Ken Bridges/Contributing writer The federal government is facing a deadline with the ability to pay its bills. Unless a new limit is authorized, the government will hit the debt ceiling, cutting off the government’s ability to borrow money to pay its existing bills. With the debt ceiling issue, the question isContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Sometimes one person in a community can have an impact that continues to be felt for years afterward. Jovita Idar, a woman armed only with a pen and passion for helping those in need, would have an impact felt across Texas in her lifetime. She would run several newspapers, foundedContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer In the years before oil dominated the Texas economy, farmers and ranchers made the state’s reputation through the hard days of tilling the soil and driving countless herds of cattle. Of all the ranchers who poured their sweat and blood into the dust to build lives for themselves,Continue Reading
As many writers have noted, writing is the painting of a picture in another person’s mind using only words. The magnificent scenery of Texas has inspired many artists and writers through the years, and the backdrop of overwhelming beauty and sometimes larger-than-life characters has often been the spark needed for a greatContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Edward House was a Texan determined to move the world when the world refused to be moved. He was a powerful diplomat and presidential advisor and a voice for peace in a time when so much of the world was bent on destruction. House was born in HoustonContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer The late 1800s was the age of the railroad. Trains steamed across the hills, valleys, and plains of a growing United States, steadily bringing distant communities closer together. Thousands of miles of track were laid down by thousands of men to build a rail network that brought peopleContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer The 1950s and 1960s introduced Americans to television and riveted audiences with tales of the frontier. One of the most noted actors of the era was Texan Fess Parker. He became one of the most popular actors of the time, giving life to legendary American figures such asContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer The career of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna brought him to the height of power in Mexican politics, serving as president on eleven different occasions though he preferred to be leading his armies in the field. His career had also brought him nearly into political oblivion. In spiteContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer In 1836, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the president and general who dominated the political scene in Mexico, rose into Texas with his army, with destruction on his mind. He was determined to put down the uprising of the Texas colonists. He had spent months campaigning acrossContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Samuel Augustus Maverick came to Texas with a dream of making a fortune in land sales. In the process, he became one of the most memorable characters in the history of the state and an important figure in its early history. In the process, he became the originalContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Howard Hughes was a man who once commanded the world’s attention, sometimes for all the wrong reasons. His story is one of wealth, power, fame, and the dangers of obsession. Howard Robard Hughes, Jr., was born in Houston on Christmas Eve, 1905. His father, Howard R. Hughes,Continue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Sometimes the men dismissed for their failures early in life can become the greatest successes. The story of R. L. Thornton is the story of a man raised in poverty and with barely an eighth grade education became synonymous with the success of Dallas in the 1950s. Robert Lee Thornton was born in 1880 in Hamilton County,Continue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer What is the cost of changing the world? For those who dare, it can everything in their life, for good or ill. Heman Sweatt put everything on the line for his bid to desegregate the University of Texas law school, an effort that changed civil rights laws forever. Continue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Houston had long been an important city for Texas. Businessmen like Jesse H. Jones helped make it an international center for commerce. He had arrived in Texas as a young man and worked his way through the ranks of his uncle’s Dallas-based lumber company before coming to Houston where he would soon invest in all sortsContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Success in business is often a combination of timing, determination, and imagination. One Houston businessman, Jesse H. Jones had all these qualities and an innate sense of enterprise to build a fortune that changed the landscape of Texas’s biggest city. Jones became a giant in Houston business circles,Continue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Texas has had 48 governors since statehood was achieved in 1845. Some enjoyed remarkable success and achievements during their terms and have been remembered fondly years later while others left in disgrace. S. W. T. Lanham, who served as governor from 1903 to 1907, was a respectedContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Many Texas musicians have become legendary figures for not only their great talents as musicians but also for their colorful lives. Huddie Ledbetter, known to his fans as “Leadbelly,” was a pioneer blues musician starting in East Texas in the early 1900s, just as rhythm and blues wasContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Once Christmas has passed, the world looks to a new year. Many wonder what the new year will bring while planning their own ways of ringing in 2023. It will be a year marked with war in some nations and peace in others. There will be triumph, andContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Charles M. Schulz created a comic strip that captured the hearts of millions in the nearly 50 years that Peanuts ran in thousands of newspapers around the world. Schulz, an amiable and soft-spoken Minnesota native and World War II veteran, had been drawing the daily strip since 1950. Fifteen years later, heContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer For generations, doctors were often reluctant to perform any type of operation involving the heart. The lack of a clear understanding about the heart made treating many conditions difficult. Texas surgeon Michael DeBakey spent decades researching and developing new techniques that have completely changed the understanding of theContinue Reading