The Austin City Limits Festival kicks off the first of two weekends for the very first time on Friday, October 4. With two weekends filled with nearly identical music lineups, will it be as crowded, more crowded, or—wishful thinking—slightly less crowded?

If you're planning a trip to one of the national parks or other federal sites in Texas, you'll want to take note of the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.

If you visit downtown Austin this fall, you might wonder "why is there a big, white tree hovering over the water?"

It seems like ages ago: In 2008, I had the pleasure of editing Tom and Karen Fort’s story on the golden age of Rio Grande steamboating, which appeared in the July issue that year. Tom contributes another piece to Texas Highways this month (December 2013)—a piece on the Rio Grande Valley’s Civil War sites, and as I was chatting about the story with my colleague Matt Joyce, I remembered what a great resource historian Jerry Thompson was to us. A professor of history at Texas A &M University in Laredo, Thompson writes about the tumultuous pre-and post-Civil War decades along the Rio Grande with humor, compassion, and clarity.  For anyone wishing to study the period, I highly recommend two of Thompson’s books, A Wild and Vivid Land: An Illustrated History of the South Texas Border and Civil War and Revolution on the Rio Grande Frontier: A Narrative and Photographic History (co-written with Lawrence T. Jones III).

Last year’s State Fair of Texas cliffhanger was an electrical fire that damaged the iconic Big Tex. As the State Fair opens this year, visitors will see that you can’t take a Big Tex down, plus he’ll have a revamped station.

There's a certain glamour to the musician's life, no doubt. But for many working musicians, the reality of scratching out a day-to-day living means long hours, multiple jobs, and low income.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park has offered an update in the aftermath of last week's heavy flooding. 

According to weather forecasts, cooler temperatures arrive in Central Texas this weekend. While it won’t be quite sweater weather, these projected 80-degree days most definitely foreshadow fall—and fall festival season in Texas.  What are you waiting for?

Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell speaks about the phenomenal economic impact that 2013 SXSW Conference has had on the City of Austin. Kevin Johns of Austin's Economic Growth and Redevelopment Office shares enthusiasm over the numbers.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far West Texas is hoping to dry out after three days of heavy rain that caused flooding and prompted the park’s closure.

The Texas Book Festival has announced the lineup of authors for this October’s event, including several whose books are currently on the New York Times bestseller list.

A new exhibit opening at the Alamo today focuses on the Spanish mission system in Texas and the creation of the Alamo, including 16 original Spanish documents from the 1700s.