Letter From Austin
December 1, 2008
The Unusual Suspects
The arson of the Governor’s Mansion in June was as mystifying as it was heartbreaking. Could Austin anarchists have been to blame?
192 Articles
Street Smarts
July 31, 2008
East Austin
Where hip meets history.
News & Politics
July 31, 2008
Out of Sight
For the 140 full-time, residential students lucky enough to be enrolled there, the Texas School for the Blind is “heaven,” “home,” and “the first place I had friends.”
Texas History
March 31, 2008
The Fire That Time
On April 19, 1993, the world watched as the Branch Davidian compound, outside Waco, burned to the ground after a 51-day standoff. Fifteen years later, witnesses and participants—from federal agents to loyal followers of David Koresh—remember what they saw during the deadliest law enforcement operation in U.S. history.
Topic A
August 31, 2007
Rain of Terror
Rain, rain, go away.
Texas History
March 31, 2007
Law of the Land
Nearly two centuries after their forebears protected colonists from Indian raids, the Texas Rangers are alive and well and wrestling with the realities of the twenty-first century. In their own words, the iconic crime fighters explain how their world has changed—and what it takes to battle the latest generation of
Web Exclusive
August 31, 2006
High Kicks at Halftime
Could football be played without drill teams? Well, sure—but then how could you keep kids in their seats instead of under the bleachers, drinking beer? That was the informing idea back in 1939, when Kilgore College first conceived its Rangerettes. Their instructor, Miss Gussie Nell Davis, pioneered the crisp choreography
True Crime
August 1, 2006
96 Minutes
At 11:48 a.m. on August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman began firing his rifle from the top of the University of Texas Tower at anyone and everyone in his sights. At 1:24 p.m., he was gunned down himself. The lives of the people who witnessed the sniper’s spree firsthand would never
Street Smarts
May 31, 2006
Southtown, San Antonio
The eclectic artiness of San Antonio’s Southtown.
Politics & Policy
March 1, 2006
The Protesters
The weekend after Thanksgiving, demonstrators gathered in Crawford and made their feelings about the war quite clear.
True Crime
February 1, 2006
A Kiss Before Dying
Forty-five years after Betty Williams was shot to death by the handsome football player she had been secretly seeing, her murder haunts her Odessa high school—literally.
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
Ethan Hawke
Larry McMurtry writes about how if you’re forced to leave Texas before you’re ready, before the state lets you go, you always dream of it.
The Horse's Mouth
November 1, 2005
Everything I Could Ever Tell You About Writing a Novel
A few novel ideas.
Politics & Policy
September 30, 2005
Flipping Out
The letter-sweater-wearing, pom-pom-shaking, pep-rally-leading girl next door has been a beloved Texas icon for generations. So why do so many people today— lawmakers and lawyers, preachers and feminists—think cheerleading is the root, root, root of all evil?
Reporter
June 30, 2005
She’s Here. She’s Queer. She’s Fired.
When the girls’ basketball coach at the only high school in Bloomburg moved in with another woman, it cost her a job and at least a few friends. But the tumult over a lesbian relationship in this tiny East Texas town wasn’t the end of the story.
Politics & Policy
May 31, 2005
Get Out the Vo
The demographics of one legislative district in Houston have changed so dramatically that they allowed a novice Democrat to unseat an eleven-term Republican powerhouse. But the real story is what could happen elsewhere in the not-so-distant future.
True Crime
April 1, 2005
Unholy Act
No one in McAllen saw Irene Garza leave Sacred Heart that night in 1960. The next morning, her car was still parked down the street from the church. She never came home.
Politics & Policy
January 1, 2005
Sunk
How the Texans who organized the Swift Boat Vets capsized John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
News & Politics
December 1, 2004
Cutting Deep
A year after state legislators kicked tens of thousands of children off the taxpayer-funded health insurance rolls, our biggest public-policy problem has reached crisis proportions. And the bleeding shows no signs of letting up.
Feature
August 31, 2004
Reversal of Fortune
Eight years ago, 42 people in the West Texas town of Roby—7 percent of the population—pooled their money, bought lottery tickets, and won $46 million. And that's when their luck ran out.
Feature
June 30, 2004
Letters Home
Seventy-five Texans—sons and daughters, brothers and sisters—have died in Iraq since last March. Here are some of their final words.
Feature
May 31, 2004
Life and Meth
Around the Piney Woods, most people will tell you that they know someone who’s addicted to homemade speed. Drug recovery centers are overwhelmed; court dockets are backed up; jails are filled. There’s no end in sight.
Music
April 1, 2004
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Before they had even cut a record, the five kids from Tyler who call themselves Eisley were the talk of the music business. Why? Let me draw you a picture.
Music
April 1, 2004
Pure Country
"I don't believe anything in this world could ever disturb or upset me enough to make me start drinking again."
Feature
December 1, 2003
Jasper
The town's name will forever be synonymous with one of the worst hate crimes in American history. But the story doesn't end there.
