Houston Matters

Watson settles lawsuits, the week in politics, and the loss of the Shamrock Hotel (June 22, 2022)

Posted on · On Wednesday's show: Former Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is settling 20 of the 24 civil lawsuits women have filed accusing him of sexual assault and harassment. Also we discuss the week in politics and reflect on how the loss of the Shamrock Hotel changed historic preservation in Houston.

Houston Matters

Will Lawsuits Against ERCOT Succeed? (Feb. 23, 2021)

Posted on · On Tuesday's show: State lawmakers take up the governor’s emergency item on ERCOT reform, lawyers try to sue the energy grid operator over last week’s power outage, and Houston City Councilman Edward Pollard answers listener questions.

Good, Bad and Ugly

Prisons, Queso and Pints: Houston Matters Weekend for Dec. 17, 2016

Posted on · A recent report from the U.S. Department of Education says over the past three decades, state and local spending on prisons and jails has risen more than three times faster than spending on elementary and secondary education. The disparities are far greater in Texas, where prison spending grew at nearly eight times the rate of […]

Houston Matters

Houston’s First-Ever City Song Took Some Liberties with History

Posted on · Did you know that Houston had its own official city song back in the early 20th century? Nope? Well, neither did the folks at Preservation Houston — that is until they received a donation of the first-ever Houston flag and started digging around for information on it. It seems the flag — and the song […]

Full Show

Pensions and ADA Compliant Voting: Tuesday’s Show (August 16, 2016)

Posted on · Last week (August 9, 2016), Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research released a report highlighting the current financial state of Houston's pensions. The report lays out why the city's unfunded liabilities are growing, and offers options for reform (though it does not make any recommendations about those options). On this edition of Houston Matters, […]

Houston Matters

What Will Houston Be Like in 30 Years?

Posted on · MORE: Your Predictions for the Houston of 2045 30 years ago this past weekend, Back to the Future opened in theaters here in Houston and across the country. The film, and its subsequent sequels, tells the tale of Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveling back and forth through time in a tricked-out DeLorean. First, Marty […]

Houston Matters

What Are Some of Houston’s Greatest Mistakes?

Posted on · We all make mistakes in our lives – we take a step one way, when we probably should have gone the other. We try to learn from those missteps and not repeat them, but sometimes, well, the lesson's never really learned. The same can be said for communities. Some decisions we made (or didn’t make) […]

Full Show

Houston’s Greatest Mistakes: Friday’s show (April 24, 2015)

Posted on · We all make mistakes in our lives – we take a step one way, when we probably should have gone the other. We try to learn from those missteps and not repeat them, but sometimes, well, the lesson’s never really learned. The same can be said for communities. Some decisions we made (or didn’t make) […]