Blood and Sugar
Can one very determined man get a booming Houston suburb to confront its troubled past?
Michael Hardy is a native Texan and a senior editor at Texas Monthly, where he has written about viticulture, lepidoptery, opera, wrestling, graffiti, tattoo parlors, state politics, and Sugar Land’s selfie statue. Before joining TM he worked as arts editor for Houstonia magazine, where he won the 2015 City and Regional Magazine Association award for best arts writing. His reporting has appeared in the Texas Observer, Wired, the New York Times, and Playboy. He lives in Houston.
Can one very determined man get a booming Houston suburb to confront its troubled past?
The acclaimed opera singer Jay Hunter Morris has traveled the globe, performing Wagner, Puccini, and Bizet. And yet he still feels like a hick from Paris, Texas.
A toxic herbicide used in cotton fields is devastating vineyards on the High Plains, endangering the state’s $13 billion wine business. Grape farmers have banded together to fight back.
Bell County struggles with misinformation and conspiracy theories as the deadly Delta variant spreads like wildfire.
Texas A&M is booming: new construction, world-renowned academics, and sports teams on the rise. The man behind all this success is the pickup-driving, straight-talking politician turned system chancellor John Sharp.
Deacon Jeff Willard blesses seafarers with everything from prayers to rides around Galveston Island to cherry cigarillos.
The wealthy trial lawyer just helped acquit Attorney General Ken Paxton. Now he wants to fix potholes and broken water lines.
Just a few minutes from the celebrated Rothko Chapel, the Chapel of St. Basil provides a spiritual respite.
This summer, the Texas Education Agency took control of the state’s largest school district. Ruth Kravetz has mobilized an army of parents and educators to fight back.
The young personal-injury lawyer testified about an investigation allegedly launched for the benefit of Nate Paul.
Photographer Keith Carter explores the otherworldly wetlands of East Texas in a stunning new book.
HB 2127, which strips municipalities of regulatory authority, was intended to target liberal cities. So why are conservative mayors so upset?
The leading candidates for Houston mayor are two septuagenarians: state senator John Whitmire and U.S. congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. What happened to the city of the future?
J.P. Bryan, the embattled executive director of the TSHA, faces criticism for his approach to history—including recent history. He says he hasn’t seen evidence that the former president is a Christian.
The Texas Education Agency just took over the state’s largest school system. Parents and teachers are furious. But some city leaders insist that, after decades of poor performance by HISD, disruption is necessary.
Our scorecard of the Eighty-eighth Texas Legislature’s noisy scoundrels and quiet heroes.
Sasha von Oldershausen is an associate editor who writes about news and politics.
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.
An unusual number of lawmakers have crossed the aisle to support Republican bills this year. Party operatives are furious.
Last month, the entire full-time staff of the state representative from Houston resigned. They broke their silence to tell Texas Monthly their story.
Fentanyl killed more than 5,000 Texans last year. The Legislature is taking the epidemic seriously, but first responders and policy experts are skeptical.
Two bipartisan bills would make it easier for judges to incarcerate defendants before trial. Criminologists say that’s bad for public safety.
Built in 1939, the nightclub once hosted Duke Ellington and Ray Charles. After a $9.7 million renovation, it’ll welcome a new generation of music lovers.
The tech titan and the furniture maven are more alike than you may think.
Senator Paul Bettencourt’s proposal would hand the Harris County Flood Control District over to unelected bureaucrats appointed by the governor.
Under Governor Greg Abbott and a Republican-dominated Legislature, Texas has experienced an unprecedented expansion of state power over municipalities.
In the three months since city council elections, at least twenty staffers have resigned, retired, or been fired, including the city manager, city attorney, and fire chief.
Once a symbol of Houston’s wealth and ambition, the now-empty stadium no longer represents much of anything.
The career criminal was found dead after a two-day manhunt in East Texas. A writer recalls reporting on the circumstances of Haynes’s death.
Republicans in the Texas House and Senate have filed a blizzard of bills seeking to crack down on alleged voter fraud and increase state control over elections. Here’s an annotated guide.
Forget Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick. Florida’s governor will be calling the shots when the Texas Legislature returns in January.
The artworks were semi-terrifying, but at least the people were nice.
After an election marred by malfunctioning machines, long lines, and a shortage of paper ballots, Republicans are contemplating big changes in the next Legislature.
Every two years, the party tries to kick the football—and every two years, it misses. Good grief!
Local officials and civil rights activists worry that the attorney general could be laying the groundwork for challenging another election.
State Republicans and local business leaders are betting big on the 38-year-old political newcomer, pouring nearly $5 million into her campaign to unseat County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Polls suggest the race is a dead heat.
Low primary-election turnout and an anemic Democratic party means statewide officials and legislators are far to the right of most Texans.
In an exclusive interview with Texas Monthly, Secretary of State John Scott urges “stop the steal” activists to accept the 2020 election results.
The teenager grew up in the Houston suburbs, where he started driving go-karts when he was six. He now races with some of the best drivers in the world.
Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud have made life more difficult and dangerous for poll workers.
Founded by Andrew Yang, Christine Todd Whitman, and David Jolly, the new party claims to encompass the left, right, and center. Its Houston launch, while well attended, prompted doubts about its viability.
In a week marked by militant rhetoric at CPAC—including Ted Cruz’s promise to “fight the barbarians”—the former president vowed to inflict a “crippling defeat” on his enemies.
“The globalists can all go to hell,” the authoritarian populist said at CPAC. “I have come to Texas.”
Franklin Bynum has tried to reform the Harris County criminal justice system from within. That's made him a target of the district attorney.
At this weekend’s convention in Dallas, a contentious election for party chair revealed racial and gender-based fault lines.
Gilberto Hinojosa has led the Texas Democratic Party through a decade of failure. Some Democrats think that’s long enough.
Digital currencies are tanking, but that didn’t stop more than 20,000 blockchain enthusiasts from throwing a week-long party.
John Cornyn and Dan Patrick pulled out after Uvalde. Greg Abbott appeared by video. As Ted Cruz spoke, Beto O’Rourke led a protest.
First-time candidate Rochelle Garza cruised to the attorney general nomination, while Mike Collier and Jay Kleberg eked out narrow runoff victories over all-but-unknown opponents.
Houston Republicans are going on the offensive in this week's election as a trial run for November.
The Houston accountant has lost two statewide elections and knows the challenge of being a Texas Democrat. Why is he running a third time?
Two right-wing activists in the high-performing, highly diverse Katy Independent School District aim to unseat incumbents in Saturday’s election.
But for now, her two GOP challengers are busy slashing at each other before the May 24 runoff election.
Conservationist, businessman, and filmmaker Jay Kleberg offers unusual qualifications for the job.
Texas’s attorney general is seen as the most beatable statewide Republican, but Rochelle Garza and Joe Jaworski are struggling to motivate the Democratic base.
The new voting law passed by the Legislature created headaches for those who cast ballots, but the problems with election administration in Harris County run far deeper.