Galveston Vice
Organized crime! Illicit booze! The beach! In this exclusive excerpt from her new novel ‘Last Dance on the Starlight Pier,’ Sarah Bird explores Galveston at the end of the twenties, a setting she calls “a gift to a novelist.”
Longreads
Sports
April 6, 2022
H-Town United: An Unlikely Soccer Power Rises in Texas
At Elsik High School, students from Honduras, Senegal, Houston, and most places in between form the best boys soccer team you've never heard of.
Politics & Policy
February 14, 2022
Will the Bush Dynasty Die With George P. Bush?
Jeb’s son is running for his political life in the Texas attorney general’s race. But Donald Trump may get the last laugh.
True Crime
January 12, 2022
The Positively True Adventures of the Kilgore Rangerette–Kidnapping Mom
What pushed an East Texas mother to kidnap at gunpoint the director of the famed college drill team and her nineteen-year-old daughter?
Health
December 6, 2021
It’s Hard Out Here—Way, Way, Way Out Here—for a Medic
Oil-field medics face long hours, grisly accidents, desolation, and low pay. So why do they do it?
True Crime
November 17, 2021
The Notorious Mrs. Mossler
In “the trial of the century,” a Houston socialite was accused of plotting her husband's murder—and of having an affair with her nephew. But Candace Mossler was only getting started.
News & Politics
November 15, 2021
The Newest Texans Are Not Who You Think They Are
The record influx of recent arrivals from all over might be exactly what the state needs. That includes Californians. (And no, they’re not turning Texas blue.)
Arts & Entertainment
October 20, 2021
Can Harper Watters Make Ballet Matter Again?
The Houston social media influencer is a gay Black man with a gift for the absurd and a passion for platform heels. He’s also a star dancer in one of the world’s most rigid, gendered, and segregated art forms.
News & Politics
October 20, 2021
Can This Company Take Pet Cloning Mainstream?
You love your pet. You love her so much that if you could, you’d buy an exact copy of her. Well, you can! Take it from Blake Russell, president of ViaGen Pets & Equine—and owner of a very unusual horse farm.
Politics & Policy
September 13, 2021
Why Democrats Are Losing Texas Latinos
The party assumes people of color will turn the state blue. But most Tejanos consider themselves white. And more are voting Republican.
Health
September 10, 2021
Jamie Wheal Is Austin’s Cassandra of Techno-Optimism
Wheal became a guru in the city’s self-optimization scene, hobnobbing with the likes of Elon Musk. But will anyone listen to his warnings about the movement that brought him renown?
True Crime
September 9, 2021
Who Shot Walker Daugherty?
A shoot-out at a Big Bend ranch captured the nation’s attention: first as an alleged ambush by undocumented migrants, then as a fear-mongering hoax. The real story is much more mysterious.
News
August 25, 2021
If a Mountain Lion Didn’t Kill Christopher Whiteley, What or Who Did?
The sheriff blames his death on a big cat—but animal experts aren’t buying that theory.
True Crime
June 14, 2021
Pecos Jane Has a Name
The young woman who mysteriously drowned in the Ropers Motel pool in 1966 might have remained anonymous forever, if not for cutting-edge genetics, old-fashioned genealogy—and the kindness of a small West Texas town.
News & Politics
May 24, 2021
The Ghosts of Comanche Crossing
In 1981 three Black teenagers drowned while in law enforcement custody during a Juneteenth gathering at Lake Mexia. Four decades later, Texas’s proudest Emancipation Day celebration still hasn’t recovered.
Texas History
May 19, 2021
The Next Battle of the Alamo!
Is Phil Collins’s legendary Texana collection everything it’s cracked up to be? An adapted excerpt from ‘Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth.’
Business
May 12, 2021
Elon Musk Is Turning Boca Chica Into a Space-Travel Hub. Not Everyone Is Starstruck.
Residents of the South Texas beach town say SpaceX’s billionaire owner is ruining their “little piece of heaven.”
