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The Passage of Nathan Pierce

For Nathan Pierce, the crisis came quickly. In July 2012, he began suffering nightmares and feeling increasingly anxious and depressed. At 32, Pierce lived with his mother and two nieces in a mobile…
LENGTH: 10 minutes (2614 words)

On the Border, a Struggle over Water

Drought is different along the border. Unlike Central Texas, which worries over its aquifers and its lakes, or East Texas, which jealously guards its mammoth reservoirs from booming cities, or the…
LENGTH: 8 minutes (2211 words)

Tough Love and Discipline in Brownsville ISD's Boot Camp School

Patrick Michels A uniformed Brownsville Academic Center student stands beside her sneakers and books. They start arriving at 6 a.m., Brownsville’s gang members, brawlers and foul-mouthed…
LENGTH: 18 minutes (4614 words)

State Left Family-Planning Money Unspent While Clinics Closed

It turns out that Texas’ funding for family planning wasn’t so tight after all. The Observer has learned that the state health department left unspent approximately $2.3 million in…
LENGTH: 4 minutes (1172 words)

The Profits and Losses of Criminalizing Immigrants

When Jose Rios walked into a Bank of America branch last year, he hoped to open an account for the car repair shop he owned. He didn’t expect to end up with a prison sentence. Days after Rios…
LENGTH: 15 minutes (3935 words)

The Unsolved Murder of Homeless Man William Greer

There’s a quiet stretch of the hike-and-bike trail through downtown Austin, near the water and several feet below the hum of cars on Cesar Chavez Street. During the day, joggers crunch along…
LENGTH: 12 minutes (3098 words)

The Shadow of the Son

On a sweltering July afternoon in South Texas, Jose Perez found himself handcuffed in the front seat of a white Chevy Tahoe making his amends with God. His wife, also handcuffed, sat in the back…
LENGTH: 18 minutes (4623 words)
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Family-Planning Clinics Disappear From Rural Texas

The day Melody Ball heard she’d soon be out of a job, she noticed the plant in her office had begun to wilt. Ball was director of family-planning services in the small Central Texas town of…
LENGTH: 9 minutes (2447 words)

In the Texas Test Reform Movement, a Controversial Few Opt Out of the System

It’s a warm February afternoon, and 10-year-old Christopher Chamness is tromping through the woods behind his elementary school. In a T-shirt, shorts and baseball hat, he navigates a dusty…
LENGTH: 12 minutes (3225 words)
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