South Texas

Thanks to Texas Tight Oil, the U.S. Now Officially Produces More Oil Than It Imports

Buried in an unheralded weekly U.S. petroleum balance sheet released Wednesday was a milestone that not so long ago seemed unimaginable: We pumped more oil out of the ground than we imported for the week ending May 31. The difference between oil production and imports wasn't huge -- about 80,000 ba ... More >>

In Texas, a Company is Now Fracking Uranium

Because injecting mysterious chemical cocktails deep underground to release hard-to-reach deposits of natural gas hasn't proved controversial enough, miners are staking out a new frontier: uranium fracking. Yep. Uranium Energy Corp., a Canadian company with extensive operations in the "uranium belt ... More >>

30 Essential Texas Restaurants to Visit Before You Die

What Texas Drillers and Regulators Learned From the Barnett Shale

The development of North Texas' Barnett Shale did not go as smoothly as gas companies had hoped. The flaming water in Parker County, elevated levels of benzene in DISH, elevated rates of breast cancer in Flower Mound, and any number of other reports contributed to the perception among the general pu ... More >>

Lyle Lovett And His Songs About "Girls"

Lyle Lovett is a modern legend. His laid-back vocal delivery offers a flirtatious wink at the listener and is as identifiable as his wild-ass hair has been, since he began performing in the early '80s. The 54-year-old troubadour could sing the words to a Panda Express menu and it would be an instant ... More >>

Food & Wine's Best BBQ City List Includes A Few Spot in "East Texas: Dallas"

Food and Wine took some time this week to evaluate our great nation's best barbeque cities in a feature titled "Best BBQ Cities." First noticeable local on the list is Tim Love. Standing next to a grill, right? No, in a Hellman's mayo commercial. What the heck is the deal with the mayo? No mention ... More >>

Old Man Wisdom on How to Pick a Watermelon

Holland, Texas, (no relation to Derek) is a tiny town just a little east of the smack dab middle of our slightly asymmetrical state. It's a patch of dirt and old buildings with a speed zone on Highway 95 south of Waco. For a decade or so I've blazed a regular trail through it (one speeding ticket to ... More >>

A Clean-Air Program, Texas-Style (Side Effects May Include A Natural Gas Subsidy)

Beleaguered is how you might describe efforts to clean Texas air. Emissions reduction plans -- leaning primarily on cutting vehicle exhaust -- have been gutted by the state Legislature. But one provision, passed in the last legislative session and sponsored by Woodlands Republican Senator Tommy Will ... More >>

Preview: George Jones at Arlington Music Hall

CANCELED

Phil Hamilton Wants Tom Petty's Damn The Torpedoes If He's Stuck

Phil Hamilton's latest Red Dirt, Southern rock record, Renegade Rock n Roll, runs the gamut from heartsick love songs to working-man rock anthems. The local's played stages from South Texas to Kansas in recent weeks, celebrating the release of his second album. The video for "You Can Have Me" has be ... More >>

How To Not Get Deported

So, you're an undocumented immigrant. Your great hope is to stick around, make a living and, some day, become naturalized. Unfortunately, our immigration laws are a tangled morass of inscrutability, insensible to the realities of a globalized world. You may have watched last week's Republican deba ... More >>

Shippin' Shale: Energy Independence Means Exporting It So We Can Import It. Got That?

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to us either. A couple of weeks ago we asked if America could stop pretending that politicians and their benefactors in the energy industry actually give two shits about "energy independence" or "energy security," or any of the other portent-laden, focus-grouped catch phr ... More >>

Standing on the Margaret Hunt Hill, Before Getting a Look at What Runs Below

​Speaking of the Trinity River ... Perhaps I didn't end up visiting the under-construction Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on the best day for our ongoing Unfair Park series, "Sweaty Dispatches From a Sweltering City." While I was out on the pavement girded with Italian steel early Thursday afterno ... More >>

Central Texas Pitmasters Aren't Going to SeaWorld

You know, some low and slow cooking over oak...oh, never mind. ​SeaWorld in Orlando this week announced it had invited local smokehouses to participate in its annual "Bands, Brew & BBQ" festival, an innovation that would make even more sense at the theme park's South Texas location. But a spo ... More >>

