Build more schools, clone Willie Nelson, get everyone high-speed Internet, raise chickens, hold nonpartisan primaries, curb sprawl, and 76 other serious, inspiring, far-fetched, and provocative ideas about how to make Texas an even better place from some of the brightest bulbs we know.

For photographer Wyatt McSpadden, the barbecue joints of Texas are soot-stained temples of meat and their pitmasters solemn keepers of an old-time religion.

Inside the fantastic rise and catastrophic fall of Sir Allen Stanford—that high-flying egomaniac with the offshore bank, gold helicopter, Caribbean island, and knack for disposing of other people’s money.

A violent tackle in a high school football game paralyzed John McClamrock for life. His mother made sure it was a life worth living.

Political grandstanding, no leadership—is this a dismal legislative session or what?

After 118 years, Lubbock finally appears ready to allow liquor stores inside the city limits—unless a shutter salesman and a handful of Baptists can turn back the clock.

How Texas can become the world’s clean energy leader.

You’ll never guess how I came to break bread with TV’s best-loved Marine.

Tito Beveridge on making vodka.

What’s the best cure for jellyfish stings?

State representative Dan Branch’s bookcase.

Are the Jonas Brothers for real?

“As Texas moves toward majority Hispanic status, the Republicans are going to have to do less shouting, less shorthand, and less sloganeering and court the Latino community in a way that’s relevant to Latino individuals—whether on education, taxes, or job creation.”

Liz Lomax, Michael Webber, and The Texanist—a.k.a. assistant editor David Courtney.