Nate Blakeslee
Features
An Isolated Incident
After his son died of a drug overdose in his fraternity house at SMU, Tom Stiles began asking questions that campus authorities preferred not to answer. Two years later, he is still learning the truth about what happened—and why. (February 2009)
The Reluctant Prosecutor
After Randy Reynolds sat on his hands as the Texas Youth Commission scandal exploded, everyone wanted the district attorney of Ward, Reeves, and Loving counties bounced from his job. Everyone, that is, except the people of Ward, Reeves, and Loving counties. (October 2008)
Everyone’s Poop
Sewerage is the cornerstone of civilization, the sine qua non of urban life, and the best possible window into how we live, what we eat, and who we are. (December 2007)
The Elephant in the Room
Does Ron Paul’s opposition to the Iraq war make him a traitor to his party and his country? Or the only real Republican in the presidential race? (August 2007)
Sins of Commission
There are plenty of people to blame for the latest shock-inducing juvenile corrections scandal, beginning with the so-called reformers who didn’t heed the lessons of the last one. (May 2007)
Family Values
It may surprise you to learn that gay couples in Texas are more likely to have children than those in most other states, or that San Antonio is a gay parenting mecca, with a higher percentage of gay households with children than any other U.S. city. So why are gay parents in such a state of legal limbo here? And why won’t the Legislature get government off their backs? (March 2007)
King Of the Christocrats
By preaching that the Founding Fathers opposed the separation of church and state, David Barton has become the darling of evangelicals everywhere—and one of the most powerful Texas Republicans you’ve never heard of. (September 2006)
Columns | Miscellany
Risky Business
State representative Allen Fletcher is the chairman of a House subcommittee on white-collar crime. So how did his very own company get tangled up in a white-collar-crime investigation? (June 2009)
Will to Power
After the Texas Youth Commission imploded last year, one of the state’s fiercest advocates for criminal justice reform was tapped to help rebuild. Inside his yet-to-be-completed slog. (February 2008)
Reporter
The War on Thugs
Five years after the Tulia fiasco put the state’s amateurish, irresponsible drug task forces in the national spotlight, more than half of them have been dissolved. That’s a good start. (September 2005)
Bust Town
It's been two years since Tulia's tainted drug busts first came to light. Do you really want to know how little has changed there? (November 2002)
Web Extras
Overexposure?
The Dallas Police Department’s posting of photos in its “indecency” section on its Web site is probably constitutional—the fact that prostitution cases are also listed means that gay men as a class are not being singled out—but is it responsible? (March 2009)


