Muscovy Ducks Are Protected in Parts of Texas. A Houston Subdivision Is Debating Their Slaughter.
The birds have been waddling around the Copper Grove neighborhood for years, but now some residents are crying fowl.
Peter Holley is a seventh-generation Texan and a native Austinite who writes about news and culture across the state of Texas. Before joining Texas Monthly, he was a staff writer at the Washington Post, where he reported on breaking national and international news. Holley has reported from Afghanistan and Iraq and spent a year working for an English-language newspaper in Lahore, Pakistan. He earned a BA in pre-law from American University in Washington, D.C., and holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City. His writing has appeared in the San Antonio Express-News, the New York Post, Newsday, Columbia Journalism Review, the Houston Chronicle, and the New York Times.
The birds have been waddling around the Copper Grove neighborhood for years, but now some residents are crying fowl.
By Peter Holley
A list of some of those from the Lone Star State who gathered in Washington, D.C., on January 6.
By Sierra Juarez and Peter Holley
The retailer sits 200 yards from Deaf Smith County’s largest hospital. Local officials and public health experts worry that the store isn’t enforcing safety precautions.
By Peter Holley
With Trump ramping up efforts to construct the border wall, South Texans say the effort has been stripped to its essence: “It’s basically just big government taking Texas land.”
By Peter Holley
The COVID Community Court has helped enforce social distancing and wearing of masks. But some undergrads say the feeling of being watched has become another cost of the pandemic.
By Peter Holley
Follow writer Peter Holley as he explores some of the city's traditional-medicine and faith-healing establishments.
By Peter Holley
The county’s decision to open eight locations for round-the-clock early voting drew workers too busy to vote during the day—and others eager to send a message about voter suppression.
By Peter Holley
In his new teaching role at the University of Houston, the straight-talking music mogul promises students a primer on success and celebrity.
By Peter Holley
His friends, both Black and white, confront the reality of police brutality in their quiet hometown.
By Peter Holley
The Dallas salon owner who rose to fame for defying shutdown orders is still campaigning to “reopen” Texas.
By Peter Holley
As COVID-19 spreads, some Hispanic San Antonians are relying on sage, psychics, and prayer.
By Peter Holley
Terence O'Rourke has spent a decade warning officials that a storm making landfall directly in Galveston Bay could be much worse than even Harvey.
By Peter Holley
Six months ago, Nuro was still making a name for itself. Now, thousands of Houstonians rely on the autonomous delivery service to help them avoid getting the coronavirus.
By Peter Holley
Pressed by Texas Monthly, the department confirmed that Nicholas Gebhart was the officer who fired a beanbag round at the 16-year-old, leaving him with brain damage.
By Peter Holley
The musicians in Midland, a popular country band, have entered the conversation about gentrification in the worst possible way.
By Peter Holley
The message arrives at a time when anxious Houston teachers are deciding whether to return to classrooms as COVID-19 surges.
By Peter Holley
Facing a runoff to become the GOP candidate for a congressional district south of Houston, Wall is putting her personal wealth—but not much shoe leather—into her campaign.
By Peter Holley
As public health experts warn that ICUs in the city might soon be overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, shops and restaurants remain packed.
By Peter Holley
Taye Johnson has been demonstrating outside Austin police headquarters with a message informed by his own service.
By Peter Holley
They thought they’d be treating heat exhaustion this weekend. Then police started firing rubber bullets and beanbag rounds.
By Peter Holley
A month ago Philip Archibald was a frustrated small business owner locked inside his Dallas home. Now he commands a heavily armed network of anti-lockdown vigilantes, some with extremist leanings.
By Peter Holley
Karan Janes was trying to keep her mom safe when she placed her inside a Brenham elder care facility, but then it was struck by a major coronavirus outbreak.
By Peter Holley
After Greg Abbott's executive order deemed the industry essential, workers have been struggling to abide by health protocols.
By Peter Holley
Two Texas researchers believe they may already have one locked inside a Houston freezer.
By Peter Holley
A new study suggests that, even in communities with few confirmed cases, the coronavirus could be spreading much more quickly than people realize.
By Peter Holley
In Houston, officials say people are coming into more and more contact with otters, owls, and other animals.
By Peter Holley
The device they've designed has piqued the interest of government officials and large manufacturers hoping to address the coronavirus crisis.
By Peter Holley
In Houston’s adult nightclubs, with cash transactions and close contact, exotic dancers say they’re forced to choose between health and a paycheck.
By Peter Holley
A single case of COVID-19 was all it took to bring Houston's favorite celebration to its knees.
By Peter Holley
The newly opened Sesh Coworking arrives as the number of female entrepreneurs in the city is on the rise.
By Peter Holley
The city, which trained for a flu pandemic as recently as November, is ground zero for military medicine.
By Peter Holley
One of the Bayou City’s biggest immigrant gateways, southwest Houston, is a dangerous and daunting place for pedestrians.
By Peter Holley
Coming soon to a Texas highway near you: self-driving semis.
By Peter Holley
A new report finds that, when transportation costs are factored in, Texas’s biggest metros aren’t the bargain they often claim to be.
By Peter Holley
What happens when pain relief is turned into YouTube entertainment?
By Peter Holley