BP plc

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Has Found No Takers For Corporate Sponsor Program

In July, reeling from state budget cuts, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department came up with a surefire way to make a bit of extra scratch: corporate sponsorships. The proposal didn't include naming rights -- no British Petroleum State Park at Galveston Island, for example -- but companies who paid ... More >>

There Will Be Tar Sand

Tarry Canadian bitumen is barreling its way to Texas via the Keystone XL pipeline. Will it bring energy independence or environmental calamity?

The 10 Most Corrupt Tax Loopholes

If Mitt Romney won't tell you which need to be closed, we will

British Petroleum Presents Galveston Island State Park: Texas Parks Department Wants Corporate Sponsors

The Texas Parks And Wildlife Department, the state agency that operates state parks and regulates hunting, fishing and related activities, announced today that it is seeking corporate partners. Seriously. Says so right on their website in big, bold letters: "Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Seeks ... More >>

Roll Red Tide: Still No Good News for Oyster Lovers from the Coastlines of Texas

Steven Doyle​Red tide, the naturally occurring algae bloom that causes toxicity in shellfish, continues to plague the state's coastline -- keeping Texas oysters out of local restaurants and threatening the $18.5 million Texas oyster industry. The state closed the entire coast of Texas to oyst ... More >>

Water Rights Policies At the TCEQ Could Affect Your Lunch

It's tough being a gulf oyster. The BP oil spill devastated Louisiana oyster beds, and then a historic Texas drought reduced river flows into Galveston Bay, seriously increasing the bay's salinity. Predators and disease are thriving and threatening the already hobbled industry. Now the Texas Commis ... More >>

UT-Arlington Researchers Plan Study On Gas Drilling Operations' Affect on Water Quality

​Last month, we mentioned a far-reaching University of Texas at Austin study of complaints about gas drilling operations that's just now getting underway. Meant to connect the dots between air, soil and water quality complaints from the Barnett to the Marcellus Shale, the nine-month project from t ... More >>

Fearing's To Donate Portion of Profits to Japan Relief

Fearing's this weekend plans to donate a portion of its proceeds to Japanese tsunami relief efforts, becoming one of the first area restaurants to publicly announce its charitable giving plans. ​Spokesperson Bonnie Crail said she didn't know the exact percentage of profits the restaurant inte ... More >>

Oyster Appellations Return to the Gulf Coast

More than a century ago, there wasn't any such thing as a "gulf oyster." Oysters were offered under specific place names -- a tradition revived this weekend at the first Foodways Texas symposium in Galveston. Jenny Wang​The program wasn't devoted entirely to oysters: Kelly Yandell, one of a f ... More >>

Turnips, Happy Meals and Tainted Eggs: The Year's 10 Biggest National Food Stories

​Food lovers must talk with their mouths full, since there was plenty of discussion of many, many food-related topics in 2010. But a few national stories struck us as most important. Let us know what you think. 1. The food safety bill The massive food safety bill had been left for dead when the ... More >>

Half-Shell Fans Beware, the Future
For Gulf Oysters is Murky

​A waiter at City Diner and Oyster Bar in Corpus Christi broke the appalling news to my wife, in-laws and me last weekend as we made a trip to the coast: No fresh Texas oysters on the half-shell. Not one. Sorry, he said. Dealer prices a week into the start of Texas' oyster harvest from public leas ... More >>

Texas Oyster Season is Here. Time to be Greedy.

Catch a Wave at the Dallas Museum of Art With Free Screening, History of Lone Star Surfers

Courtesy of Margaret White EllisonFormer Corpus Christi resident Tony Mierzwa, foreground, and an unidentified surfer ride a wave at Horace Caldwell Pier in Port Aransas on a mid-1960s day.​Landlocked we are, but at 7 tonight at the Dallas Museum of Art, there'll be a whole lotta surfin' going on. ... More >>

J.R. and SMU Reach for the Sun

​Not together, mind you -- this isn't a joint project between Ewing Oil and the Hilltop. But both Larry Hagman, now positioning himself as the Anti-Palin, and Southern Methodist are making a singular push for solar power -- the former Dallas star in a highly publicized ad for a German photovoltaic ... More >>

Lawnmower Man: Kenneth Page Followed His Peculiar Dream from Texas to Florida.

Local Musicians To Host Benefit For The Gulf Coast at Lola's in Fort Worth on Thursday

​July 1 marks another hot, run-of-the-mill day for us here in North Texas, but for the folks directly affected by the oil spill in the Gulf, it's another day without work. And some DFW musicians have decided to do something about it--namely, they'll be teaming up with venues all over the country t ... More >>

Did Joe Barton Have a Point?

Jon Stewart Doesn't Like Joe Barton, and He's Not Impressed With Rex Tillerson Either

​No doubt by now you've heard all about Rep. Joe Barton of Arlington telling BP chief exec Tony Hayward how sorry he is -- how so so so so so sorry he is -- that President Obama shook him down for a $20 billion "slush fund." And by slush fund, he meant dough to be doled out to those in the Gulf Co ... More >>

Whitt's End: 6.11.10

​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *The Southwest Conference lived to be 80. The Big 12 won't see its 17th birthday. Favorite part of the squabble is Texas A&M threatening to go to the Southeastern Conference without Texas. Yeah ... More >>

Texas Rangers: Fool's Gold or Gritty Perseverance?

​While I was gone the Texas Rangers, well, um, let's face it ... they crumbled. Starters not making it past the fifth inning. Bullpen overworked. Bottom third of the order about as effective as BP's oil spill plans G, H and I. Four consecutive losses. Division lead kaput. Not good. I keep app ... More >>

Gig Alerts: Jon Wolfe at House of Blues' Voodoo Lounge and Kevin Deal at the The Ranch in Los Colinas

Jon Wolfe​Fans of Americana and country have a nice choice of singer/songwriters to choose from this evening.Hailing out of Tulsa, Jon Wolfe has the looks to be easily dismissed as (yet) another Garth Brooks wannabe. But don't let the big black hat and tight fitting jeans fool you. Wolfe has a kil ... More >>

Pumped Out

Major gas companies are driving away independent station operators, all in the name of greed

Whizzing inside the tent

ExxonMobil shareholders use their stock to push a corporate giant toward change

Congressional hopeful Jerry Frankel has ideas, brains, and GUTS.

Dick Armey will eat his lunch.