If you're thinking "what do the Crusades have to do with the Texas Railroad Commission," then good news, you are not alone:

On Monday @freshparsley.bsky.social won the Pulitzer Prize for his feature last year about his family and the flood last year. Coincidentally, this week was our last week of print production for the June issue, featuring this follow-up story by Aaron, on the months since the flood.

McLennan County has successfully prosecuted Marian Fraser twice for the death of a four-month-old girl. It plans to try her a third time. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/marian-fraser-conviction-reversed-again/

Coming May 26, the seven-episode series is hosted by Pulitzer Prize–winner Aaron Parsley and explores a journey of survival, loss, grief, and healing after the July 4 Central Texas floods. More on 'Where the River Took Us': https://www.texasmonthly.com/press-room/announcement-flood-podcast/

"We hope this story reminds all leaders how fraught it is—how devastating it can be—to mix religion, politics, and a lust for power," writes editor in chief Ross McCammon, on Robert Downen's "The Judgement of Paul Pressler." https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-stand-up-desk/editors-letter-may-2026/

Texas Monthly senior editor Aaron Parsley has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, for his heartrending, first-person account of his family’s fight for survival during last year’s devastating Central Texas floods.

This story has everything: patriarchy. Homophobia. Biblical inerrancy. And don’t sleep on the white supremacy either. “It was like Gettysburg,” [Pressler] said [of his struggle to root liberals out of the SBC]. “But this time the right side won.”

The new piece by @robertdownen.bsky.social on Paul Pressler and the SBC is indeed incredible. It is a must-read and expertly details how and why the nation's largest Protestant denomination is what it is today, and how that affects the entire nation.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: This week, Mark and Ben are joined by journalist @robertdownen.bsky.social to discuss his exclusive article in #Texas Monthly on the sexual abuse allegations made against disgraced #SouthernBaptist icon Paul Pressler. Click here to listen now: apple.co/4cQ5RDT

Absolutely remarkable deep dive on the legacy of Paul Pressler, a man who can largely take credit for reshaping American Christianity into the GOP's image, and all while skirting accountability for a horrifying trail of alleged child sex abuse. Harrowing read. Spectacular reporting.

You can spend your whole life in Southern Baptist churches and not know how the faith group got here. @robertdownen.bsky.social spent nearly a decade uncovering just that. Set aside some time to read this. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Paul Pressler is one of the most influential figures you may have never heard of. The onetime judge remade the Southern Baptist Convention, and helped forge the marriage between the GOP and white evangelical voters. As he did so he also committed decades of alleged abuses. A long look at his legacy:

The man who delivered Texas to the GOP is now one of its chief targets. What gives? https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republicans-turn-on-george-w-bush/

“Paxton can make one charge that is more powerful than anything Cornyn can pin on Ken, and which may well push the attorney general over the line on May 26: John Cornyn was in office twenty years ago.” —great analysis on state of Texas Rs by @hooks.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

The old missions of TX were complex spaces. The Spanish soldiers weren't likely European but probably criollo or mestizo. Some Indigenous families were forcibly relocated. Others voluntarily found shelter there. Some commanders were lascivious. And so much more. www.texasmonthly.com/travel/forgo...

San Antonians take great care in deciding what to wear to the annual Battle of Flowers Parade. Their outfits are as colorful as the cascarón confetti that blankets the sidewalks. 🦋🌈✨🌸🪇🏵️ https://www.texasmonthly.com/culture/fiesta-fashion-photos-gowns-hats-flowers/

saying farewell to the large red man who helped ruin society www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

A great dispatch from the Texas border, where Texas Republicans, led by AG Ken Paxton, have targeted a key nemesis of the far right and Christian nationalists: Catholic Charities.

While the battle of words between Trump and Pope Leo reached an inflection point over the past week, it’s worth looking back at the long history of Republican leaders’ attacks on Catholic social teaching. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Patients reported strange gurgling sounds in their throats, painful hiccups, and a deathly fear of vomiting. "If you just know the questions to ask,” Dr. Bastian said, "the diagnosis just announces itself in neon lights and fireworks.” @texasmonthly.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

back on the godbeat www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

"If only I were that cow, I think, I, too, could launch a flare into the Texas night." This story, about @sashavonawesome.bsky.social's quest to learn to burp, is so good.

"Why are people who've never been to Big Bend going to tell us how to solve a crisis that doesn't exist?" In far West Texas, landowners say a proposed border wall could upend their lives--and they're struggling to get answers. @texasmonthly.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Battered by nightmares, survivor’s guilt, and life-altering grief, many Mystic campers want to return to the very place that traumatized them. Now the question of whether or not the camp will reopen is ending lifelong friendships between parents and fueling a growing rift in the community.

