Subjected to the light of day, Sarah Palin doesn't look like a maverick at all.
Exposing a construction-site scam only a San Francisco cop could love.
Ronald Taylor is one of perhaps hundreds of innocent people Harris County has put in prison.
Sloppy U.S. government paperwork is putting the lives of asylum seekers at risk.
Geography partly explains the power and appeal of blues belter and boogie-woogie piano banger Marcia Ball — but only partly. Raised on the Texas border in the small southwestern Louisiana town of Vinton, Ball discovered her own voice at ground zero for American roots music: Rockabilly, zydeco, country, R&B, swamp-rock and juke-joint blues poured through the airwaves and clubs around her deep Southern home. But it was a move to Austin, Texas, and a connection with the outlaw-country scene that opened up her songwriting to more than just jumpin'-blues novelties. With an instinct for business as well as a decent hook, the lithe singer has become one of the most successful and consistent divas of contemporary blues — and a guaranteed, raucous live performer.