
Opinion: Treat Gun Violence Like the Crisis It Is
Texas can change the status quo if our elected leaders engage in a good-faith debate over gun safety.
Texas can change the status quo if our elected leaders engage in a good-faith debate over gun safety.
‘Shouting Down Midnight’ is a hagiography of the state senator that tries to impose a triumph narrative for Texas Democrats where none exists.
Sissy Farenthold, who died Sunday, believed persistence and anger could change Texas.
Texas was once a model of how to safely and economically move away from mass incarceration. Now the old politics of “law and order” are back.
Our diverse big cities and suburbs are driving the state forward. Our leaders need to let Houston be Houston and Beaumont be Beaumont.
Reader letters published in our August 2021 issue.
A wild year begat an even wilder legislative session. Lawmakers faced blackouts, a pandemic, and their own worst impulses. Amid the chaos, we plucked out the leaders—and the losers.
The closest vote of Texas' legislative session concerned face coverings and the ability of the governor and county officials to deal with a future pandemic.
Provisions of Senate Bill 7 would require some naturalized citizens to prove their right to vote.
Louise Raggio fought to pass a landmark law that gave equal rights to Texas women.
The annual mock-government summer camp—which I attended in 1995—hits the national spotlight thanks to an engaging new documentary.
Recent attempts to abolish the holiday have failed. But things might be different when lawmakers return to Austin in January.
With a virus-infected economy and an oil bust to boot, the Texas model is facing an unprecedented crisis.
The booming suburbs of Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio could change the distribution of power in the state.
The Sundance Film Festival award winner follows teenagers from across Texas as they convene in Austin for an immersive lesson in government.
Beto & co. came up embarrassingly short, but the result probably doesn’t say all that much about November.
Now that races for the March primary are (mostly) set, here are a few things worth keeping an eye on.
What Poncho Nevarez’s cocaine problem tells us about corruption and impunity at the Texas Capitol.
The embattled speaker of the Texas House, Dennis Bonnen, calls it quits.
The secretly recorded meeting between Dennis Bonnen and Michael Quinn Sullivan shows how Texas political operators talk behind closed doors.
The growing controversy around Bonnen's quid pro quo is about much more than palace intrigue. Fundamentally, it concerns unethical, possibly criminal, behavior on the part of the speaker.
House Speaker Dennis Bonnen offers a masterclass in how to lose friends and alienate your allies in just a few easy steps.
MQS isn't the most trustworthy person in Texas politics, but Bonnen has done a poor job offering an alternative narrative about what transpired.
We reached out to prosecutors for all 254 Texas counties to ask whether they will still prosecute marijuana cases.
On Monday, the Senate passed a proposal to add four more writing tests and tie school funding directly to third-grade test results.
Despite Representative Celia Israel’s emotional, personal testimony, her bill to curtail the discredited practice has little chance of becoming law.
A step towards a less partisan future. Or at least a furrier, friendlier one.
The Legislature remains far from allowing recreational use, but baby steps toward decriminalization could come this session.
The $119.12 billion two-year estimate is the first step in the Texas Legislature's budgeting process.
The Associated Republicans of Texas co-chair is out to prove that clashing with Dan Patrick doesn’t make you a Republican In Name Only.
This city in West Texas was the largest in the country without a presence from the controversial health clinic.
The nation’s high court will consider whether Texas legislative and congressional districts discriminate against minorities.
When is advice a conflict of interest?
The changes might actually do more to protect police officers than the Police Protection Act.
He’s not wrong about that, but is this an opportunity to reconsider gambling laws?
On the eve of Voting Rights Act's anniversary, a federal court ruled Texas's voter ID discriminates.
The lieutenant governor responds to our selections.
Illustrations by Nicki Longoria. Click to enlarge.Elsewhere in this month’s issue, our political team considers which state legislators have earned our respect and which ones remind us why the stately granite building at Twelfth Street and Congress Avenue has long been the butt of countless jokes
The Legislature is leaving unspent $18 billion that could go to further tax cuts or repairs to infrastructure or even, perhaps, to education.
Well then.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee sent a bill that would severely tighten restrictions on receiving a confidential abortion as a minor to the Senate floor.
The people behind the hidden camera investigation of the Legislature have more of a history of political activism than of journalism.
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that a right wing political group has been secretly recording Texas legislators, apparently with an aim at unseating Speaker Joe Straus.
Seems like a #GreatUseOfTime, #right?
A miniature controversy erupted Wednesday at the state capitol, when a Republican lawmaker covered the name plaque outside his office with a paper sign labeling him as a “Former Fetus.”
Rick Miller, a Republican from Sugar Land, introduced legislation that would reverse local non-discrimination ordinances—like the one in Houston, where his openly gay son works as an attorney.
What started as a small wedding ceremony outside a Travis County office resulted in a political storm that left the couple, and the rest of the state, confused.
A new era for the Capitol—and for Texas Monthly’s Capitol bureau.
Despite all the exits and entrances around him, House speaker Joe Straus plans on staying right where he is.
How Erica Grieder learned to stop worrying and look forward to the Eighty-fourth Legislature.