The Curse of the Black Lords

by Peter Elkind

The Way Out

A modest Catholic boys’ school in El Paso could teach public schools a lesson or two about how to provide a solid education on a limited budget and send 98 percent of their students off to college.

by Jan Jarboe Russell

Wouldn’t You Like To Be a Pepper Too?

A Dublin bottler is the only one in Texas who’s still sweet on traditional Dr. Pepper.

by John Morthland

Jeff Reynolds, Zillionaire

The mysterious Texan who tried to take over Austrailia’s mighty Bond Corporation last January look good on paper-but paper was about all he had.

by Tom Curtis

Faces of the Border

To those who live on Mexico’s side of the Rio Grande, posing for portraits is not an occasion for smiles.

Photographs and text by Max Aguilera-Hellweg

Driving Me Crazy

Now that my son is behind the wheel, I can’t decide whether it’s better to ride shotgun or steer clear of him completely.

by Prudence Mackintosh

Business

A Bridge Too Far?

Laredo initially hated Monterrey’s plan for a new border crossing but had second thoughts when it realized that there was money to be made.

by Joseph Harmes

Behind the Lines

Literary terrorists.

by Gregory Curtis

Books

Shock Treatment

Three new books deliver sordid stories of drugged-up cops, kinky murderers, and a real-life drug kingpin.

by Chester Rosson

Food

Vive Le Tex-Mex!

Lone Star cuisine is all the rage in Paris—France, that is.

Edward Cone

Reporter

Money Changes Everything

A $10 million sweepstakes winner wants to run Denton.

by Joe Nick Patoski

Reporter

Highway Robbery?

A warning to those who barrel through the wide-open spaces at full throttle: Untold danger lurks in that tiny town you missed on the last blink.

by Kevin Swisher

Reporter

Padre Hearty

Padre’s spring breakers just want to have fun.

by Joe Nick Patoski

Roar of the Crowd

Talking up Texas’ present and past.

State Secrets

Just when one education lawsuit is over, along comes another; how Ross Perot became an issue in the lieutenant governor’s race; why Coke-Stevenson, that is-is hard to swallow.

Edited by Paul Burka