Longform

Lynetta Washington Was Killed During a Street Takeover. Her Family is Still Searching For the Killer

Lynetta Washington Was Killed During a Street Takeover. Her Family is Still Searching For the Killer

A Gunman Killed 23 People at a Luby's in Killeen 30 Years Ago. It Changed Texas Forever.

A Gunman Killed 23 People at a Luby's in Killeen 30 Years Ago. It Changed Texas Forever.

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Where Have All the Busboys Gone?

By Kristina Rowe
Dec 22, 2021

For former sous chef David Gibson, last Christmas was a good one, considering what he’d endured in the months leading up to it. After 15 years of work in the service industry ...
The Observer Picks: The News Desk's Top Five Long Reads of 2021

By Observer Staff Writers
Dec 14, 2021

The Dallas Observer looks at its top five longform stories from 2021.
Reefer Madness: Compassionate Use Laws Leave Some Texans Out

By Christian McPhate
Nov 30, 2021

Peggy had just left the hospital when she went to visit her cannabis dealer in Denton. A retail cashier in her mid-60s, she was struggling to pay her bills and buy the drugs prescribed to treat an inoperable brain tumor. She needed the cannabis to give her an appetite when...
In Texas Jails, Some People End Up ‘Lost in the System’ for Months or More

By Tyler Hicks
Nov 23, 2021

Finis Prendergast passed nearly three years in what he calls “the depths of hell.” Some days were spent “literally starv ing on the floor.” At other times, his surroundings became so rancid Prendergast could barely breathe. “The air smells like urine,” he told Vice in February. “I think they counted...
In Bid for Governor’s Mansion, Allen West Will Have to Win Over the Texas GOP

By Simone Carter
Nov 10, 2021

The Army requires its soldiers to take up running, and despite needing a pacemaker, the 60-year-old retired lieutenant colonel has retained the habit. In the mornings, Allen West gets up by 5:30 and pounds the pavement for 4 miles, sometimes longer. The Republican politician says it’s during these times that...
Lemmon Lake Was To Be the White Rock Lake of Southern Dallas. Now, Nature's Reclaiming It.

By Jacob Vaughn
Oct 12, 2021

Over the decades, Dallas has gone through periods of high hope for Lemmon Lake. But since the levee broke, the area has turned into a wet meadow and nature has begun to reclaim it.
A Texas Man Begged for Mental Health Help. Instead, He Ended Up in Jail Time and Again.

By Michael Murney
Sep 22, 2021

On a balmy evening last November in Tyler, Enus Lewis finally came undone. After dark, Lewis left his mother’s house and staggered into oncoming traffic on the busiest road he could find, hoping an oncoming car would kill him. Months of battling a tidal wave of grief had sharpened Lewis’...
Dallas Journalist Barrett Brown Went to the U.K. Now, He Wants Asylum.

By Simone Carter
Sep 15, 2021

To a great extent, Barrett Brown is fueled by cheap tobacco and vengeance. The embattled journalist wants to inflict as much damage as possible on America, and recently, he’s broadened his scope to include the United Kingdom. There, Brown is attempting to claim asylum, largely because he says he’s been...
Wrongly Deported as a Teen, Jakadrien Turner Speaks Out About the Lawyer Who Defended Her

By Christian McPhate
Sep 7, 2021

Jakadrien Turner had survived a lot. In early January 2012, at 15 years old, she made her first appearance on CNN. Turner wore a denim jacket and her blondish-brown curls beneath a dark hat as she walked through the DFW airport with her mother, Johnisa Turner, and grandmother Lorene Turner...
Fighting the Marvin Nichols Reservoir Could Take Lifetimes

By Jacob Vaughn
Aug 10, 2021

The fight against the Marvin Nichols Reservoir is one Northeast Texas residents have had to instill in their kids. It's been going on for decades and shows no signs of stopping.
Searching for Psychic Ann: One Man's Fight Against a Shadowy Group of Grifters

By Jacob Vaughn
Jun 16, 2021

Desperate and looking for guidance, a California man reached out to a psychic. It ended up costing him $90,000.
'The Foot Soldiers': A Neo-Nazi Skinhead Gang Terrorized Dallas in the Late 1980s

By Patrick Strickland
Jun 9, 2021

In the late 1980s, a Dallas-based skinhead group known as the Confederate Hammerskins attacked people of color, rival skinheads and places of worship around town.
Texas Nationalists See Secession Looming. Does Anyone Else?

By Patrick Strickland
Apr 21, 2021

State Rep. Kyle Biedermann filed a bill to allow Texans to vote on independence from the U.S. The Texas Nationalist Movement sees an opportunity to push secession.
How Collin College Became the Center of a Months-Long Free Speech Debacle

By Simone Carter
Apr 14, 2021

A handful of teachers spoke out against Collin College over COVID-19 and free speech disputes. In response, the school fired several female professors.
As Doctors Decry Gun Violence, Texas Republicans Push Lax Restrictions

By Simone Carter and Patrick Strickland
Apr 7, 2021

When Dr. Sue Bornstein called for gun policy reform, she quickly attracted backlash from guns rights advocates, including the NRA.
In Small-Town North Texas, Some Confederate Monuments Still Stand Tall

By Patrick Strickland
Mar 2, 2021

While Confederate monuments are coming down in larger cities, they still stand tall in many small towns across North Texas.
Pandemic Has Reshaped North Texans' Mental Health

By Simone Carter
Jul 20, 2020

Scott Danbom slides behind the ivories and takes a seat. During any given summer, the former Centro-matic pianist might be sharing the stage with the likes of Sarah Jaffe or Alejandro Escovedo. They could be playing any number of sold-out festivals in New York City or Europe. In normal times,...
Is Shelley Luther a Hero or Villain? Why Not Ask Her Wallaby?

By Richie Whitt
May 25, 2020

Scratch below the surface — beneath the cavalcade of supporters, piles of cash donations, President Donald Trump’s approval and Sen. Ted Cruz’s cameo “mullet” — and Dallas' pandemic martyr has herself an optics problem. Even for Shelley Ann Luther, defiant owner of Salon à la Mode and America’s viral “hero”...
As COVID-19 Hits Jails and Prisons, Texas Inmates Call for Action

By Tyler Hicks
Apr 28, 2020

The French M. Robertson Unit, a maximum-security state prison, is located off a dusty farm-to-market road about 20 minutes from Abilene. A couple of tiny hamlets dot the dry West Texas terrain near the prison, but for the most part, its population of about 3,000 inmates is surrounded by nothingness...
Growing Pains: Stress Is Killing Farmers, But These Texans Keep Plowing Ahead

By Meredith Lawrence
Jan 21, 2020

Farmers across the country are struggling to make ends meet. In Texas, the stress weighs on farmers who sometimes struggle to figure out how to scrape together the next bill payment.