Transportation
Metro board to vote on $10.5 million bike share system contract next week
Posted on · The news comes a day after Houston mayor Sylvester Turner recommended a $500,000 dedication to keep BCycle afloat.
Hot Stops
How METRO officials could plant a tree at every bus stop in Houston
Posted on · A pilot study from Houston Public Media found that bus shelter shade was on average half as effective at cooling riders as tree shade -- a potential solution for METRO and the City of Houston as climate change makes the heat worse for transit riders.
Infrastructure
Jones Plaza gets $26.5 million upgrade, now named Lynn Wyatt Square
Posted on · The 1.5-acre park sits across from Jones Hall and the Alley Theater and now includes a performance lawn with lighting and sound elements, accessible entries and public seating.
Houston Matters
BCycle, Houston’s bike share program, may get a temporary reprieve
Posted on · Mayor Sylvester Turner is seeking temporary funding while METRO considers establishing its own bike share program to replace it.
Business
Two Houston post offices suspend retail operations, with USPS citing safety as reason
Posted on · The branches in the Medical Center and Greenspoint areas are both undergoing building renovations, according to USPS. The Houston Police Department has received a total of 26 calls for service to those locations during the last six months.
Books & Libraries
Texas teacher fired for reading from an Anne Frank graphic novel
Posted on · The state’s teachers’ union said in a statement it would stand by the state’s public school teachers who “teach the truth.”
City of Houston
Houston City Council delays vote for funding to relocate residents living in cancer cluster areas
Posted on · The City of Houston announced earlier this summer it would start making plans to relocate residents living near a Union Pacific Rail Yard in Fifth Ward.
Immigration
Eagle Pass issues disaster declaration as more than 4,000 migrants cross over two days
Posted on · The mayor signed an emergency declaration after thousands of migrants crossed into the border town in the last two days.
Local
Residents near Montrose have started a petition to save dozens of near-century-old oak trees
Posted on · A petition says more than 60 near-century-old oak trees would be removed as part of an effort to widen sidewalks in the area.
Civil Rights
Houston companies claim in federal lawsuit that city program awarding contracts to minority-owned businesses is unconstitutional
Posted on · Landscape Consultants of Texas and Metropolitan Landscape Services, which are owned by a white couple in Houston, allege that local government contracting programs aimed at promoting the growth of minority-owned businesses amount to racial discrimination and violate the U.S. Constitution.
Criminal Justice
Texas has seen a ‘significant increase’ in extremist and anti-Semitic incidents since 2021, report says
Posted on · The report found that Texas led the country in the number of white supremacist propaganda distributions and had the fifth-highest number of anti-Semitic incidents last year.
Party Politics
Post-Paxton impeachment trial analysis
Posted on · Co-hosts Brandon Rottinghaus and Jeronimo Cortina delve into the latest news in national and local politics.
Houston Matters
‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe’ and the challenges of identity
Posted on · Houston Matters discusses the difficulties of figuring out who we are in our youth in this month's installment of The Bigger Picture.
Airports
Houston Airport officials warn travelers not to send their pets through x-ray machines
Posted on · "Unless the animal makes a noise, most of our officers don’t realize that there’s an animal in a piece of luggage until they see it on our screen. And it horrifies them too.”
Education
Allegations of Fort Bend elementary school teacher misconduct unsubstantiated, investigation dismissed, district says
Posted on · The investigation ended just hours after the school district alerted parents.
Houston Matters
The fate of bike sharing (Sept. 21, 2023)
Posted on · On Thursday's show: Houston BCycle, the city’s bike share system, recently announced it was shutting down. But will that still happen now that the mayor says he will ask City Council to approve funding to save it?
Law Enforcement
Detention officers are getting a 12% pay increase to improve understaffing in the Harris County Jail
Posted on · This comes after nearly $700 million of Harris County's 2024 budget was set aside for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, which operates the jail.
Immigration
A new multi-million dollar initiative aims to help more than 300,000 Houston-area immigrants gain citizenship
Posted on · The price of a citizenship application, once $40, has now skyrocketed to $725.
Politics
Votes on school vouchers and Paxton impeachment raise the risk of primary challenges for some Republican lawmakers
Posted on · Governor Greg Abbott told Texas pastors that he’ll back the primary opponents of GOP lawmakers who don’t vote for his private school voucher plan in an upcoming special session of the Legislature.
City of Houston
Broken Montrose-area bridge lights to get fix after Houston leaders authorize funding
Posted on · The Houston City Council voted Wednesday to spend $2.66 million to replace a series of decorative bridge lights along the Southwest Freeway. Construction on a new set of lights likely won't begin for at least a year.
Energy & Environment
Liberty County solar farm project secures $200 million in financing
Posted on · The under-construction solar farm about 50 miles northeast of Houston is expected to generate 134 megawatts of electricity for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which serves part of Texas.
HISD
Teacher turnover is a controversial part of Houston ISD reforms. It’s a feature, not a side effect
Posted on · Parents and teachers continue to speak out against reforms and turnover in Houston’s public school system. The protests intensified this week as the state-appointed leaders of Houston ISD removed more teachers from their schools. The debate over these types of reforms is not new — even in Houston.
Houston Matters
The ‘Battle of the Sexes’ was 50 years ago today — tennis has never been the same
Posted on · We remember Billie Jean King's defeat of Bobby Riggs at the Astrodome in 1973 and consider its impact with Houston-area tennis great Zina Garrison.
Houston Matters
Still ‘Waiting for Godot,’ 10 years later
Posted on · Catastrophic Theatre presents a restaging of its production of the famous Samuel Beckett play a decade later, with the same cast.
HISD
Houston ISD school bus crash sends 10 students, 2 adults to hospitals
Posted on · There appear to be no serious injuries, the Houston Independent School District said to parents in an email.
Civil Rights
A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. The school says it wasn’t discrimination
Posted on · School officials say Darryl George's dreadlocks violate the district’s dress code. His mother says he isn't violating rules about hair length for boys. The incident recalls debates over hair discrimination in schools and the workplace.
Houston Matters
Political Roundup: Another special session — and a threat from the governor
Posted on · Gov. Greg Abbott wants private school vouchers passed and tells opponents they'll face primary challenges for their seats if they don't give him what he wants.
Houston Matters
Remembering the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ (Sept. 20, 2023)
Posted on · On Wednesday's show: Fifty years ago today, tennis star Billy Jean King struck a blow for women’s equality in sports, defeating her male counterpart, Bobby Riggs, in a televised match at the Astrodome seen by millions.
Transportation
Metro to add additional transportation for Beyoncé shows at NRG this weekend
Posted on · Metro will open it's special events parking lot for the shows this weekend, at $20 per vehicle.
Books & Libraries
Texas youth say book bans violate their rights and take away ‘the joy of reading’
Posted on · A federal judge in Austin temporarily blocked a new state law restricting which books are available in school libraries. The state then appealed. But whether or not the law is upheld, efforts to censor what students can read have intensified in Texas.
Criminal Justice
A.J. Armstrong requests fourth trial after being convicted of parents’ 2016 murders
Posted on · A new defense attorney for the 23-year-old Armstrong, who was a teenager at the time of his parents' deaths, claimed in a motion for a new trial that he should have been tried as a juvenile and that prosecutors should have provided previous defense attorneys with information that questioned the credibility of a key witness.
Health & Science
Harris County Public Health introduces Latino Chronic Disease Cohort pilot program
Posted on · “We want to make sure that these uninsured and underinsured individuals have this access to the care that they need,” Commissioner Lesley Briones said.