Opinion

For the 249th time, Americans are getting ready to haul out the hot dogs and fire up the fireworks for the nation’s big birthday bash. It’s a star-spangled party, the highlight of summer for millions.

The American lexicon was once filled with dozens, hundreds of charmingly quaint phrases that have now gone the way of the dodo. A particular favorite was, “There was enough food to feed Coxey’s army.” While your grandparents and great-grandparents would have understood it, saying it these days would be met with a puzzled expression followed by, “Who was Coxey?” “Why did he have an army?” And the most practical of all, “Why was it hungry?”

Texas State Troopers are the front-line defenders of our state. They patrol the highways, fight transnational gangs, protect our schools, support local law enforcement, respond to natural disasters, and interdict cross-border human and drug smuggling. They don’t ask for much, but they need the right tools to do the job.

Always be on time, we are taught. Promptness is, after all, a virtue. But one time, being late paid off spectacularly for one tardy student. And we are all the better today for it. Here’s how it happened.

As the son of a career Air Force officer who flew B-17s during World War II, I hold the men and women of the United States Armed Forces in the highest regard. That’s why it’s both an honor and a privilege each year to nominate some of our state’s finest young Texans to our nation’s prestigious military service academies.

Across Texas, ranches and dairy farms are churning out products with rich taste and character in every bite. National Dairy Month is the perfect time for Texans to explore the many delicious contributions of this industry to the Lone Star State.

I never knew my grandfathers. My thoughts turn here this Father’s Day because I’m holding a picture of my maternal grandfather, who died in 1939 before my birth.

As the 20th century dawned, the owners of Britain’s White Star Line were thinking big. Really big. They envisioned three huge ocean liners that would be larger and far more luxurious than anything the world had ever seen.