Best Thing in Texas
July 2, 2024
Texans Swept the National Spanish Spelling Bee
The top three finishers were all Texans—including champion Antonietta Perozo Gamero, who won with the word “jovialidad.”
Best Thing in Texas
Reminders of why we love our state so much.
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1-50 of 156 Articles
Best Thing in Texas
July 1, 2024
Two Texas Pitmasters Will Compete on the Third Season of Netflix’s ‘Barbecue Showdown’
Kareem El-Ghayesh and Sloan Rinaldi represent different takes on Texas barbecue as they cook their way to winning $50,000.
Best Thing in Texas
June 21, 2024
A Deadly Virus Was Killing Elephants, So Texas Scientists Created a Vaccine
Tess, a forty-year-old elephant at the Houston Zoo, just received the first dose.
Best Thing in Texas
June 5, 2024
An Instant Classic in the Texas Softball State Championship
Weslaco High’s dramatic last-inning rally, sealed with a walk-off grand slam, made history for the Rio Grande Valley school.
Best Thing in Texas
June 5, 2024
The Rest of America Has Realized the Greatness of Dr Pepper
The beverage, which was created and first served in Waco, overtook Pepsi as America’s second-most-popular soft drink.
Best Thing in Texas
May 20, 2024
The Mavericks’ Frisco Kid Propels Dallas to the NBA Western Conference Finals
Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington, a former North Texas high school star prospect, has stepped up big-time in the NBA Playoffs.
Best Thing in Texas
May 7, 2024
Four Years After COVID Canceled Prom, College Kids at Sam Houston State Got a Second Chance
After performing in the musical ‘The Prom,‘ theater students threw the party they never had—and invited everyone.
Best Thing in Texas
April 15, 2024
Boban Marjanović, Hero, Missed a Free Throw So NBA Fans Could Have Free Chicken
The Houston Rockets backup center waved to the crowd and said “Chicken’s on me!” before clanking the shot that guaranteed fans Chick-fil-A.
Best Thing in Texas
March 7, 2024
A Rare “Lost Bird” Was Feared Extinct. Texas Scientists Just Found It in the Congo.
The yellow-crested helmetshrike hadn’t been seen in decades—and it wasn't the only little-known species spotted by a UT–El Paso team.
Best Thing in Texas
March 5, 2024
A Texas Seventh Grader Was Crowned the Winner of Food Network’s ‘Kids Baking Championship’
Lila Smethurst of San Antonio won season twelve of the competition show, taking home $25,000 for an extravagant chocolate cake.
Best Thing in Texas
February 7, 2024
A Texas Photojournalist Is Honored for His Heart-wrenching Portraits of Grief
Tamir Kalifa has received the 2024 American Mosaic Journalism Prize for his work documenting the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting.
Best Thing in Texas
December 11, 2023
Why Andrew Murr’s Doomed Impeachment Prosecution Was a Win for Texas
The representative who led the prosecution of Attorney General Ken Paxton brushed off death threats as he investigated corruption by fellow Republicans.
Best Thing in Texas
December 11, 2023
The Best Things in Texas, 2024
For every grifter or demagogue who stunk up the state last year, a thousand Texans strove for greatness.
Best Thing in Texas
December 11, 2023
Why Rural Republicans Defied Greg Abbott and Put Their Communities First
All through the voucher fight, these 21 members of the Texas House of Representatives prioritized public schools.
Best Thing in Texas
December 5, 2023
A Texas Elementary School Might Have a Grammy in the Trophy Case Soon
Vicki Nichols, a music teacher at Grandview Elementary, has been nominated for the award for her innovative strings program.
Best Thing in Texas
November 14, 2023
A Guy in Grapevine Had the Best Hike Ever: He Discovered a New Dinosaur.
Roughly the weight of a standard schnauzer, the plant-eating dino roamed North Texas 96 million years ago.
Best Thing in Texas
November 10, 2023
A Texas Teen Is Introducing Pedal Steel Guitar to a New Generation
Noah Faulkner’s popular twangy covers countrify songs by Duran Duran, Joy Division, U2, and more.
Best Thing in Texas
November 10, 2023
A Texas Marathoner With Down Syndrome Logs Another Historic Run
A viral video of Austin’s Kayleigh Williamson completing the New York City Marathon last weekend inspired athletes from coast to coast.
Best Thing in Texas
October 10, 2023
Hats Off to the Arctic Cowboys, Who Just Became the First Paddlers to Cross the Northwest Passage
The Texas-based kayaking team completed the 1,600-mile journey over 83 grueling days.
Best Thing in Texas
September 25, 2023
We Salute the Houston Woman Who Solved a 40,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
It took her almost four years.
Best Thing in Texas
September 22, 2023
Watch This HS Field Goal Sail Through the Open Window of a Passing Car
Trick-shot professionals could practice a shot like this for years and never land it as cleanly as the Gordon Longhorns kicker.
Best Thing in Texas
September 6, 2023
Tallyho to Tally the Texas Sea Turtle, Whose 4,000-Mile Journey Has a Happy Ending
After washing up on the coast of Wales, she was nursed back to health, flown home to Texas, and then released in Galveston.
Best Thing in Texas
August 30, 2023
Four Rare Baby Crocodilians Just Hatched at the Fort Worth Zoo
Congrats to new parents Raani, Snaggle, and Big Boy—and the zookeepers who worked for years to help bring their toothy babies into being.
Best Thing in Texas
August 14, 2023
The Top Moments From a Very Texas Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
After a night of hilarious and emotional speeches, Becky Hammon, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, and Gregg Popovich are all Hall of Famers.
