Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

The borders of Ken Paxton’s vision of religious freedom became a little clearer this week when the attorney general sued Annunciation House, an independent Catholic immigrant ministry in El Paso. Claiming suspicions of “alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house,” on February 7 Paxton demanded the respite center’s documents regarding the identities and services rendered to the immigrants. Annunciation House asked for more time to seek counsel on whether any of the documents could legally be withheld. Paxton refused, so the migrant-aid group sued Paxton; now Paxton is suing Annunciation House to revoke its state license.In describing Annunciation House, Paxton’s press releases use the term “nongovernmental organization” (NGO), the term used most commonly to describe international relief agencies such as those that partner…

The post What Does Religious Freedom Mean in Ken Paxton’s Texas? appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

The 121-year-old Luther Hotel, in Palacios, looked spooky enough to star in a horror flick. When I visited in mid-January, the bottom-floor windows were boarded shut, and the white paint on its cypress facade was peeling in stripes that stretched the length of the structure’s east and west wings. Weeds grew tall around its broad lawn, which hadn’t been mown since the hotel closed its doors in July 2022. The interior, I would soon discover, was worse.I was there with local retirees Margaret Doughty and Edith Gower, who cofounded the all-volunteer Palacios Preservation Association to save the Luther and find an investor who will restore it. “You cannot tear down something that has such a remarkable history,” Gower told me. The Luther holds the story…

The post How Two “Little Old Ladies” Saved the Most Endangered Building in Texas appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

It’s hard to imagine today, but less than two weeks ago, none of us had even heard Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em.” In the ten days since its release, the song’s impact on culture has been dramatic. With it, Beyoncé made Super Bowl ads briefly relevant again. She inspired thousands upon thousands of TikTok dance videos. She reminded us of the 1992 Disney labor-rights musical Newsies. She has already begun to remake country radio in her image. She’s given everyone who wants an excuse to doff a cowboy hat in the spirit of Texas—which is to say, pretty much everyone—the perfect opportunity to do so. But can her song save lives? According to a small but authoritative niche of social media—nurses and ER doctors—the answer is yes. How…

The post Can Beyoncé’s ‘Texas Hold ’Em’ Save Lives? A Texas Monthly Investigation appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

“Why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal?” asked President John F. Kennedy during a 1962 speech at Rice University’s football stadium. “Why does Rice play Texas?” We are a bold and confident people, he explained, willing—nay, eager—to take on difficult challenges simply to prove that we can.  In comparing the ambitions of NASA’s Apollo program to the Owls taking on the Longhorns, Kennedy hinted at a notion that we’ve chosen to embrace wholeheartedly: the moon is spiritually, if not geographically, part of Texas. After all, Houston is home to our nation’s human spaceflight program—where the astronauts train and where Mission Control guides them. The first word spoken on the moon, if you ignore some technical mutterings from Buzz Aldrin, was “Houston.”But…

The post Texas Finally Reclaims the Moon appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Over the past several months, one publication after another has announced significant layoffs: Business Insider, the Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, the New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, the Texas Tribune, the Washington Post, and many others. Among the few journalistic organizations still growing in readers, listeners, and viewers, revenue, and editorial staff are the New York Times—and Texas Monthly.That distinction wouldn’t be possible without the diligence and creativity of TM’s editorial and business professionals. But those qualities are also abundant among our friends who have been laid off elsewhere. TM is blessed in two ways that most other publications aren’t. We get to focus on a sprawling, fascinating state that is growing rapidly economically and in its population, which includes lots of new folks who love…

The post Texas Monthly Reporter Russell Gold and the Long Game of Journalism appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!