Houston Matters

What Texas has gotten in return for security initiatives at the border (April 22, 2022)

Posted on · On Friday's show: In recent years, Texas has launched numerous costly initiatives aimed at securing the U.S.-Mexico border. But what has Texas gotten in return for those measures? Plus, we break down The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the week and learn about the new BIPOC Book Festival.

Houston Matters

A Novel About Forgetting and Remembering: Rabih Alameddine Discusses ‘The Angel of History’

Posted on · The Angel of History is a book about remembering and forgetting – and the tension between the two. The novel is the latest by author Rabih Alameddine, who has written novels such as An Unnecessary Woman, for which he was named a finalist for the National Book Award. Alameddine will discuss his latest work, along […]

Houston Matters

Houston Matters Highlights Fascinating Book and Authors

Posted on · Over the course of the next week, Houston Matters will highlight our coverage of a number of important issues and developments that we've felt compelled to revisit a number of times over the course of the last year, like pensions, campus carry, the state of the oil and gas industry and efforts to mitigate traffic. […]

Full Show

Big 12 Dreams and Houston’s Changing Neighborhoods: Thursday’s Show (October 13, 2016)

Posted on · The conference structure in NCAA Division I college athletics can be dizzying to try to understand. There are a couple tiers of major conferences. The top tier are the Power 5 conferences. They get more media attention, and more acclaim — and the revenue that comes with it all. Universities want to be part of […]

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Houston Matters Weekend for October 8, 2016

Posted on · Recently, News 88.7's Gail Delaughter noted how often she hears folks ask "why can't Houston be more like" a city where they used to live, particularly when it comes to transportation and mass transit. We talk about such examples with Gail, as well as the city's planning director Patrick Walsh, and Ryan Holeywell from the […]

Houston Matters

Wolf Boys: How Two Boys Became Killers for the Cartel

Posted on · The book Wolf Boys is the true story of two Texas teenagers who were recruited as killers for a Mexican drug cartel. The story follows Gabriel Cardona and his friend Bart Reta as they were recruited, trained and worked for the Zetas. Former legal affairs reporter Dan Slater first learned about the boys in a […]

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Unaccompanied Minors and Immigration Courts: Wednesday’s Show (September 7, 2016)

Posted on · UNICEF (The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) last month released a report on the number of unaccompanied children coming into the United States from Central America. According to the report, nearly 26,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the U.S. border in the first six months of 2016. The report also touches on the importance […]

Houston Matters

Five Presidents: Former Secret Service Agent Recalls Those He Protected

Posted on · Clint Hill served five U.S. Presidents as a member of the U.S. Secret Service. He was assigned to protect First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and was with the presidential motorcade when Pres. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. He also served Texan Lyndon Johnson, as well as Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon and Ford. His latest book […]

Houston Matters

You Will Know Me: Novel Looks Inside the World of Competitive Gymnastics

Posted on · The opening ceremonies are tonight (Aug. 5, 2016) for the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There are several Houston-area athletes involved in the games in a variety of sports, including gymnast Simone Biles, the Hurley sisters in fencing, swimmer Cammile Adams, marksman Glen Eller and Steven Lopez in Tae Kwon Do. […]

Houston Matters

Convict Cowboys: The Untold History of the Texas Prison Rodeo

Posted on · In 1931, officials at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville started a rodeo for inmates. Intended simply as entertainment for prisoners and employees, it eventually grew to become the largest sporting event in the state of Texas, drawing crowds as large as a hundred thousand in some years. A new book called Convict Cowboys: The […]