America’s Second Richest City Is … Midland?

Writing in the Atlantic today, Derek Thompson reports from recently released data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that Midland — not Washington, D.C. or San Francisco, but a 110,000-person speck of dust out in West Texas — is the country’s second richest city, per capita. It might well be…

Legislators Begin Push to Legalize Gambling in Texas

We’ve officially known it was coming for a couple of months now, and we’ve assumed as much since forever, but yesterday marked the first official volley in the biennial battle to legalize gambling in Texas. State Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, filed a resolution yesterday that proposes a constitutional amendment –…

The Sad, Absurd Chronicle of Incompetence at the Alamo

It’s something of a head-scratcher why the Texas Legislature decided in 1905 to entrust the Daughters of the Republic of Texas with the care and preservation of the Alamo, site of one of the fiercest — and most pivotal — battles of the Texas war for independence. The DRT is…

Scratch That: Twinkies Are Dead Again

America let out a collective sigh of relief on Monday, when Hostess and its striking union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International, agreed to mediation talks, staving off liquidation — and the possible but not very likely demise of the Twinkie — for at least a day…