Since I was a kid growing up on polluted Galveston Bay, I’ve held a grudge against the watery edge of Texas—but no more. Protected wetlands! Pelicans and turtles! Historic buildings! Edible oysters! And that’s not the half shell of it.

It happened in twelve steps, which is not surprising, given the legendary Lufkin lawmaker’s history with booze, broads, and bad behavior. For now, at least, it's taking.

Around the Piney Woods, most people will tell you that they know someone who’s addicted to homemade speed. Drug recovery centers are overwhelmed; court dockets are backed up; jails are filled. There’s no end in sight.

Or maybe the grade should be “incomplete.” The special legislative session on school finance proved that Rick Perry and Republican lawmakers care a lot more about reducing property taxes than about improving public schools. Anybody
surprised?

In a world full of evil dudes pretending to be good guys, Waylon Jennings was a good guy pretending to be an evil dude and never quite succeeding.

Why you should distrust the press.

Hollywood often fumbles the sports movie—but it could get back in the game right here in Texas.

Explaining the enduring appeal of Jell-O can be as challenging as, well, nailing it to a tree.

Racehorse Haynes is every year's model for what a successful trial lawyer should be.

A Harvard know-it-all predicts that the emerging Hispanic majority will be a drag on America. Tell it to your friends in Cambridge, bub.

Don't write off George Foreman.

A poker queen shows her hand.

When Sul Ross State University professor Larry Sechrest called his neighbors and students idiots and inbreds, the entire town of Alpine rose up against him. Not that he's changed his mind.

“War is always a great reinforcer of secrecy, but a war on terror is the most insidious threat to openness—you can always claim, without having to explain why, that something can't be public.”