Books
April 13, 2021
The Rise (and Occasional Dips Into Despair!) of Jenny Lawson
In her best-selling memoirs, her eclectic, taxidermy-filled San Antonio bookstore, and her unvarnished tweets, the author makes light of her darkest times—and helps her readers make light of theirs.
Energy
March 31, 2021
America’s Offshore Wind-Powered Future Begins in a Texas Shipyard
In announcing an ambitious renewable-energy push this week, the Biden administration highlighted a vessel under construction in Brownsville as proof of the economic opportunities of going green.
News & Politics
March 18, 2021
A Fatal Error Inspired a Plan to Reduce Friendly Fire, but the Military Isn’t Interested
Thirty years ago, Ralph Hayles fired the missiles that killed two American soldiers in Iraq. Ever since, he has worked to develop technology that could prevent similar deaths, while the military has looked elsewhere to address the problem—with little success.
Music
March 10, 2021
The Relief Gang Never Stops
When the power went out and the water stopped running, Trae tha Truth and DJ Mr. Rogers were there to pick up the slack.
Books
March 2, 2021
How Hank the Cowdog Made John R. Erickson the King of the Canine Canon
He wanted to become a serious literary novelist, like Faulkner or Hemingway. Fortunately for millions of Hank the Cowdog fans, he failed.
Politics & Policy
February 25, 2021
They Accused a Man of Sexual Assault in a Small West Texas Town. That Was Only the Beginning.
When several women spoke out against a powerful man in the former ghost town of Terlingua, the backlash was fierce.
Wildlife
January 20, 2021
How Texas Hunting Went Exotic
Sprawling ranches. Rare animals. Rich folks with guns. Welcome to the state’s booming business of stalking wildlife from around the globe.
Sports
January 20, 2021
Broken Pelvises, Collapsed Lungs, and Decades of Winning: Barrel Racing’s Martha Josey Has Seen It All
Karnack’s “Queen of Sequins” brought style, success, and unprecedented longevity to her legendary rodeo career.
Energy
January 19, 2021
How the Most Hyped U.S. Oil Merger in a Decade Went Bust
As CEO of Occidental Petroleum, Vicki Hollub made the biggest deal the oil business had seen in years. Will it also go down as the biggest failure?
Film & TV
December 16, 2020
The Seven Ages of Barry Corbin
From ‘Urban Cowboy’ to ‘Northern Exposure’ to ‘No Country for Old Men,’ Texas’s finest character actor isn’t hanging up his spurs just yet.
Politics & Policy
December 16, 2020
Gladden Pappin Wants to Make Conservatism Great Again
The University of Dallas professor is urging Republicans to build a post-Trump, big-tent, big-spending party that’s economically populist and socially conservative.
News & Politics
November 18, 2020
A Bad Cop’s Best Friend?
Excerpted from Last Dance on the Starlight Pier, © 2022 by Sarah Bird, published by St. Martin’s Press on April 12, 2022. One morning in late January 2019, Rhogena Nicholas texted a prayer to her mother, Jo Ann Nicholas, just as she did every day. A widow in her eighties,
Tom Brown's Body
November 17, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 8: The Remains
“I’m definitely more paranoid wherever I go. I definitely watch my back more and pay attention to what’s going on around me.”
Tom Brown's Body
November 10, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 7: The Wake
“The people of the town are calling us and saying, ‘Do we have a monster that lives in our community?’ I wish I could give them solace.”
Politics & Policy
November 9, 2020
How Did a Florida Man Become the Face of the Texas Republican Party?
Texas GOP chairman Allen West is at war with the governor and in love with the camera.
Tom Brown's Body
November 3, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 6: The Thicket
“I’m like, ‘What in the heck is that?’ So, I walk around some shrubs, and as I get closer, I can see that it kind of looks like bone.”
