2015: The Best and Worst Legislators
New guv, new lite guv, new attorney general, new committee chairs: the Eighty-fourth Legislature had a lot to prove. So how well did its members do?
July 2015 Issue
Features
The Talented Mr. Khater
In 2011 Callie Quinn moved from Austin to Chile to experience a new way of life. Then she met a charming fellow foreigner—and almost lost everything.
On the Porch With Robert and Lyle
Old friends Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett talk about songwriting Texas music history, and the early days back in College Station.
The Abbott Interview
Our legislator in chief assesses a spring marked by pre-K budgets, the open carry debate, border security, and a certain kerfuffle over Jade Helm.
Columns
Gang Land
After the deadly shoot-out in Waco, what do the Bandidos want? To be left alone.
Behind the Curtain
For years, Kyle Lagow told his bosses at Countrywide Financial that the company was wreaking havoc on the housing market. But no one listened—until the entire economy came crashing down.
Out of the Box
Among other things, Charles Goodnight basically invented the food truck. (He called it the chuck wagon.)
Gone Loco
This year’s heavy rains have brought countless blessings to West Texas—and one very nasty weed.
The Texanist: Which Texas Beaches Rival the Old South Padre Island?
Our estimable advice columnist on washed-up beaches, chicken-fried whoppers, the etymology of “hindcatcher,” and tryin’ to love an Elantra-drivin’ man.
Reporter
Meanwhile, in Texas. . .
Some crazy stuff went down last month. Here are a handful of headlines you may have missed.
The Full Nowitzki
In a new documentary, the Dallas Mavericks’ legendary power forward lets down his guard.
The Checklist
What to read, hear, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
The Class of 2015
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
Old News: An Illustrated Look at Headlines From a Bygone Era
“Our water squirters again find employment by amusing themselves in sprinkling our streets.” —San Saba County News, April 7, 1893
“Odor! Odor in the Court!”
District judge Carter Tinsley Schildknecht, of Dawson County, was reprimanded by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for, among other offenses, holding a fifteen-hour court session that ran until four in the morning, during which she allowed no formal meal or bathroom breaks.
The Three Burials of Tony Ayala Jr.
The long, unstoppable decline of the most fearsome boxer to ever come out of San Antonio.
Touts
Serves Austin Right
At Italic, the couple behind 24 Diner, Easy Tiger, and Arro worked out the kinks before they opened their doors.
Higher Plains
Sometimes, when you want a lot of space, you need to go somewhere small—like Canadian.
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