Best Thing in Texas
July 13, 2023
The McNay Art Museum’s “Unhinged” Threads Account Is Our New Favorite Thing
The San Antonio museum is delighting Texans (and finding new fans nationwide) on the new social media platform.
Best Thing in Texas
July 11, 2023
A Texas Novelist Couldn’t Find His Audience. Then Came BookTok.
Shawn Warner was at an empty book signing for ‘Leigh Howard and the Ghosts of Simmons-Pierce Manor’ when a Fort Worth TikToker took notice. The rest is history.
Best Thing in Texas
July 10, 2023
A Texas Oak Tree Was Believed to Be Extinct. Now It’s Making a Comeback.
Twelve years after the last known Quercus tardifolia disappeared, conservationists at the San Antonio Botanical Garden are bringing the species back.
Best Thing in Texas
June 29, 2023
A Texas Family Passed Up Millions to Turn Their Ranch Into a Nature Preserve
The conservation victory at Honey Creek relied on “the goodness of those people’s hearts,” says one environmentalist.
Best Thing in Texas
May 11, 2023
We Salute Buddy Holly, Westminster’s Prizewinning Pup (and an Honorary Texan)
He's from California, but we're still proud of him and his namesake.
Best Thing in Texas
May 2, 2023
A Dallas Cowboys Scout Got to Draft His Own Son
Chris Vaughn, the team’s assistant director of college scouting, shared the good news with sixth-round pick Deuce Vaughn.
Best Thing in Texas
April 12, 2023
The First HBCU to Win the D1 Cheerleading Nationals Is From Houston
Texas Southern University's cheer team went to the competition confident they'd come home champions. Mission accomplished.
Best Thing in Texas
April 10, 2023
The Hill Country Is Getting a 367-Acre Nature Preserve, Thanks to a Generous Landowner
Monarch butterflies and painted buntings are among the species that flock there.
Best Thing in Texas
March 29, 2023
Let’s Just Move This Year’s Basketball Hall of Fame Induction to Texas
Mavs great Dirk Nowitzki, along with four San Antonio Spurs—Gregg Popovich, Becky Hammon, Tony Parker, and Pau Gasol—headline the 2023 class.
Best Thing in Texas
March 22, 2023
Congratulations to Mr. Pickles, the Houston Zoo’s Elderly Tortoise, on Becoming a Dad
He and Mrs. Pickles are the proud parents of three new hatchlings.
Best Thing in Texas
February 23, 2023
A Texas Professor Has Cured Hiccups, Folks
No, it doesn't involve a spoonful of sugar.
Best Thing in Texas
January 3, 2023
The Butter King of Corpus Christi Deserves a Raise
He serves popcorn with panache.
Best Thing in Texas
December 21, 2022
Folks in Boerne Bought Hundreds of Poinsettias to Support a Struggling Garden Shop
That’s the holiday spirit, y’all.
Best Thing in Texas
December 20, 2022
A Texan Donated a Kidney to a Stranger 1,600 Miles Away. Now, “We Are Family.”
Heather Schaefer saw a desperate Facebook plea. Six months later, she had two new members of her extended family—and one less kidney.
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas, 2023
2022 was an up-and-down year—well, maybe more downs than ups—but Texas, as ever, brought out the best from scatological artists, beastly athletes, game-show brainiacs, natural-born nature lovers, and costumed Samaritans.
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas 2023: The Texans Vaccinating the World
Houstonians Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi have created a COVID vaccine that’s saving millions of lives in developing nations.
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas 2023: The Most Inspiring Educator In the Country
Barbara Yarbrough has taught and volunteered in Midland since segregation—and has won national recognition at age 87.
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas 2023: The Best NBA Coach Ever
Gregg Popovich, of the San Antonio Spurs, became the winningest coach in NBA history, but that’s just one of several eye-popping facts from his extraordinary career.
Best Thing in Texas
November 2, 2022
CrossFit Star Dani Speegle Handles 215-Pound Logs Like Pick-Up Sticks
The CrossFit athlete and #GirlsWhoEat impresario stole the show at the annual Rogue Invitational in Round Rock.
Best Thing in Texas
October 10, 2022
Coach Pop, Manu, and the San Antonio Spurs Bring Smiles to Uvalde
Spurs legends past and present reminded residents that they haven't been forgotten in the months since the shooting at Robb Elementary.
Best Thing in Texas
August 10, 2022
At the Little League World Series, Texas and Oklahoma Hug and Make Up
There was crying in baseball after a Pearland pitcher beaned a Tulsa batter on Tuesday. What happened next might restore one’s faith in humanity.
Best Thing in Texas
July 6, 2022
It Takes a Village: San Antonio Shows Up to Celebrate a Local Teen’s Birthday
For Demauriae Bennett, turning fourteen has never looked better.
Best Thing in Texas
June 28, 2022
The Little Turtles That Could: 45 Endangered Sea Turtles Hatch in Texas
“It really is one of the greatest wildlife-conservation successes of our time here in Texas.”
Best Thing in Texas
June 27, 2022
An Indiana Man Put a (Smoke) Ring on It at Franklin Barbecue
A road trip from the Midwest to Austin culminated in Matt McKinney on bended knee in the pit room of the most famous joint in Texas.
Best Thing in Texas
June 3, 2022
Texas’s Run of National Spelling Bee Dominance Continues
Harini Logan claimed the top spot last night, making her the seventh Texan spelling bee champ in the last ten years. T-E-X-A-S!
Best Thing in Texas
May 16, 2022
How ’Bout Them Mavs?
An all-time-great game seven offers a hint of how high Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks can fly in the 2022 NBA playoffs.