Film & TV
April 22, 2024
What ‘Cheer’ Led To: How Viral Fame Upended Monica Aldama’s Life
Inside the Netflix star and competitive cheerleading coach’s fight against the fallout of instant stardom.
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Business
April 15, 2024
The Battle of Big Taco
With their anything-goes approach to ingredients—and deep-pocketed investors—Torchy's Tacos and Velvet Taco have ambitious plans to expand nationally.
Texas History
April 3, 2024
His Art Was Real. His Native American Heritage Wasn’t.
Texas writer and artist Roxy Gordon loved Native culture so much that—at least in his own mind—he “became” an Indian.
Shane and Sally
March 18, 2024
A Victim’s Father in an Infamous Cold Case Yearns to Know—Who Killed My Son?
Marshall Stewart has been searching San Angelo for 35 years, looking for answers that might never come: Who murdered his teenage son, Shane, along with his girlfriend, Sally McNelly, in 1988? And why?
Film & TV
March 14, 2024
How Jesse Plemons Came to Star in, Well, Pretty Much Everything
Turns out the most powerfully restrained actor of his generation is an open book. He and his wife, Kirsten (Dunst—you may have heard of her), welcomed us into their L.A. home and then had us down to Mart, Texas (population 1,748), to meet his folks, who thought he had promise,
Travel & Outdoors
March 11, 2024
Luxury Caves! Futuristic Domes! The Great Glampification of Texas
How high-end camping turned into a statewide phenomenon.
Border & Immigration
March 11, 2024
More Migrants Are Drowning in the Rio Grande Than Ever. No Agency Is Keeping Track of How Many.
U.S. policy is designed to force those entering Texas to cross at dangerous choke points. Those who don't make it are often never identified.
Sports
March 8, 2024
For These Veterans, Jiujitsu Helps Ease the Psychic Toll of War
At former Green Beret Alan Shebaro's North Texas gym, U.S. military veterans create community and find support through jiujitsu.
Politics & Policy
March 1, 2024
Dade Phelan Was Uninvited From His Own Party. He’s Trying to Crash His Way Back In.
The Speaker governs as an old-school conservative—a crime for which right-wing Republicans are determined to banish him.
Politics & Policy
February 12, 2024
The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy
The state’s most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman and lay preacher is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians.
News & Politics
February 7, 2024
His Best Friend Was a 250-Pound Warthog. One Day It Decided to Kill Him.
Austin Riley spent decades raising exotic animals in the Texas Hill Country. In a split second, the animal he thought he knew best changed his life forever.
Sports
January 31, 2024
Inside America’s Last Ninepin Bowling Enclave
Once a national craze, ninepin bowling is now practiced in just eighteen Texas clubs, where a vibrant cast of characters keep the sport alive.
Travel & Outdoors
January 22, 2024
Rock On, Texas!
No longer a niche subculture, climbing has attracted converts across the state. Senior editor Forrest Wilder explores the sport—from El Paso’s Hueco Tanks to the cliffs over Lake Marble Falls—and tries to tackle his own white whale.
News & Politics
January 18, 2024
The Story: 30 Years Later, a Guilty Conscience Led to a Free Man
Executive editor Michael Hall has reported on many exonerations over the years, but nothing compares to the story of Estella Ybarra and Carlos Jaile.
News & Politics
January 16, 2024
The Juror Who Found Herself Guilty
She was pressured into convicting a man she believed was innocent—and was haunted by remorse. Three decades later, she did something about it.
Politics & Policy
January 2, 2024
The Texas GOP Civil War Is Messier Than Anyone Expected
Politicians have labeled the battle over Ken Paxton’s impeachment as one between centrists and the far right. It’s not, according to our analysis of legislators’ voting records.
Politics & Policy
December 7, 2023
The Greatest Sideshow on Earth: Behind the Scenes of Ken Paxton’s Acquittal
The impeachment trial of Ken Paxton delivered a steady stream of tantalizing entertainment. But the most consequential moments played out when few were watching.
News & Politics
December 4, 2023
The Bishop Who Picked a Fight With the Wrong Nuns
Fort Worth cleric Michael Olson is no stranger to scandal. But when he threatened to remove a nun from her home, he might have finally met his match.
Sports
November 21, 2023
So Long, Longhorn Network
The Longhorn Network will go off the air next July. But the University of Texas’s pursuit of its own channel changed college sports forever.
Travel & Outdoors
November 9, 2023
Deep—Very, Very, Very Deep—in the Heart of Texas
Call them the astronauts of the underground. The state’s cavers are a literal subculture, daring to go where no one has gone before.
True Crime
November 7, 2023
The Great Cajun Turtle Heist
Alligator snapping turtle populations in Texas were dwindling. One family of smugglers had been poaching them from the state for years.
Politics & Policy
November 6, 2023
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry GOP
For a long time, Texas Republican chairman Matt Rinaldi couldn’t win elections. Now he wants to decide them—by exacting revenge on opponents within his party.
News & Politics
October 7, 2023
Black-Owned Land Is Under Siege in the Brazos Valley
Acre by acre, families have lost long-held property near Bryan and College Station—much of it to the efforts of two men who weaponized arcane documents to acquire plots potentially worth millions.
Music
September 11, 2023
Tanya Tucker, Outlaw
Decades after the Nashville establishment turned its back on Tanya Tucker, the spitfire from Seminole is finally getting the recognition she deserves. But maybe Music Row needs her more than she needs Music Row.
Music
September 6, 2023
Ben Kweller Is Playing Through the Pain
The beloved indie rocker was set to coheadline a summer tour with his sixteen-year-old son. When Dorian died this February, his father sought refuge the only way he could: in their shared love of music.
