Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our July/August 2026 Issue
A note from the editor-in-chief
The Issue
Loon Star State: Insurrection Infection
It never ends.
Waves of Abandonment
The Permian Basin is ground zero for a billion-dollar surge of zombie oil wells.
Texas Activists Took Their Fight Against a Natural Gas Project Abroad—And They’re Winning
The Texas Railroad Commission’s about-face on natural gas flaring can be partially linked to pressure from European companies concerned about Texas’ dirty gas.
A New Group of Sexual Assault Survivors in Texas is Seeking Systemic Reform
“To make change we have to sit in that trauma and feel like it just happened, [revisiting times] we could have been helped by someone, but we were just let down by the system and by others.”
Captivity Narrative
"News of the World" unsuccessfully tries to redeem the Western at its most harmful.
Strangest State: A Mysterious Monolith and a Fat Cat
The latest from far-flung Texas.
Editorial: Defund the Constables
The office of constable may have made sense back when Texas was a sprawling frontier. Instead, constables basically now run their own little personal fiefdoms.
On a Dime
The rules of barrel racing, the only female-dominated rodeo sport, are simple. It’s the execution that’s hard.
‘Truly Texas Mexican’ Bites Off More Than It Can Chew
A new food documentary fails to recognize the complexities of Indigenous identity in Texas.