What it is and isn’t. Who has it and who doesn’t. Our 2005 list.

The House Speaker didn’t get to be the most powerful man in Texas by selling mud.

The long arm of the law is getting longer every day—and reaching into the Capitol.

Twenty-three other people with more clout than they know what to do with. (Well, they know exactly what to do with it.)

The fairy tale is long over, but reality hasn’t necessarily set in.

He was, for a while, and look what happened: Today one of the great songwriters in the alternative-rock universe is a 44-year-old manic-depressive living with his parents in Waller. And the worst thing about it is, he’s about to be famous again.

What’s on the menu this year? Not the best new restaurants of all time, perhaps—but you’ll still love the veal shank at 17, the Texas quail at T’afia, the Guinness stout cake at George, and the fusion of French and Mexican cooking at Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana. And don’t forget to order the fish . . . everywhere.

An exit interview with Hockaday’s headmistress.

Blondness—natural or otherwise— is even more Texan than Big Hair.

Even stray cats and dogs need a Gandhi-like figure.

One riot, one Ranger, one much-maligned historian: rereading Walter Prescott Webb.

Who thinks tuition deregulation stinks? Middle-class kids—and me.

A brush with death in Afghanistan

No, you can’t shoot your adulterous wife.

Gambling, in case you were wondering, is still illegal in Texas. But for the past decade, elusive entrepreneurs from around the country have been slipping into towns like Kingsville and quietly setting up small-time casinos that combine the slots of Atlantic City with the decor of an OfficeMax and the convenience of a Circle K. Try your luck?

“A lot of people are perfect fits for universities. I’m a perfect fit for Texas Tech. I understand West Texas. I am West Texas.”