A heartrending, sensitively told account of the two factions that have formed around the question of Camp Mystic's future. by @peterjholley.bsky.social in @texasmonthly.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

“If I stand where they stood when they passed on, I feel like I’m connecting with heaven.” —10yo Mystic camper She’s one of hundreds of girls and parents who want the camp to reopen, a decision that’s ripping apart a community. ✍️ by @peterjholley.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

A Texas businessman believes he was divinely chosen to help usher in the Second Coming of Christ—by finding unblemished red heifers and getting them to Israel. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/red-heifer-prophecy-texas-ranch-byron-stinson/

Since 2024, Dems have been focused on how to win back an enigmatic set of voters: young bros. Ben Rowen checks in on how they’re doing. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

"Rehmet believed the core message of his campaign—working-class solidarity—could be the glue in a winning coalition of unions, progressives, blue-collar voters, and disaffected Republicans. Early analysis indicates just how much that was true."

ICYMI: This Saturday, progressive Taylor Rehmet squares off against a billionaire-funded Christian nationalist for a +17 Trump state senate seat in Tarrant County, a hub of the far right. Rehmet already over-performed, and is confident he’s on the verge of a stunning upset in a bellwether county.

Anyways, did you know that for $25 a year - yes, a year - Texas Monthly will send 12 print issues anywhere in the country, and give you full access to our daily digital content + 50 years of archives? Truly, we are the best deal in journalism. subscription.texasmonthly.com/pubs/TZ/TXP/...

“The political questions facing Texas A&M are the most important questions facing the nation as a whole," writes Christoper Hooks. Inside state leaders’ efforts to remake one of our finest institutions: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/meltdown-at-texas-a-m-university/

If you’re looking for the definitive story on the mess @ Texas A&M, one of our state’s finest institutions (regardless of the long history of feelings my Longhorn family, and this Baylor Bear may have), we pubbed our Feb cover story by @hooks.bsky.social early— www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

From the compa @jherrerx.bsky.social for @texasmonthly.bsky.social: "In the year since Trump has taken back the White House, border crossings have not stopped. What’s changed are the types of border crossings the Border Patrol is seeing."

Outside the Texas family detention center where U.S. Representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett went to check on five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, a quiet protest found its voice. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/dilley-detention-jasmine-crockett-joaquin-castro/

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has boasted that border crossings have dropped to zero. That’s not true. https://www.texasmonthly.com/article/who-is-still-crossing-the-border-trump-noem-buoys/

”The outsized religious presence was deliberate. Several had just returned from Minneapolis, where ministers have led many of the organized protests. 'We hope that the presence of clergy reminds these agents of the state of their better natures.'” www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Right after pubbing this story on ICE releasing refugees from Minnesota onto the streets of Houston and El Paso, and the refugees' lawsuit, we learned that a fed judge granted a TRO—blocking new refugee detentions and ordering release of those in custody. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Union-backed Dem Taylor Rehmet nearly pulled off a stunning upset in November — almost winning a deep-red TX Senate seat over two billionaire-funded Republicans. He's now in a runoff with a fixture of the Texas far right. My latest, from Tarrant County, a bellwether and hub of Christian nationalism:

In a runoff election for Texas Senate District 9, which has not elected a Democrat since 1991, Taylor Rehmet is betting his pro-labor message can flip disillusioned voters. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/tarrant-county-senate-race-taylor-rehmet-seeks-upset/

A few other quick shots from the protest:

Saying Texas isn't a Republican state it's a nonvoting state is cope www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

"Could this strange, wise boy with the gentle cadence of a preacher be the one to deliver Democrats from damnation? Or at least from decades of unabated loserdom?" Great profile of James Talarico via @allegrahobbs.bsky.social

"In Mexico and Central America, new mothers are given the drink, which is traditionally believed to help stimulate breast milk production. After a death, it’s often served to mourners during the nine days of praying the rosary."

Esther Phillips was singing and recording country music long before Beyonce or Mickey Guyton were even born. Here’s the story of the greatest country album you’ve never heard. www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta... @texasmonthly.bsky.social

He went in search of a better life for his family. His brother refused to let him go alone. Only one of them survived the journey. Inside the deadliest immigration-related disaster in American history: https://www.texasmonthly.com/interactive/san-antonio-53-migrant-deaths/

According to a memo obtained by Texas Monthly, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is behind changes to the new museum’s narration of slavery, Native Americans, and colonialism. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/alamo-rewrite-dan-patrick/

The humans love him, and so do the canines. What happened when ICE took Seyre Mussa Traore away: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/austin-dog-trainer-asylum-seeker-detained-by-ice/