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August 22, 2022
Brownsville Goes Beyond
Whatever brings you to Brownsville, the city on the border by the sea and beyond provides the perfect launchpad for your next adventure.
Brownsville
Style & Design
November 9, 2021
How a Texan’s Jewelry Line Attracted Celeb Fans From J-Lo to Gwyneth Paltrow
Brownsville native Beth Bugdaycay takes the concept of a good luck charm to a whole other level with her Foundrae line of handmade gold chains, medallions, and more.
Energy
March 31, 2021
America’s Offshore Wind-Powered Future Begins in a Texas Shipyard
In announcing an ambitious renewable-energy push this week, the Biden administration highlighted a vessel under construction in Brownsville as proof of the economic opportunities of going green.
Travel & Outdoors
September 18, 2019
Rich With History, Brownsville Steps Into the Future
A revitalized downtown and a new network of hiking, biking, and paddling trails add to the appeal of this border town by the beach.
Border & Immigration
September 19, 2018
A Brownsville Cop Was Charged With Smuggling Her Undocumented Boyfriend. She’s Been Acquitted. He’ll Likely Be Deported.
Brownsville police officer Valerie Rivas was charged with smuggling her undocumented boyfriend. She’s been acquitted. He’s likely to be deported.
Bum Steers
October 16, 2017
The South Texas Fajita Bandit Has Finally Been Caught
It took nine years for him to meat his match.
Lead
October 13, 2014
Get Bucky
How the merger of two South Texas universities has stirred some complicated feelings about a fuzzy bronco.
Business
September 23, 2014
SpaceX Plans To Send People From Brownsville To Mars In Order To Save Mankind
Elon Musk has some big plans.
Politics & Policy
April 11, 2014
The Battle of Boca Chica
With support from the Legislature, SpaceX may soon be launching rockets from Texas’ southernmost beach. That doesn’t mean a few nature lovers aren’t still ready to fight.
The Culture
February 11, 2014
All the Pretty Ponies
Growing up at Charro Days.
Business
November 25, 2013
How Do We Feel About Space Exploration Companies Buying Up A Bunch Of Cheap Texas Land?
Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin have both bought up a lot of land along the border. Brownsville and Van Horn are not exactly where you'd expect to find the cutting-edge vanguard of private, high-tech space exploration.
Food & Drink
November 12, 2013
The Things They Buried
The Sunday barbacoa luncheon was one of my family’s few traditions. Had I known what was in those tacos, it might not have been.
Critters
June 10, 2013
The Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle
It’s hard out there for a turtle. Especially one that’s endangered, y’all.
BBQ
May 21, 2013
Vera’s: The Last Bastion of South Texas Barbacoa
Since the closing of Mancha’s Meat Market in Eagle Pass, there is only one place in all of Texas—maybe the entire country—that still serves traditional barbacoa: whole beef heads cooked in an underground pit over wood coals. The sign out front of Vera’s in Brownsville says it all: “Barbacoa en
Business
January 21, 2013
Rio Grande Valley Tops List of “America’s Poorest Cities”
McAllen and Brownsville occupy the no. 1 and 2 slots on a new list based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011 American Community Survey.
January 21, 2013
Confusion Reigns: Parents Question Officers Use of Lethal Force
Jaime Gonzalez Jr.'s parents don't understand why Brownsville officers shot their son three times, but a 911 reveals that police asked the eighth-grader to drop his gun several times.
The Culture
January 20, 2013
76–100
From the Great Storm washing ashore in Galveston to Charles Elmer Doolin cooking up the frito in San Antonio
The Culture
January 20, 2013
76–100
From the Great Storm washing ashore in Galveston to Charles Elmer Doolin cooking up the frito in San Antonio
Books
January 20, 2013
Pretty Ugly
Why a lavish two-volume attack on the border fence, with photos by Maurice Sherif, misses the mark.
Food & Drink
January 20, 2013
Let’s Have Mex-Tex
Where’s the best place to get a perfect plate of enchiladas? A chile relleno to die for? A salsa you’ll never forget? Come along on our tour of the fifty greatest Mexican restaurants in Texas, from Hugo’s, in Houston, to Tacos Santa Cecilia, in El Paso. This is not your
Feature
January 20, 2013
The Unknown Soldier
Hector Perez loved his country enough to die for it. A year later, his family is still paying the price of patriotism.
