When I learned that Lady Bird Johnson had died, I went back to the first volume of biographer Robert Caro’s life of Lyndon Johnson, The Path to Power, and read his chapter about her, and the subsquent story of their early married life. The Path to Power is the best
First Drew Nixon is charged with illegally committing acts of offical oppression following an investigation by the attorney general’s office. Now the Texas Bar Journal, the official publication of the State Bar of Texas, carries this notice:“On April 23, 2007, H. Tati Santiesteban, 73, of El Paso, accepted a
A group of around twenty House conservatives is looking for a speaker candidate in the event Craddick doesn’t make it. They don’t see any of the announced candidates as acceptable, and their first choice is Warren Chisum. A lot of folks will be horrified by the idea of Chisum as
Tom Craddick’s decision to name Terry Keel as House parliamentarian was a signal–if anybody needed one–that Craddick’s governing style in 2009, assuming that he retains his position, will be hardball all the way. Keel’s mastery of the rules is not in question, but he is a political gut-fighter and a
The commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence is the big story of the day. No one who knows George W. Bush should be surprised. I was amused by earlier speculation that Bush would not grant clemency to Libby because he seldom granted pardons in Texas (26 pardons in six years
Every since Rick Perry was reelected to a second full term, I have been hearing stories that it may not be a full term after all. There is persistent talk that Perry may not serve out his term, that he would leave — after setting the record for being the
What was it, exactly, that caused Vickie Dawn Jackson, a sweet, soft-spoken nurse at Nocona General Hospital, to become one of the most prolific serial killers in Texas history?
All nine judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals are Republicans. This fact might lead a cynical reader — or a cynical blogger — to conclude that the Court’s decision to uphold lower court rulings quashing a conspiracy indictment against Tom DeLay (as well as aides John Colyandro and Jim
Special privileges are bestowed upon the regulars of Rather Sweet Bakery and Café, in Fredericksburg: If someone is short on cash, he is welcome to simply tape the bill onto the refrigerator and pay later; other customers feel so at home that they place some of their own items in
From Amarillo to Austin, the state’s opera companies are staging top-notch productions for longtime fans and newcomers alike. Aria ready?
The founders of the Alamo Drafthouse chat about how the indie movie theater got its start.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston curator of contemporary art talks about this month’s new exhibit, “Red Hot: Asian Art From the Chaney Family Collection.”
Executive editor Mimi Swartz on interviewing Eva Rowe about her fight against oil giant BP.
Writer-at-large Don Graham on writing about the Confederate statues at the University of Texas at Austin.
Tell the boss you’re not feeling so well. The state’s most famous indie movie theater, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is kicking off its third national Rolling Roadshow Tour—a series of gratis 35mm screenings of famous movies in the locations where they were filmed—and now’s the time to play that
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston curator of contemporary art talks about this month’s new exhibit, Red Hot: Asian Art From the Chaney Family Collection.
Trader Vic’sDallas Imagine King Tut’s tomb, but with tikis. After nearly twenty years in mothballs, the Dallas edition of the glamour bar of the Rat Pack era—Trader Vic’s—has been brought back to life. Miracle of miracles, the South Seas paraphernalia that filled the space did not turn to dust
Your May story on Lisa Nowak and NASA was disappointing to say the least, not only because you linked her lurid story to an otherwise august organization but mostly because of the assumptive errors made by S. C. Gwynne [“Lust in Space”]. Here are a few: You write, “For more
Since 2002, Palo Duro Canyon State Park has grown from about 16,000 acres to more than 26,000. That’s a good start.
Willie’s picnic goes AWOL.
When is it okay to say you’re from Texas?
1. Your quest for inimitable footwear begins with the leather, so first give thought to your stomping grounds (cattle pen or cubicle?) and your image (rhinestone cowboy ?). Your basic, most traditional option is calfskin. Need extra-tough work boots? Elephant, shark, or bull offers durability. Dress boots? Go with lizard,
The CEO of Blue Bell gives us the scoop.
In hate with Roger Clemens.
“Al Qaeda would not have been able to come back to life, in my opinion, had we not invaded Iraq. That action breathed life back into the movement.”
From the moment Voxtrot first put its driving Europop on the Internet, the Austin band—and its frontman—became a sensation. After a series of EPs, the group has finally, five years after forming, released its first full-length album, Voxtrot (PlayLouder).The band started as a hobby, something for you to do when
Tonnyre says good-bye.
The news about Making News.