U.S. Department of Transpo Forks Over $5.6 Mil to Study OKC-to-DFW High-Speed Rail Line

U.S. Department of Transportation​This morning, as expected, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood passed out $2.4 billion in funding to 54 high-speed rail projects in 23 states. Among the recipients: the Texas Department of Transportation, which'll take home $5.6 million intended to allow a fu ... More >>

Good Friday: Mike Dillon & Earl Harvin, Grassfight, The Phuss, Tera Melos, Black Tie Dynasty, Ishi, Bassnectar, Eisley, Sorta Dylan, Clint Black, Dignan & more

Earl Harvin​This weekend has some pretty interesting shows. One of the most exciting is Jazz at The Kessler with The Mike Dillon & Earl Harvin Show at The Kessler Theater. Dallas drumming legend Earl Harvin makes his return to town after several years of living in Los Angeles and Berlin, with ... More >>

Gig Alert: Rosie Flores Tonight at Double Wide

Rosie Flores​San Antonio's Rosie Flores makes a stop in our fair city this evening, bringing her brand of hardcore honky-tonk and rockabilly to the Double Wide. She's been a fixture of the South Texas scene for decades, earning accolades in whatever city she decided to call home--hell, even the ma ... More >>

Crystal Clear

Veggie Guy: Mexican Comfort Food

​The On The Range piece about Machacado con Huevo last week brought back some old memories from my childhood. I was born and raised in South Texas by immigrant Mexican parents. My mother was from Guanajuato, and my father migrated from San Fernando, Tamaulipas. Mom's home cooking mostly entailed e ... More >>

On The Range: Machacado Con Huevos

​On The Range is a weekly exploration of the history and lore of Texas menu items.Growing up, the most magical place in the world was not Six Flags, Playland Park, or Disney World. Nope, not even the State Fair of Texas. You see, the place near and dear to every child's heart--before the inventio ... More >>

What's So Vulgar About the Word Pinche?

Just What -- And Who -- is Behind "The Great Immigration Panic"? You Name It.

El Mejor de lo Mejor

We Asked a Mexican to help us pick the best Anglo covers of Mexican tunes

On the Border, Off the Fence

Items of Interest, Far As You Know

Texas' Peyote Hunters Struggle to Find a Vanishing, Holy Crop

Harvesting peyote is legal for only three people, and all of them live in Texas

Patrolling South Texas for Illegal Immigrants

Border Patrolman Jorge Diaz left Mexico at 12. For 20 years, he's trolled the South Texas brush for illegal compatriots.

Lesbozos

See some queer comedy in Fort Worth

Anchia to Tackle "Divisive and Misguided" Anti-Immigration Legislation

High on the Hog

In Texas, shoot as many feral pigs as you like. Just don't let your dog bite them.

Life's a Strip

Apple- or hickory-smoked bacon: Is there a difference?

Bang, bang

Cheney shoots, Buzz scores

South Austin Jug Band, The Gourds, Two High String Band

Friday, December 2, at the Granada Theater

Bubba Patrol

The Minutemen are ready to patrol Texas' border. Are we ready for them?

Peep Show

Voyeurism, with appetizers, during Around the Table home tour

Ministry

Houses of the Mole (Sanctuary)

Heir Unapparent

The descendants of a former housemaid lay claim to one of Texas' grandest ranch fortunes

Sand Castles

It's a multiphonic spree

Clone Ranger

The old roundup may never be the same, thanks to Zech Dameron’s herd of genetically duplicate longhorns

Clash of Symbols

Six Flags is teaching Texology, and we've got a few suggestions

Open Season

Border authorities fear a return to the law of the Wild West as Texas homeowners take up guns against illegal Mexican immigrants

Separate and Unequal

In a school district that still sees the city in terms of black and white, Hispanics say their children are robbed of a fair share

Best produce (tie)

Farmers Market & Groceryworks.com

The virgin muse

Rocket man

Former NASA engineer Tom Moser dreams about launching the next generation of spacecraft from Texas soil

How to site a Nuclear- waste dump--for just $50 million

Night & Day

July 2 - 8, 1998

Whatta concept!

At theme-choked Canyon Cafe, a few things actually rise above the kitsch

Strait to hell

George Strait saved country music. Then he killed it

Home of the range

Randy Erwin belatedly releases an astounding, varied work