Music
November 1, 2020
Jerry Jeff Walker, Remembered by Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Dan Rather, and Many, Many Others
The New York–born singer-songwriter got to Texas as soon as he could—and spent the next five decades changing the lives of seemingly everyone he met.
Tom Brown's Body
October 27, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 5: Unusual Suspects
“It’s kind of strange that your investigator calls this search, and, lo and behold, right after he starts the search, a cellphone is found.”
News & Politics
October 21, 2020
“It’s the Most Outrageous Thing I’ve Ever Seen. It Makes No Sense.”
DNA evidence proved Lydell Grant's innocence. So why won't the state’s highest criminal court exonerate him?
Tom Brown's Body
October 20, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 4: Lake Marvin Road
“I'm sitting there thinking, ‘Oh God, I'm so scared right now.’ I couldn't convince them. And so I just let them hammer me.”
Politics & Policy
October 14, 2020
Don’t Call Texas’s Latino Voters the “Sleeping Giant”
They're not disengaged—they’re waiting to be heard, and fully understood.
Politics & Policy
October 14, 2020
Even if Trump Wins Texas, the GOP Is Facing a Historical Reckoning
The election has yet to be decided, but one result can already be called: the Texas Republican party has lost its ability to speak to much of the electorate. And Democrats are poised to reap the benefits.
Texas History
October 13, 2020
Remember That Time a Nuclear Weapons Bunker Blew Up in San Antonio?
In 1963, Lackland Air Force Base experienced a cataclysmic explosion. People thought World War III had started. Today, it's been almost completely forgotten.
Tom Brown's Body
October 13, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 3: “Evil Has Come to Canadian, Texas”
“Makes you want to go to the church, get on your knees, and say a few words, right?”
Politics & Policy
October 8, 2020
What If They Held an Election and Everyone Came?
State leaders have long tried to correct for the problem of too much democracy. But voters may get the last laugh this election.
Tom Brown's Body
October 6, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 2: Tom’s Loop
“My gut tells me he hasn't left Hemphill County. I think he's here somewhere, and I don't know if he intends to come out in the next day or two.”
Business
October 3, 2020
Why Is American Airlines So Infuriating?
With its industry reeling, the Fort Worth–based airline giant is quietly betting that diminished competition will keep passengers coming—even as they grumble about the carrier’s poor service, late arrivals, and the jam-packing of its flights amid the pandemic.
Tom Brown's Body
September 29, 2020
Tom Brown’s Body, Chapter 1: A Pretty Little Place
In 2016 a popular teenager disappeared in the tiny Panhandle community of Canadian. Two years later, his remains were discovered beneath a tree outside of town. But to this day, no arrests have been made, and it seems that nearly everyone involved in the case has fallen under suspicion.
Film & TV
September 23, 2020
How Danny Trejo Built a Decades-Long Film Career After Prison
After years of playing ex-cons and bodyguards, the prolific actor became an iconic leading man in Robert Rodriguez’s Machete series.
The Culture
September 16, 2020
Top Dog: An Oral History of ‘Wishbone’
The kids’ television program, helmed by a crop of Texan theatrical talents, landed on PBS 25 years ago.
Art
September 16, 2020
James Magee Has Been Working on His Masterpiece for Decades, but Completion Isn’t the Point
The Hill, located in the West Texas desert, stirs visitors to confront what they cannot comprehend.
Politics & Policy
September 8, 2020
How James Baker Became James Baker
In this exclusive excerpt from the forthcoming ‘The Man Who Ran Washington,’ two veteran political correspondents recount how the future Reagan and Bush cabinet member's family legacy, a personal tragedy, and a friendship forged on the Houston Country Club’s tennis courts put a restless middle-aged lawyer on the path to
Texas History
August 19, 2020
The Statues Are Coming Down. Maybe That’s a Missed Opportunity.
As monuments to slaveholders, Confederate soldiers, and Texas Rangers disappear across the state, we’re being forced to reconsider what should be honored, what should be commemorated, and what it’s time to let go of.