Texas Observer, The

Correction

CORRECTION: In "The Extra-Lite Gov" (Oct. 29), our account of the 2007 Voter ID controversy in the state Senate...

Dialogue

I'M A FISCAL CONSERVATIVE AND A DEDICATED environmentalist. I'm also pro-business and I think that none of those ideals has to conflict with one another if we come up with innovative compromises and are willing to listen to one another instead of just taking a knee-jerk position. People tell me, for instance, that Tea Partiers don't believe in global warming. Some don't, but I personally know a lot that do. That's what's wrong with this country. We put everyone in a box. And life is too big t...

Tweets of Texas

Gold, rainy weather always ruts me in the mood for election night BFF's birthday dinner then snuggling up to watch election returns.

Inside Agitator

With the attention [Hilton Kelley] and others have brought the community, the EPA has named Port Arthur an Environmental Justice Showcase Community, a title given to 10 communities across the nation with disproportionate environmental burdens. The agency will award Port Arthur $100,000 over two years to supplement local efforts already in place to "alleviate environmental and human health challenges." This pilot program will serve as a template for the "design and implementation of future Env...

Solitary Men

"You got a lot of pressure on you on death row," [Ernest Willis] tells me recently. "You've got to be real strongminded to be able to make it in there, especially if you've been there for years, like I was. I come out, everybody said, 'Well, you're going to have to have counseling and all this.' I prepared myself daily for the day I would be released." Willis spent his first 12 years at the Ellis Unit and his final five at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, where solid doors make it difficult t...

A Threat to Society

Cain tried prescription drugs for his spasms, but found the medication had debilitating side effects such as rapid heart rate, shortened breathing and his sense that the drugs made him a "drooling idiot." Cain developed a tolerance to pain medicine and muscle relaxers, so he needed more and more to stop the spasms- all the while becoming more sedated and less functional. "When you have muscles contracting all the time, you can't think, you can't work," he says. "You're just focused on this pa...

The Cole Truth

On 04-09-85, I called the victim at the dorm and she stated to me that she would wait for us in the lobby. Upon going there and talking to her, she viewed a folder containing six colored pictures of Mach males. She looked them over and then she pointed to the person in number (5) five [[Tim Cole]] and she stated, 'THAT HIM', pointing to his picture. 'I THINK THAT'S HIM.' I then asked her if she was positive and she stated, 'YES, I AM POSITIVE IT'S HIM.' During a police sting, Cole happened to...

The Hightower Report

Republican lawmakers, however, are crying that the Democrats' reform bill puts a crushing burden on the poor financial giants. While these Wall Street apologists wail and keen, slick operators like [Jamie Dimon] are wasting no time on tears. They're devising ways to slip out of the new regulatory reins. For example, the law limits the outrageous overdraft fees that banks have been sneaking onto our debit card accounts. No problem- the giants are quietly imposing new "maintenance fees" for bas...

The Sound of Falling

It's grief that gathers in vessels beyond the tongue's missing shadow. falling inside these rooms of rain.

Eye On Texas

For years I have been photographing along the evolving Texas-Mexico border.