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

Jennifer Lozano Paris OlympicsGrowing up on the South Side of Laredo, the Lozano kids were taught that the path to a better life was through education. So when Jessica Lozano saw her younger sister Jennifer singularly focused on the sport of boxing, insisting over and over that she was going to fight in the Olympics one day, Jessica tried to be supportive—but also acted as a voice of reason.“We told her, ‘That’s great. As your family, we believe in you—but maybe take a few college courses on the side,’ ” Jessica recalled. “We were like, ‘Jenny, we just want you to have a plan B.’ And I remember vividly when she said, ‘You know I love you. But there’s no plan B for me.’ ”Last October in Santiago, Chile, Jennifer…

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Ben SpencerIt had been two years since Barbara Bradley Hagerty, the award-winning religion journalist and writer, retired from her nineteen-year tenure with NPR. Working as a freelancer now, she was looking for her next project and called up her old friend Jim McCloskey in New Jersey. She’d used McCloskey as a source several times for stories on wrongful convictions. Through his work with Centurion Ministries, McCloskey was an expert on the subject; over the previous 35 years he had helped free 63 wrongly convicted men and women from prison. What was the one case, Hagerty asked McCloskey, that still haunted him after all these years?“Oh, that’s easy,” he replied. “Ben Spencer’s case. There’s probably not a day that goes by that I don’t think of Ben.”In…

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Babson-Diagnostics-Austin-Eric-Olson-Blood-Tests-finger-prickFramed in his office, Eric Olson displays what he calls a “unique piece of history.” It’s a letter informing him of a $44 million settlement in a class action lawsuit involving Theranos, the infamous company based in Palo Alto, California, that claimed it could run hundreds of diagnostic medical tests with just a few drops of a patient’s blood. Below the letter is a check for $46.65—Olson’s cut as a former customer.The lawsuit, filed in 2016, took long enough to conclude that the check was sent this spring to the New York home Olson sold when he moved to Austin seven years ago. The timing of the settlement’s arrival felt serendipitous because he had since built a company that promises to do something Theranos never…

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Partenope RistoranteAs Texans, we can claim a lot of our foods as the best in the country. After all, you wouldn’t rush off to Idaho to indulge in tacos, and you wouldn’t buy a plane ticket to Florida to try some brisket. Pizza—another of America’s favorite foods—has never had strong associations with the Lone Star State, but a couple of recent “best of” lists are proving that is changing.  In June, 50 Top Pizza, an Italian organization committed to promoting the excellence of artisan pizza around the world, listed Partenope Ristorante, in Dallas and Richardson, in the number twelve slot on its annual U.S. pizza ranking. Owner Dino Santonicola was invited to both the national award ceremony, held in New York City on June 25, and the international…

The post Experts Agree: Texas’s Pizza Is Getting Better and Better appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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The Problem with Erik Bonus episode 1This is a bonus episode available to TM Audio subscribers only. Connect access to your TM Audio feed to the podcast player of your choice here. To troubleshoot any issues, access the FAQ here. Read the transcript below.“I love helping out people, man. Because everybody gets in a shitty situation, and I want to be there to help them whenever they need it.”—Bryon BrockwayFor our first bonus episode for Texas Monthly audio subscribers, we’re sharing an extended cut of the undercover audio Red recorded for the FBI, as he tried to get Adam Carey and Bryon Brockway to talk about the murders of Bill Lanway and Holly Williams. Red, you’ll recall, is the alias we used in the show for one of the security operatives hired by Erik Maund, who left Nashville before…

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

The Problem with Erik Bonus episode 1This is a bonus episode available to TM Audio subscribers only. Connect access to your TM Audio feed to the podcast player of your choice here. To troubleshoot any issues, access the FAQ here. Read the transcript below.“I love helping out people, man. Because everybody gets in a shitty situation, and I want to be there to help them whenever they need it.”—Bryon BrockwayFor our first bonus episode for Texas Monthly audio subscribers, we’re sharing an extended cut of the undercover audio Red recorded for the FBI, as he tried to get Adam Carey and Bryon Brockway to talk about the murders of Bill Lanway and Holly Williams. Red, you’ll recall, is the alias we used in the show for one of the security operatives hired by Erik Maund, who left Nashville before…

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

The Renaming of Robert E. Lee Elementary Started a Civil War in My NeighborhoodIt’s been almost a decade since the Austin elementary school my kids attended, the school formerly known as Robert E. Lee Elementary, was the site of an early skirmish in the latest round of American culture wars. From 2015 to 2016, I was in the center of it all, along with my wife and a small group of similarly liberal and left-wing parents who organized to change the school’s name to something less awful.I’ve been thinking about that experience lately, in part because we’re at a potential inflection point in the broader arc of the culture wars. The more extreme manifestations of the “woke” movement have passed their peak, while the right-wing backlash is at full force, leaving us with something like the inverse of…

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Glen Powell and his dog Brisket“Hot Glen Summer” this. “The Glenaissance” that. For everyone who’s joining Glen Powell’s online fandom—welcome. Although it’s been six years since he appeared in the romantic comedy Set It Up, capturing hearts and minds with a role that showed off his undeniable charm and introduced him as a legit Hollywood hunk, it seems the former child star is suddenly getting his flowers.Glen’s variety of celebrity isn’t new to Texans. We’ve seen it in Taylor Kitsch’s portrayal of Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights, a young Patrick Swayze in, well, anything, Twister star Bill Paxton, Jensen Ackles in Supernatural, and notably, Matthew McConaughey, a guy Glen is often compared to. It’s the quintessential frat boy (Sigma Phi Epsilon) type, who grew up in West Texas (almost true: Glen graduated from Austin’s Westwood High) and has…

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How to dress for triple digit heatThe bright side of summer in Texas is that we don’t have to look up the weather to know what to wear. We know each new day from June to September will be another scorcher, and last year’s inferno, the second-hottest Texas summer on record, is still emblazoned in our memories. Sky-high temperatures loom around every corner, and it’s not just your imagination that the humidity is rising. You might prefer to look like naked Oppenheimer at home all summer, but sometimes it’s necessary to leave the house in clothes. Shorts and tank tops are popular go-tos, but considering long-sleeved construction workers or the robes and turbans worn by many desert-dwelling folks, what exactly is the best type of clothing to wear in high temps? Is…

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Watermelon salsa with chipsIn my opinion, salsas are defined by the chile that lends them heat. Jalapeños are nice and mild; serranos give the perfect amount of kick; and dried chiles or chipotle en adobo bring a roasty earthiness.So what about habaneros? They—rightfully—have a reputation for sky-high heat. But if you only consider their Scoville units, you’re missing what these little orange chiles have to offer. You might be surprised to hear habaneros also have a lovely sweetness to them, somewhat reminiscent of a carrot, and an amazing floral scent (just don’t take too big a whiff). These flavors come out nicely in fermented hot sauces, but you can also play them up by emphasizing their natural sweetness. Thus, fruit is a common pairing for habaneros, and this combination is…

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