Economic Issues

These Are Serious Issues: A First World Problems Playlist

Twenty-seven seconds into the song posted above, Canadian rocker Matthew Good says the phrase "first world problems." It is, as far as most Internet detectives can tell, the first time that phrase was used in a piece of art. Good wasn't setting out to create a punchline that would be beaten to death ... More >>

EarthQuest's Don Holbrook Threatens to Sue Critics into Submission

We couldn't help but laugh our asses off at the latest move by EarthQuest "consultant" Don Holbrook to silence two of his loudest critics: Last week, he hired an Ohio attorney to send cease and desist letters to Garland, Texas, resident Heather Dobrott, who runs a site called realscam.com, and to a ... More >>

Fantasy Land

A green amusement park was supposed to bring prosperity to New Caney, but so far, only a few have profited. And it still exists only on paper.

Houston and the Blues

Viva the Houston Blues Scene.

FAIR-y Tales: Mexican Macro-economics

Greed, Interrupted

Part meltdown memoir, part essential finger pointing, Inside Job will make you seethe.

"Debt-Relief" Companies Get Hit By Lawsuit

Robert Lock, slapped with an injunction​The West Virginia Attorney General has sued an alleged debt settlement company we investigated in December. However, one of the company's founders had told us the company -- predicated on the belief that when you get a credit card, the bank owes yo ... More >>

The Dynamo Stadium Plan Is Magic

​The greatest plan ever has been unveiled.Using absolutely no public funding, the city, by April 1, 2012, will get a 20,000 seat, $80 million Dynamo soccer/Texas State Southern University football stadium that will create a new section of downtown, which will undoubtedly boom with economic growth, ... More >>

"Whatever was Splendid: New American Photographs"

Walker Evans and the Great Depression, Part II

How Not To Repair Your Credit

​You might think that a business couldn't squeeze much money out people who are tens of thousands of dollars in debt, but where there's a will, and perhaps a paucity of ethics, there's a way.This week's Houston Press cover story takes a look at a rift between two "debt invalidation" companies, in ... More >>

No Justice

We've bailed out the banks. When do we go after the crooks behind our financial collapse?

he Lighter Side of the Recession

Radio Music Theatre is laughing all the way to the poorhouse

Adios Bookstop and "Poll" Dancing

Capsule Stage Reviews: Into the Woods, The House of Yes, The Lighter Side of the Recession

What Was And Wasn't In The Candidate Biographies Of that Latest Mayor's-Race Poll

​As we noted yesterday, most Houstonians have no idea who they want for their next mayor. A poll shows more than two-thirds don't favor any of the candidates, partly as a result of financially crimped campaigns that haven't been able to advertise much yet.Houstonians who were called for the poll a ... More >>

Texas, Unfortunately, Leads The Country In Hungry Kids

More than anywhere else the country, children in Texas don't know where they'll get their next meal.That's according to a recent study by Feeding America, the nation's food-bank network, which analyzed stats on "household food insecurity" published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to ... More >>

ABC's World News Tonight To Examine Just How Great Houston Is

ABC's World News Tonight, their anchor network-news show, will be originating from Houston next week, in part to examine why we seem to have escaped (so far) the crunchiest part of the economic crunch.Charlie Gibson is taking the show around the country to assess how the recession is affecting diffe ... More >>

Culinary Schadenfreude Comes to Houston

A victim of misfortune scha·den·freu·de [shahd-n-froi-duh]-nounsatisfaction or pleasure derived from the misfortune of others I'm going to get to the point of this post right now: My life as a food lover is better because the economy is in a recession. There I said it. And before you label me ... More >>

Readers In Ireland Sadly Misinformed About Houston

You know the old saying – “any publicity is good publicity.” But might not some publicity be utterly pointless? We ask, because we have come across some that seems to be just that. Now ordinarily, a little blurb about your event in a paper like Dublin’s The Irish Independent would be a ... More >>

Art Rock: Blackie, The Mathletes, The Goods, Giant Princess and Generation Landslide at Numbers

UH Prof Isn't Optimistic About Jobs

Jitney

August Wilson offers up his own ‘70s show

Mi Bandera es la Tierra

Performance artists Nicolás Ramiro Valdez and Maria Alejandra Ibarra defend Mother Earth

Have a Seat: Great Deals at Minute Maid Park?

Kyoto Protocol: Chill Out

Skeptical environmentalist Bj�rn Lomborg questions the Kyoto Protocol's effectiveness

“A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City”

Interactive exhibit presented by Doctor’s without Borders

Who Killed Brad Will?

Million-Hour Madness

Religious charities discover state welfare reform savings are based in part on their backs

Prison Break?

Critics wonder if massive TDCJ cuts will be a prelude to privatization

Double Standards?

Plus: Defining Moment, Egg on the Face, Get Off Death Row!

Days of Paige

Did Bush pick a master educator - or an overpaid front man?

Tax Lean

Want a subsidy for your corporate expansion? Local governments are ready with millions in property-tax abatements -- and very little oversight.

Uploading

If her capers as comptroller don't catch her, Carole Rylander is ready to ride the Internet to greater political fame

Broken Promises

Fourth Ward residents are left with a harsh reality

Dubious Deal

Special tax zones are already stimulating growth-a thriving cottage industry of attorneys, lobbyists, high paid consultants, developers and questionable financial projections

Inner-city Shootout

Neartown braces for the ultimate development war at City Hall

Castles for Welfare Kings

Come 2023, Rice Hotel redevelopers can own their federally assisted project for a cool $1,000

All in a Day's Work

Lockheed Martin's welfare-reform efforts have cost taxpayers across the country millions. So naturally, Lockheed Martin has been hired to train and find jobs for the poor in Houston and Harris County.

No Shame

Real people are being evicted from the Fourth Ward. And real people are responsible for their plight.

See Juarez

From a forthcoming book by Charles Bowden and the street shooters of Ciudad Juarez The photojournalists of the border are capturing the grisly face of the future. And it's a lot closer than you think.

Fourth Ward or Bust

Houston Renaissance still hasn't secured private financing to redevelop the Fourth Ward, and its time may be running out

Cozy Ties

In the battle to privatize welfare services in Texas, corporate bidders have enlisted some inside help

Letters

The Great Land Grab

A nonprofit "charity" is pursuing millions in taxpayers' money to redevelop the Fourth Ward. The question for Houston Renaissance is, charity for whom?

Midtown Jamboree

Why let a few conflicts of interest get in the way of a grand redevelopment scheme?

A Taxing Situation

What are the penalties in Harris County's tax collection deal with Heard, Goggan?

In the Rough

The golf course giveaway is falling apart, but some city workers are paying the price

The Executive Course

Fore!

Privatization of Houston's municipal golf courses has been a bad deal for everybody but the operators. But golfers and taxpayers had best look out: the city's on the verge of giving away two more of it courses.

The Passions of Privatization

V&E joins Heard Goggan in battling the county attorney's office