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A Lovers’ Knot

The Raven’s Bride sheds new light on the scandal that set Tennessee governor Sam Houston on the road to Texas.

Sissy Spacek’s Long Walk Home

You can take the girl out of East Texas, but you can’t take East Texas out of the girl.

Is the Legislature for Sale?

To reassure a skeptical public, members must pass an ethics reform bill this session. And here’s what it should say.

Sweet Hearts

Love at first bite: Valentine messages that are in good taste.

More Precious Than Oil

Pipeline leaks, unplugged wells, toxic drilling materials, and a virtually unregulated oil industry are leaving a legacy of polluted groundwater.

Hock Treatment

With clean, well-lighted places-filled with bargains-Forth Worth-based Cash America is spiffing up the sullied image of pawnshops.

Question Authority

A tiny Houston delivery firm did-and now it has the broadest trucking rights ever granted in Texas.

High Water

Atlas Moth

Barney’s Does Dallas

Love, love, kiss, kiss: New York’s hippest store meets Texas’ fashion capital.

Tales From the Oil Patch

Magnet Musicians

Singers Edie Brickell and Sara Hickman share a formula for success attend the right school and take up art.

Power Trip

Bodybuilder John Jacobs wants to pump you up-for Jesus.

Nowhere to Run

Refugees from a polluted world do battle for a toxic-free zone in the Trans-Pecos.

Yo, Y’all

Carrollton’s Vanilla Ice is the country’s coolest rapper, and several other Texas acts are hot on his heels.

The Old Soldier

In 1957 General Walker warned his troops of rampant communism and lost his job. Today the world has changed, but he hasn’t.

“I’m Not a Bad Girl. I Just Do Bad Things”

Kristin Bauman, the 21-year-old with a $1.2 million trust fund, learned early on that notoriety is far more seductive than propriety.

Saving Face

Nearly two years after the Exxon Valdez relations gurus are busy telling industries how to avoid looking bad.

The biggest Bandits

The Hyde Park Rapist

In a venerable Austin neighborhood, the laid-back residents are tormented by a menacing presence—neither they nor the police—can defeat.

God’s Jeweler

Piety or passion: The trials of James Avery, craftsman.

Highway 1

Retracing the trail that tamed the Texas wilderness—the Camino Real.

Risky Business

Eastern states have hit the jackpot with lotteries. But will Lotto play in Texas?

Return to Sender

In 1998 Neiman Marcus shelled out $119 million for Horchow Mail Order—only to have the cataloger lose $28 million within two years.

State Secrets

A quarter may not be enough to buy a newspaper much longer.

Texas Desperado

Big Bang

The Art of Persuasion

The Grim Recorders

Gas prices, weather, and day of the week all count in the dismal task of predicting holiday highway death tolls.

Serious Fun

Check Magazine.

Coffee Mates

Passage to Indian

An enterprising businessman at the turn of the century steered tourists to the Southwest with Pueblo Deco architecture.

The 1991 Bum Steer Awards

It was a year of absent anchors, Bush broccoliphobia, contraband clocks, dastardly Dakotas, egad! Elections, foolhardy fig leaves, governor’s grackles, Hussein harmonizing, incoherent Incaviglia, jury junkets, KO kisses, licentious license plates, misunderstood mummies, naughty notebooks, oil-spill oratory, pretentious pyres, quintessential quadraceps, reverential Sakowitz, telephone telepathy, unwise uppercuts, viper volunteers, wildcatting

A Bitter Pill

The Governor Who Ate Onions

“I’m Just Me”

When country singer Charley Pride isn’t on the road, chances are he’s puttering around a Dallas golf course—or riding herd on his business holdings.

Fine Tuning

From the Panhandle to the Bayou City, homegrown classical music ensembles are our best-kept secret.

Two-way Radio

With a sweet leasing deal, Austin sister stations KASE and KVET pack a one-two punch on the FM dial.

Dressed in Peace

When it’s time for that final fashion statement, a Fort Worth clothier has just the thing—complete with Velcro.

Man at Work

Now that Drayton McLane has sold his family company to Wal-Mart, he has no intention of retiring from the daily grind.

Family Ties

Still The Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

Photograph by William Coupon

Mr. March

By running-and-gunning down opponents in the NCAA tournament, Tom Penders has jump-started UT basketball.

Stumping Across Texas

Killer Buzz

The Africanized bees have arrived, and Anita Collins can’t wait to take them on.

Combo Invasion

Nuclear polka blasts Japan! Brave Combo basks in the radioactive afterglow.

State Wide: Lookin’ Back, TX

PR and nostalgia keep the legend alive. But will the town survive?

Growing Pains

My daughter’s first day of kindergarten was hard—on me.

Scene of the Crime

It all looked so different 27 years ago.

Native Nativities

All is clam, all is bright in folk-art manger scenes.