The Ten Best and The Ten Worst Legislators

Nineteen people you voted for and one you didn't.

Compiled by Paul Burka, Kaye Northcott and Victoria Loe

Space Cadet

Astronauts used to be dashing pilots. Now they’re doctors, scientists, and...sanitary engineers.

by Lawrence Wright

I Remember Masa

The last word on tortillas: how to make them, when to eat them, and why they should be in every artist’s studio.

by José Antonio Burciaga

A Simple Man

Archbishop Patrick Flores acts like a country priest, but he has a tough job: he is the most powerful Catholic clergyman in Texas, and perhaps the most powerful Mexican American as well.

by John Davidson

Behind the Lines

The war that won’t go away.

by William Broyles, Jr

Health

Fangs

Now is the time to unlearn everything you’ve ever heard about snakebite.

by Alan Tennant

Crime

The Long Arm of the Oracle

John Catchings can sole crimes without witnesses, confessions, or clues. How? He’s a psychic.

by Jim Atkinson

Church

Tell It, Brother Hill!

A visiting revivalist lays some eloquent preaching on Pasadena Baptists. Nearby in Houston, the festival of Purim gives templegoers good reason to dress up, drink up, and raise a ruckus.

by William Martin

Business

Driving a Soft Bargain

Take the “Art of Negotiating” seminar, and you too can learn to wheel and deal with a smile.

by Harry Hurt III

Classical Music

The Kingfish Revisited

by W. L. Taitte

Reporter

McAllen mayor Othal Brand fights for his political life; a killer storm ravages Austin; a Highland Park matron trades fancy parties for farming.

by Susan Duffy

Roar of the Crowd

Notes from the underground.

Touts

How you bean, kid?

by Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

Diamonds are a boy’s best friend.

State Secrets

A deal that failed; macho political ads, the unhappiest man in Texas; a big time legal goof.

Edited by Paul Burka