Cover
Scared/Silly
A local gun rights group says it carries loaded semi-automatic rifles in public to show it’s ludicrous. Others agree with the ludicrous part.CHRISTIAN MCPHATE
In a Home Depot parking lot near AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a small group of people, mostly in their mid- to late 20s, stand by pickup trucks filled with flags. It’s a Saturday afternoon in late September, and they’re g...
A Crisis in Care
Profound changes may be coming for Texas’ mental health services and its whole healthcare bureaucracy.EDWARD BROWN
Texas’ massive health services agency, which oversees the state’s psychiatric hospitals and many other aspects of healthcare, is failing to do its job. Its aging hospitals are in crisis and short of staff, and patients ar...
Bad Air Day
Around North Texas parks and playgrounds, children are breathing dangerous doses of toxic fumes from gas industry sites.PETER GORMAN W/ PHOTOS BY LEE CHASTAIN
On a crisp Saturday morning, Delga Park, just north of downtown Fort Worth, was beautiful. The deep blue sky was spattered with cumulus clouds, and birds flitted among shade trees at one end of the park, sandwiched between I-35...
Welcome to Best Of 2014
GAYLE REAVES-KINGThis, our Best Of 2014 issue, is like a telethon for a good cause, except that you don’t have to listen to people in tuxedos and ruffled shirts begging for your money. And you can read it at your leisure (please do), and it d...
A Script For Texas
An investment banker assembles money, talent, and backing to shoot Windsor in North Texas.STORY AND PHOTOS BY JEFF PRINCE
The upstairs dining room buzzed with hungry patrons at Amelia’s Attic, an antique store on the Gainesville town square. The customers were drenched in sweat and a bit smelly. Some wore prison uniforms marred by dirt and grass...
The Other End of the Pipeline
On the Texas coast, natural gas export development threatens the tourist economy.DAVID ROBLEDO
I’m kayaking the bay that separates Port Isabel and South Padre Island when a large dorsal fin breaks the water. Another fin surfaces, and several more. My heart skips a few beats. And it looks like I’m surrounded … by on...
General Rick’s Hospital
The governor’s refusal to expand Medicaid coverage in Texas is costing lives and — even closer to his heart — jobs.PETER GORMAN
Patters Barnes works two jobs, running the register at a retail store and cooking at a fast-food restaurant in Dallas. Neither employer provides her with health insurance, but they do influence her healthcare choices: Combined,...
Two Futures for Lake Worth
Dredging has brought new life and new questions for the 100-year-old reservoir.JEFF PRINCE
A silvery fish jumps in the air, curls toward the sun, and lands with a splashy smack before disappearing back into the water. Not an uncommon occurrence at a lake, until you consider that this happened last week near the south...
Tequila and Tater Salad
Comedians Ron White and Alex Reymundo’s friendship has led to this: a Fort Worth company that imports top-flight tequila.ERIC GRIFFEY W/ PHOTOS BY BRIAN HUTSON
The interior of Will Rogers Memorial Center went dark. A man in black walked hurriedly toward two empty stools that stood center stage. He placed a silver bucket filled with ice on one; on the other he carefully rested a bottle...
A Degree in Debt
Attempted reforms haven’t changed all that much in Texas’ for-profit college industry.STEVE MILLER
Five days a week, Robert Rowlett heads off to work at his $7.75-an-hour job with the City of Dallas’ sanitation division. From his roughly $310 a week in take-home pay, he sets aside whatever he can to pay down the $25,000 st...