I finally made time to read this. It's been said a thousand times over, but it is devastating. I cried. It was terrifying and it was moving. If you read one thing about the Texas floods, make it this.

ICYMI I work hard for the tacos. Sometimes it knocks me down, but I always get back up, or how to be a taco editor. texasmonthly.com/food/managing-…

NEW from me: Jacob's Well is dying & Hays County is running out of water. So why did Greg Abbott veto a bill addressing the crisis? My story dives into the murky waters of property rights, GOP infighting & dangerously weak laws governing groundwater. texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

Read the story here: texasmonthly.com/arts-entertain…

NEW: Trump's hiring freeze scuttled a key, federally-funded role in Texas's emergency response apparatus. The person was selected in Jan. and would've been in place Texas Division of Emergency Management well ahead of the July floods. Their job: help translate warnings into action. texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

Moving story by @BekahMcNeel: Sixteen Hours, Two Flights, and a Pastor on Call: How One Texas Woman Found Abortion Care texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

‘Sixteen Hours, Two Flights, and a Pastor on Call’ Read Bekah McNeel on Tubman Travel Project, a nonprofit that accompanies Texans every step of the way as they find abortion care outside the state, where there's a near-total ban on the procedure. texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

While many abortion funds help w travel out of state—a practice under scrutiny in Texas—“there is also the social, emotional, and spiritual component” of the experience, Rev. Ferguson says. That's where her group of volunteers steps in. via Bekah McNeel texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

NEW: With redistricting done, the Texas GOP is ramping up its powergrab. Leaders want to further gerrymander the state to target "DEI districts," and are pushing drastic changes to who can run or vote in primaries. One rep called it a "hostile takeover." texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

"A city is really not that complex—it’s about roads, parks, police, and firefighters." Good read from Texas Monthly: texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

NEW: So, *three* churches used an AI-generated audio clip of Charlie Kirk in services this weekend. It's part of surge of AI-generated remembrances of Kirk, as MAGA-world's embrace of the technology supercharges a new kind of public memorialization. religionnews.com/2025/09/17/cha…

“When I began to ask what motivated his efforts, whether the hill he’d die on was ‘God or country,’ he quickly interrupted: ‘Guns.’ The 2nd Amendment, he said, is the one that allows us to preserve the First—that allows for ‘good guys’ to maintain order.” texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

New from me: Camp Mystic is reopening, and planning to build a memorial that families of the 27 girls who died there say they were not consulted about and do not want. nytimes.com/2025/09/23/us/…

Guy at Baylor did this, class to class, my entire four years there.

“How did you know when you ‘made it?’” For me, it was when the NoZe Brotherhood paper The Rope satirized one of my articles in The Lariat, Baylor’s student paper. Enjoy this incredible romp from my colleague JK Nickell as he becomes an honorary brother texasmonthly.com/articles/baylo…

In the wake of political violence and deepening division, high-profile Christian leaders—and church congregants—are pressuring pastors to take a stand from the pulpit. texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

"Religion doesn’t live outside of politics. It lives downstream.” Charlie Kirk's death has fueled new pressure on churches to not only speak on politics - but reaffirm what their congregants already believe. I spoke to one pastor caught in the middle. texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…

David Barton, a debunked amateur historian and political activist, will now advise Texas education leaders as they revise social studies courses. It's just one piece of an ongoing, and increasingly open, push into public schools by Christian nationalists. texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…