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Shortly after being sworn into office in the early morning of January 1, Houston mayor John Whitmire went on a ride-along with police chief Troy Finner. After making public safety the central issue of his election campaign, the 74-year-old politician appeared eager to get to work. But as Finner turned onto Houston Avenue, a busy thoroughfare northwest of downtown, the police chief seemed more interested in discussing street design. He pointed out a series of concrete medians that had been installed the previous month as part of a so-called “road diet” that reduced the number of lanes from six to four. Finner told the mayor that the changes, intended to slow down traffic and give pedestrians a place to pause while crossing the street, were…

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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.

Of all the places to watch Monday’s total solar eclipse, Eagle Pass is, astronomically and meteorologically speaking, the best in the country. Located close to the center line of the path of totality, it will fall into shadow for 4 minutes and 23 seconds—about 4 seconds shy of the longest duration anywhere in the United States. The border town’s weather historically has been clear in April, and it’s the first place in the country to experience the eclipse.Preparing to seize its upcoming moment in the sun—or, rather, out of it—the city of 28,000 in 2022 started planning a major music festival to celebrate the event. Locals listed spare rooms on vacation rental sites, built campgrounds, and printed T-shirts to sell. “I remember one of my coworkers said,…

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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 Texas Public Policy Foundation, a right-wing think tank with ties to the state’s most powerful politicians and political donors, has long lobbied legislators to abolish property taxes. So far, this effort has failed. But TPPF has succeeded in another ambitious goal: ducking its own property taxes.For the past decade, Texas Monthly has learned, the think tank hasn’t paid a single dollar in taxes on its lavish, limestone-fronted, six-story headquarters, just two blocks from the Capitol in downtown Austin. The building’s appraised value is $18 million. How did TPPF manage this feat? Under state law, exemption from property taxes is reserved only for some nonprofit organizations, including orphan-aid groups and animal shelters. A well-funded think tank that promotes the interests of the oil-and-gas industry and undermines…

The post “A Misuse of the Law”: How a Right-wing Texas Think Tank Ducked Its Property Taxes appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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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.

Old 97’s released their debut album, Hitchhike to Rhome, thirty years ago. Since then, the band’s lives have changed a lot—back in 1994, they were young hell-raisers in their early twenties, tearing up Deep Ellum and rising out of a Dallas scene that included the Reverend Horton Heat, Toadies, and Tripping Daisy, with a country-meets-punk-rock sound so fresh the name for it hadn’t even been coined yet. Over the years, those circumstances changed. Their music came to be known as “alt-country,” and the nineties major-label feeding frenzy saw them feted by folks with deep pockets. They signed with Elektra Records, recorded three albums that didn’t make the label much money, then returned to their indie roots. Hell-raising turned to heck-raising as the band members got married,…

The post Rhett Miller Ranks Every Old 97’s Album  appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Perhaps there is no surer sign of the impending apocalypse than Texas Democrats voting for Ted Cruz. And yet, consider energy expert Marty McVey. The fifty-year-old bespectacled Houstonian, who sports slicked-back brown hair, has voted in all but one Democratic primary. But in the fall of 2022, he listened to Cruz speak to a few dozen energy-industry insiders at a conference in Washington, D.C., about the importance of the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. “He should be talking about this more,” McVey recalled thinking. “I was surprised. I just couldn’t find something I disagreed with him on—at least as it related to energy policy.” Afterwards, McVey shook Cruz’s hand and thanked him. He remembers Cruz taking a moment to chat with him.McVey ran…

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