Politics & Policy
June 30, 2003
Crosses to Bear
Every day the new politics of abortion play out at clinics like the one in Bryan–College Station, where emotions run high and Roe v. Wade is almost beside the point.
Reporter
May 31, 2003
Drawl or Nothin’
Thanks to Dubya and a few fellers from Hollywood, the Texas accent is fixin' to be cool again.
Profile
April 1, 2003
The Whistle-Blower
What has Sherron Watkins' life been like since she exposed the financial shenanigans of her colleagues at Enron? Well, she may be one of Time's "Persons of the Year," but she's not necessarily one of Houston's.
News & Politics
February 1, 2003
Supreme Moment
Thirty years after Roe v. Wade, I'm still that lawyer.
Feature
February 1, 2003
Queen for a Day
At this year's Miss Texas Teen USA pageant, girls from big cities and small towns stuffed their bras, slicked Vaseline across their teeth, and prayed that their thighs were toned enough. Anything for the crown.
Politics & Policy
November 1, 2002
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Once upon a time, the Central Texas town of Crawford was like Mayberry: Everyone knew everyone, no one talked politics, and the air was ripe with the aroma of hogs. Then the leader of the free world bought a little place west of the Middle Bosque River, and nothing was
Travel & Outdoors
September 30, 2002
Mexico City
MEXICO’S CAPITAL IS NOT ONLY bordered by volcanoes, rattled from time to time by earthquakes, and inhabited by nearly twenty million people. The megalopolis is also sinking so rapidly into the ground that its church steeples lean at odd angles along the skyline. “Embrace the insanity of the place,” a
Politics & Policy
August 31, 2002
“The Trick Is Not to Act Like a Lawyer.”
So says Rusty Hardin, Houston’s defense attorney of the moment—the latest in a long line of courtroom heroes guilty of premeditated flamboyance and charisma in the first degree.
Reporter
July 31, 2002
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke on his second career, as a novelist.
Reporter
June 30, 2002
Napoleon’s Last Stand
Pamela Colloff counts down Napoleon Beazley's final hours.
True Crime
June 30, 2002
A Bend in the River
In 1996 the body of a cheerleader from a small town in Oklahoma was found on the Texas side of the Red River. She had been raped and shot. The brutal crime destroyed several families and the illusions of an isolated slice of the world.
First Person
April 30, 2002
Relativity
Climbing a new branch of the family tree.
True Crime
April 1, 2002
Does Napoleon Beazley Deserve to Die?
In 1994 the president of Grapeland High’s senior class committed a brutal, senseless murder. Now he’s on death row, waiting for the courts to decide his fate.
The Culture
January 1, 2002
Grand Royal
Director Wes Anderson's new movie, The Royal Tenenbaums, deals with death, despair, and other dark subjects. Andwhat do you knowit's hysterically funny.
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2001
True Believers
Senior editor Pamela Colloff talks about "faith-based" terminology, the Rebekah Home for Girls, and corporal punishment.
Reporter
September 30, 2001
Looking for Bill
Pamela Colloff gets on the road in search of the Beat Generation's Texas connections.
Culture
August 31, 2001
Vanilla Ice
Vanilla Ice (Rob Van Winkle) was just another white kid from the Dallas suburbs in 1990, when his “Ice Ice Baby” became the first rap single to hit number one on Billboard’s pop singles chart. Back in his heyday, the peroxided crossover sensation could boast of multi-platinum record sales
The Culture
August 31, 2001
Bobby Frank Cherry
A year ago last April, I explored the curious past of an East Texas man named Bobby Frank Cherry in a story titled “The Sins of the Father.” Though the FBI had long suspected that Cherry had played a role in the infamous 1963 bombing of a church in
Web Exclusive
July 31, 2001
Saddle Up
Senior editor Pamela Colloff, who trailed five young women as they vied for the title of rodeo queen, talks about small towns and big dreams.
Being Texan
July 31, 2001
Queen of the Rodeo
For teenage girls in the Hill Country town of Llano, life can be short on glamour and excitement—except at the annual rodeo, when one of them gets a rhinestone tiara and a rare, thrilling moment of glory.
The Culture
April 30, 2001
Medal Round
Pamela Colloff tests an Aggie hero's medal.
Travel & Outdoors
April 30, 2001
Over A Barrel
In search of a boom, Midland gushes about tourism.
Politics & Policy
April 30, 2001
Capitol Letters
Pamela Colloff flags down Austin's hottest political scribe.
Politics & Policy
April 1, 2001
The Battle for the Border
In Maverick County illegal immigrants are crossing in record numbers, creating a war zone. Mexicans have been shot and killed, houses robbed, cattle stolen. Some ranchers are fleeing. But others, like Dob Cunningham, have decided to stay and fight.
Web Exclusive
April 1, 2001
On the Border
After spending a week at the busiest U.S. Border Patrol station in Texas, associate editor Pamela Colloff learned that there is more to an agent's job than helicopters and surveillance cameras.