Critters
July 23, 2023
My Search for the Snow Monkeys of South Texas
In the half-century since a troop of Japanese macaques arrived in Texas, a truly wild tale has played out.
Sports
July 17, 2023
Wacowabunga! Why California Surfers Are Descending on Central Texas
Some of the best waves in the world are found at the Waco Surf water park, far away from any ocean.
Business
July 12, 2023
The Queen of Highland Park
For forty years, Allie Beth Allman has ruled the glittering world of luxury real estate in Dallas. Then came a flood of coastal money, a technological revolution, a rift with a longtime partner, and the inexorable toll of time.
True Crime
June 20, 2023
Everyone in Stephenville Thought They Knew Who Killed Susan Woods
That left the real culprit free to prey on others, including one victim who was ignored for two decades.
Books
June 15, 2023
Ryan Holiday, the Stoic King of Bastrop County, Is the Man of the Moment
From a small bookstore in Central Texas, the best-selling author rules over the booming Stoicism self-help movement. Why now? Why here?
Health
June 8, 2023
The Big Penis War
The inventor of the world’s first cosmetic penile implant says a group of Houston doctors is trying to steal his ideas. Inside the multimillion-dollar feud.
News & Politics
June 6, 2023
Rural School Districts Are Facing Financial Ruin. Some State Officials Prefer It That Way.
The conservative, gun-toting superintendent of Fort Davis Independent School District is fed up: “I’m not patient enough to spend time with assholes in Austin, and I’m not rich enough to buy any votes.”
Texas History
May 18, 2023
The Story We’ve Been Told About Juneteenth Is Wrong
The real history is much messier—and more inspiring.
Music
May 15, 2023
The Long Ride of Charley Crockett
After years of struggle, Charley Crockett is on the verge of stardom. The story of how he got here would be unbelievable if it weren’t true.
Uvalde
May 7, 2023
Amor Eterno
One year ago, before the school shooting in Uvalde, Kimberly Mata-Rubio had never been on a plane or given a public speech or scolded a U.S. senator right there in his office. A year in the life of a grieving mother.
Critters
April 10, 2023
Apocalypse Sow: Can Anything Stop the Feral Hog Invasion?
They’ve overrun nearly the entire state, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage annually in spite of widespread attempts at eradication—including traps, contraceptives, and a heavily armed Ted Nugent.
Politics & Policy
March 14, 2023
The Craddicks’ Gushers of Cash: How a Powerful Texas Lawmaker and a Key Regulator Profit From the Industry They Oversee
Former House Speaker Tom Craddick and his family—including his daughter, Railroad Commission chairman Christi Craddick—earned about $10 million last year from oil and gas rights.
Business
March 13, 2023
Elon Musk Came to Texas to End the Oil Age
It took him a while to get here, but now he’s out to transform our state with new technologies—if our leaders’ hostility toward renewable energy (and his Twitter misadventures) don’t get in the way.
Parks & Recs
March 8, 2023
Empire, Wide and Glorious
As we celebrate one hundred years of our state parks, they are more popular than ever. But our booming population is overwhelming the state’s scarce public lands. What will the next century hold for Texas’s “best idea”?
News & Politics
March 6, 2023
This Dallas Businessman’s New Idea? A Boarding Program for Underprivileged Kids.
For underprivileged kids, the biggest obstacles to success—homelessness, hunger, violence—reside outside the classroom. Dallas businessman Randy Bowman, who grew up poor himself, is betting on an unconventional fix.
News & Politics
February 13, 2023
The Campaign to Sabotage Texas’s Public Schools
What seems like an outbreak of local skirmishes is part of a decades-long push to privatize the education system.
Texas History
February 6, 2023
The Alamo’s New Battle Plan
A $500 million restoration seeks to reverse almost two centuries of cultural and physical neglect at the most popular historic site in Texas. There’s never been more of a concerted effort to make things right.
Politics & Policy
February 3, 2023
The Apache, the Irish Catholic Priest, and a 40-Year-Old Miscarriage of Justice
In 1983 James Reyos was convicted of murder in Odessa, despite having an airtight alibi. Four decades later, he’s still fighting to clear his name.
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
How to Keep a Great Magazine Going
When I started writing for Texas Monthly in 1973, I didn’t expect it to last very long. But it’s still here, five decades later.
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
How to Create a Great Magazine Out of Thin Air
Fifty years ago, Texas Monthly was little more than an idea dreamt up by a local lawyer with minimal experience in journalism. Then it was an actual thing. How did that happen?
News & Politics
December 5, 2022
The Untold Story of the Insular Texas Family That Invaded the U.S. Capitol
The Munns became a national curiosity after five of them were indicted for participating in the insurrection. But the full scope of their malignant behavior is little known—including to the federal prosecutors tasked with investigating their crimes.
The Stand Up Desk
October 25, 2022
Skip Hollandsworth Recalls “the Most Moving Story of My Career”
The Texas Monthly writer reflects on the run-down home that led him to write “Still Life,” about John McClamrock, the boy who could not move.
Politics & Policy
October 17, 2022
Minority Rule: How 3 Percent of Texans Call the Shots for the Rest of Us
Low primary-election turnout and an anemic Democratic party means statewide officials and legislators are far to the right of most Texans.
Style & Design
September 7, 2022
Meet Irvin Randle, the Sixty-Year-Old Instagram Star Your Grandma Has the Hots For
To his 650,000 Instagram followers, he’s a pioneering “grandfluencer.” But to his adoring second-grade students, he’s simply Mr. Randle.
Politics & Policy
September 1, 2022
An Iconic Texas Spring Was Dry for Months. Is Mother Nature or Man to Blame?
Plans were underway to revive tourism at Fort Clark Springs in southwest Texas. But then, in a scenario increasingly common across the state, the water stopped flowing.