What to do about those controversial statues on the University of Texas at Austin campus.
My hometown sings a new song.
Five of the best museums in the state have cafes designed to tempt the most refined tastes and sophisticated palates. A few have masterpieces on the menu; others are works in progress.
After spending a few days at the Capitol among the operatives and the onlookers, I began to draw some … conclusions.
The eightieth session began with a Speaker’s race, ended with a Speaker’s race, and was consumed in between by the usual mix of nuanced issues and nasty politics. Along the way, a handful of lawmakers put the common good ahead of all else. And a handful of lawmakers didn’t.
DENOMINATION Presbyterian PASTOR The Reverend Karl Travis ADDRESS 1000 Penn PHONE 817-335-1231 ON THE INTERNET fpcfw.org MAIN SERVICE Sundays at 8:15, 9:00, and 10:55 A.M. Where have all the young folks gone? And if they haven’t left, how can the churches hold on to them?
I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but the worm finally turned sometime in the past year or two on the question of whether a magazine can survive without a Web site. For a while, I suppose, you didn’t necessarily need one, though we’ve been online in some form
Steve Brodner, David Courtney & Andrea Valdez, and Bryan Curtis
For Austin chanteuse Kelly Willis, it’s been five years and three children since she last released a solo album. Trading Dobros for diapers didn’t dull her instincts; Willis’ sump- tuous voice retains a hunger that elevates even the most pedestrian works. And she has certainly encountered her share of
Warming up to the new breed of “freak folk” takes practice. Spearheaded by the likes of Will Oldham and Houston-born Devendra Banhart, the movement—made up of young acoustic artists—is inward-focused, solipsistic, and unabashedly psychedelic; you’d have to go back to old Donovan records to find a historical antecedent. (Played “Hurdy
If you’re one of the suits in the music biz, you’re telling the members of Austin’s Spoon, reigning kings of the indie rock world, that it’s time to reach for the fabled brass ring of pop stardom. You know, the big radio hit. Crossover. Platinum city. But if the
The Best and Worst list explained.
In Pepperfish Keys, the fourth in Austinite Darryl Wimberley’s mystery series, Detective Barrett “Bear” Raines—a black cop on Florida’s racially charged Redneck Riviera—struggles to tell the good guys from the bad. Is Senator Baxter Stanton the people’s servant or a sleazebag who bribed his way out of a
Belying its subtitle, Joe M. O’Connell’s fiction debut, Evacuation Plan: A Novel From The Hospice, has surprisingly little to say about death. Not that anyone at this unnamed Austin hospice cheats the grim reaper. But these dozen stories and character studies offer scant insight into the ritual of
Marsha Moyer’s whip-smart storytelling elevates the amiable chick lit of her third Lucy Hatch book, Heartbreak Town, well above the genre. When we last saw Lucy, she and singer-songwriter husband Ash had moved to Nashville to work his label deal. But when record sales sag, Ash escapes into
In the sixties, at London’s Ealing Art College, a student named Pete Townshend was introduced by his Alabama-born classmate, Tom Wright, to both mind-altering substances and American rhythm and blues. Townshend went on to lead the Who, while Wright became a photographer, road manager—and sometimes Texas resident. Roadwork: Rock &
I subject myself to yet another seminal Texas experience: the hunt.
Thursday looms as a crucial moment in the fight over local primacy in toll road construction. At an Austin hearing, the Texas Highway Commission will decide whether to award the contract for the lucrative Route 121 to Cintra or the North Texas Tollway Authority. The THC has said that it
In Monday’s posting about Perry’s line-item vetoes (See, “Assessing the Vetoes: The Line Items”), most of which involved higher ed, I made this comment:Perry threatened to veto Article III this session and he says in his statement that he is more persuaded than ever that higher education funding is flawed.
Phil King, the author of SB 3281, released this statement on the governor’s veto of House Bill 3281, addressing the issue of what happens when the insurance company gets a reduced, negotiated rate on the medical bills of an insured person. The bill allowed an injured plaintiff to receive the
The decision by the lottery commission to allow electronic pull-tab bingo flies in the face of an Attorney General’s opinion issued in April in response to a request by Jane Nelson, a staunch opponent of the expansion of gambling. AG’s opinions are advisory and not binding, but this one
The most important line-item vetos involved higher education. I presume everyone is well aware of Perry’s belief that special items are pork. The best counter-argument I can offer is that they are good pork–pork loin instead of bacon–but it is hard to argue the fundamental issue. Perry’s veto messages about
