Gulf of Mexico

State Health Department Warns of Unsafe Mercury Levels in Local Fish

The state health department just released a warning for Texan seafood lovers. Fish examined from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico contained mercury at concentrations that exceed health guidelines. That means if you're pregnant (or even thinking about it) or under the age of 12 -- no more wahoo for yo ... More >>

The Spring Breakification of the Disney Princess Complex

Spring Breakers is Harmony Korine's most accessible -- and yet his most experimental -- movie yet.

Mary's Cafe: A Guide to Getting Fat(ter) on Spring Break

Spring break season is here. Even if you're an adult with a real job and you say things like "demographic" and, "my HMO is such an asshole," you can still pretend like you're granted that magic week in March sans responsibility. Because I've decided to accumulate degrees instead of typing up TPS r ... More >>

30 Essential Texas Restaurants to Visit Before You Die

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?

TransCanada Can Move Ahead With Texas Portion of Pipeline, But the Fight Isn't Over

Earlier this month, three East Texas hamlets with a collective population of fewer than 2,000 souls filed suit in a federal court in Oklahoma City to halt construction of the southern half of The International Pipeline Formerly Known as Keystone XL. The Keystone was to be a massive piece of infrastr ... More >>

Trinity Toll Road Doesn't Add Up

However you slice the numbers, it's still baloney.

ExxonMobil CEO: Burning Fossil Fuels Causes Climate Change, But Energy Independence Is Still Complete Bullshit

We at Unfair Park will never, ever tire of hearing Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Irving-based ExxonMobil, the largest private oil and gas company in the world, admit that the product he peddles has in fact caused the earth's climate to change. This is the corporation that has for decades bankrolled a c ... More >>

The Power of Lobbying: Trinity Levees Are Unsafe SUPER Safe, the Corps Says Now

OK, wait, wait, before we start the party, can I ask a couple questions? Could we maybe just try to put ourselves in a global context first? In July, 2011, the city of Copenhagen was ravaged by the worst flood in recorded history, rated by scientists as a "1,000-year" flood, meaning it could be ex ... More >>

Environmental Chemist Wilma Subra on the Barnett Shale Bonanza and Its Costs

By 2008, the high price of natural gas, coupled with the novel combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, touched off a modern-day gold rush in the Barnett Shale. Regulators were caught on their heels. "They moved forward very rapidly, and state regulatory programs had a difficult ... More >>

Who'll Stop the Rain? Rick Perry's Pals, That's Who.

A plan for the Brazos River threatens to upend Texas water law.

On Flood Control, Dallas Better Think Nationally or Be Ready to Drown Locally

Man, talk about whistling past the graveyard. At yesterday's Dallas City Council meeting, council members Tennell Atkins and Delia Jasso asked good questions about the city's flood control plans, and City Manager Mary Suhm and her assistant, Jill Jordan, gave good answers. But it was all deck chairs ... More >>

While We Wait For Our Trinity Docs, We Dig Into Those Levees Repairs With the Corps

Brigadier General Thomas Kula​Two small but important bits of information from a long U.S. Army Corps of Engineers press gathering this afternoon: First: In order to fix the Trinity River levee system, Dallas will have to build an impervious concrete-like barrier between the levees and the river. ... More >>

An exciting Super Bowl game couldn't rescue North Texas from a disastrous Super Bowl week.

Drip By Last Drop, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Goes With the Flow

Ron Jackson/Texas FreewayThe Neches River Bridge​In April 2009, I wrote about the court battle between the city of Dallas and people in East Texas over a proposed dam and reservoir on the Neches River. The East Texas people won that one, successfully persuading a judge to kill the planned reservoi ... More >>

Coasting Through Recovery

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison Took A Meat-axe To Federal Law To Get The Mayor His Toll Road. But Did She Even Think About The Consequences?

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 >>

When It Comes to the Trinity River Project, History Keeps Repeating Itself, Repeating Itself

John W. Carpenter Papers, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library,Ben Carpenter, son of John, is the one seen here pointing to a Trinity River canal master plan​Your Trinity River correspondent and advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist, which would be me, had two interesting e ... More >>

On The Range: Snapper Veracruz

​On The Range is a weekly exploration of the history and lore of Texas menu items.Puerto de Veracruz is a bustling metropolis of half-a-million located on the Gulf of Mexico. Its rich history stretches back to Pre-Columbian times, and it is sometimes called The Four Times Heroic City after resist ... More >>

Appetite For Instruction: Camarones A La Veracruzana

Recipe Demonstrated By Jesse Sanchez Of La Calle Doce Jesse Sanchez loves the restaurant business. It's a family thing. Back in 1981, his brother-in-law Oscar Sanchez took over a hard-luck spot in Oak Cliff that even the Cuellar family of El Chico fame couldn't conquer. Almost 30 years later, ... More >>

Get lost with Jim Schutze while canoeing the Neches River and find the wildlife refuge Dallas wants to dam to secure its water supply

A Killer F5 Tornado Rips Through Dallas County -- How Ready Are We for this Nightmare Scenario?

Plenty of Folks Are Starting to Place, and Hedge, Their Bets on Casinos in Texas

One week ago today, state Sen. John Carona introduced proposed legislation, S.J.R. No. 31, that would allow for at least 12 casinos scattered throughout the state -- seven "in different urban areas," two "located on islands in the Gulf of Mexico that are tourist destinations with at least 1,000 gue ... More >>

The Master Cleanser: Day 2

Status: Yellow Weight: 167.8 ( -3.3) Mood: Hungry Horny Horrified Few times in a man's life he finds himself running around the house, repeatedly gagging and pleading to anyone on his block, "Forget it, I want a dirty colon! I want a dirty colon!!" Try drinking a quart of warm sea-salt water and yo ... More >>

Swinging Over to Our Part of Town

You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Gustav.

From the Past, Lon Tinkle's Key to Unlocking Dallas's Present

Pod People|Cheap Bastard|The Nice T.O.|Fields of Green|Mr. *|Trinity Foundation

Lucky 13

The Rip

When does an evacuee cease to be a guest and become a pain?

Port of Call

This Week's Day-By-Day Picks

Big Shucking Deal

Do different oysters really taste different?

Shipshape?

Awash in oil, the Spanish victims of a tanker disaster seek justice from a Texas company

Counsel for the Defense

At 76, flamboyant criminal lawyer Racehorse Haynes keeps doing what he does best--winning

Best Fishmonger

TJ's Seafood Market

Been There, Done That

For supporters of an improved and expensive Trinity River, everything old is new again

Desert Blooms

Jetports and elite resorts may do what border bandits and blistering heat couldn't: rob Big Bend of its rugged beauty

Custody Battle

The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea dines on questions of race, sexuality and desire

Ride 'Em, Surferboy

As coastal Texans head inland to escape heavy weather, landlocked beach boys are catching waves and sitting on top of the world

One fish, two fish

Fishart a la carte

This Sand is Your Sand

On the Texas coast, the only thing eroding faster than the sand is the state’s Open Beaches Act

Dino-might

Life and Death in the Big Bend

Rock of Ages

Archeology in Rockwall

Romeo's head

A would-be Indiana Jones reopens the debate over who got to America first

He's about a mover

Doug Sahm may spend his summers in Canada, but he's still a Texas tornado

The color of money

Two artists prove what the stunning use of color can and can't do

Letters

Jim of all trades

For David Byrne discovery Jim White, music wasn't his first career choice. Or his second. Or his third...