Sports
January 20, 2013
Check Mates
Fernando Spada and Fernando Mendez are the Karpov and Kasparov of Brownsville: chess champions whose lifelong competition has produced a rivalry every bit as fierce as those of Ali and Frazier, McEnroe and Borg, or Nicklaus and Palmer. Did I mention that they’re in the fourth grade?
Style & Design
January 20, 2013
Fashion: Tom Ford
Man makes the clothes.
Texas History
October 31, 2012
My Name Is Cásares
And the story of how I started spelling it that way (with the accent) begins with a kidnapping.
Books
July 31, 2012
Hecho en Brownsville
The grand opening of a new H-E-B in McAllen drew crowds—including several who showed up to hear a native son read from his collection of locally set short stories.
Border & Immigration
July 10, 2012
Details About Shooting of Matamoros Man Still Emerging
How did a thirty-year-old Mexican man end up dead on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande in Matamoros?
Books
June 30, 2012
Straight Outta Brownsville
A brutal—and very funny—South Texas memoir by Domingo Martinez.
April 17, 2012
What Would a “Commercial Cape Canaveral” Do for Brownsville?
Will SpaceX build a launch site for its commercial spacecraft in Brownsville?
BBQ Joint Reviews
March 26, 2012
Vera’s Backyard Bar-B-Que
I’m not here to tell you that I’m an authority on barbacoa. I know enough about it to be dangerous, and I’ve eaten enough of it to know that what I ate at Vera’s was something special. The funny part is that the best place to get barbacoa
Border & Immigration
March 1, 2012
Home Run
A jogging path along the Rio Grande was a treasured, secret place—until it became part of the front lines in a war I still don’t understand.
Eat My Words
January 28, 2012
Oh no! Barbecue Stalwart Wild Blue Is Closing.
Little did I know when I wrote the following words nearly four years ago—“Please, patronize Wild Blue before it’s too late”—that my greatest fear would come true. One of the true stalwarts of Texas Barbecue–Wild Blue B.B.Q., located in the near-Brownsville city of Los Fresnos—will shut its doors on
Border & Immigration
December 1, 2011
Living With the Border Fence
The border fence cuts through a Valley farmer's property, upending his family's life.
The Culture
March 1, 2011
Jody Blackburn, Folk Healer and Tarot Reader
Blackburn is the founder of the Magick Circle, in Brownsville, where he offers card readings, cleansings, and spiritual healing.I first learned about folk healing from an elderly woman in my neighborhood named Rita. None of our neighbors in Brownsville liked her much. They called her la bruja. The witch. I
News & Politics
December 1, 2010
Imaginary Friends
Brownsville’s first federal judge was a legendary figure in my house. So legendary that I never believed my father when he said he knew the man.
Border & Immigration
September 30, 2010
Spill Way
When people ask me if cartel violence will find its way into Texas, I tell them it already has—and it’s going to get worse.
The Culture
March 31, 2010
The Departed
They say you can’t go home again—especially when pretty much your entire family has moved away.
The Culture
March 31, 2009
Ghosts Of War
Happy Texas Independence Day! Read five stories about our state's history, including this piece about the battlegrounds of Texas, which tell an incredible story of struggle, sorrow, triumph, and terror.
Hollywood, TX
April 30, 2008
Urbane Cowboy
Julian Schnabel’s metrosexual Texanness.
Books
February 1, 2008
Bruce Sterling
The Brownsville native and longtime Austinite has spent most of his adult life contemplating the future: A progenitor of the scruffy cyberpunk fiction movement (he edited the short-story anthology Mirrorshades and co-authored The Difference Engine with William Gibson), he has penned ten sci-fi novels and several works of nonfiction, including
Border & Immigration
January 1, 2008
Bridge Game
What it used to be like to cross the border.
Travel & Outdoors
January 1, 2008
Town Slogans
Match 25 Texas towns with their slogans and you may win a prize.
Texas Primer
May 31, 1999
Américo Paredes
Which Américo Paredes book was made into a movie starring Edward James Olmos?