, lawmakers headed to Austin this year vowing to snuff out synthetic drug sales...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

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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