The Dow Chemical Company

Chemically Burned: Dow Chemical Tries to Avoid Hot Water in Worker's Death

Brian Johns suffered chemical burns over 65 percent of his body in a Deer Park plant explosion. A representative of his company, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, tried to tell doctors Johns had just encountered some really hot water.

Cover Story: Chemically Burned

Brian Johns went to work on July 17, 2012 at the Rohm and Haas in Deer Park, just as he'd done for years. Johns was changing a filter in an ammonium nitrate unit when there was an explosion that covered his skin with acid so that more than 65 percent of his body was burned. The big disasters are t ... More >>

Texas Activist Chains Neck to White House Fence (German Bike Locks Rock)

If you've never heard of Diane Wilson, you've probably heard about the environmentalist who poured Karo syrup on herself on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., to protest the BP oil spill. (That was Wilson.) Or about the one who chained herself to the Dow Chemical tower in 2002, ... More >>

Beauty School Dropouts

HISD might close cosmetology program.

Greenpeace Says Dow's Freeport Chemical Plant Has Lousy Security

You won't be smiling when the leak comes​Think all those toxic chemicals stockpiled at industrial plants around Houston are safe and secure? Well, think again.According to Greenpeace, the giant holding tanks and railroad cars full full of hazardous materials are ripe for disaster -- be it by terro ... More >>

Corporate Takeover

The Yes Men take on companies using their own tools.

Capsule Art Reviews: "Bert Long's RED Book", "Group Show: Shoman, Benhelima, Forero, Zet, Wilson & Wolfson",

"Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism With the Yes Men", "Round 32: eco, xiang, echo: meditations on the african, andean & asian

Capsule Art Reviews: "Bert Long's RED Book", "Group Show: Shoman, Benhelima, Forero, Zet, Wilson & Wolfson", "Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism With the Yes Men"

New On DVD: The Yes Men Fix the World

The Yes Men​Depending on your world view, The Yes Men Fix the World, out on DVD today, is either very, very funny or really, really not funny at all. But humorous or not, it is entertaining and should be required viewing for anyone who doubts that big business is out to screw the public.In th ... More >>

Merry Pranksters

The Yes Men's cheerful quest for social justice.

Dow Chemical, Always Helping The Kids. By Polluting The Air

If you worry about pollution -- especially in light on the EPA's latest study of the cancer risk posed by air pollution -- you might see that instead of threatening our lives, air pollution actually helps all of us, especially those of us who are most vulnerable, the kids.For purposes of illustr ... More >>

Dow Chemical Thankful It's In A Pollution-Loving State Like Texas

The Dow Chemical Co. got whacked last week with a $202,325 fine for air pollution violations, but if we had to guess, we'd say the world's second-largest chemical company thanks its lucky stars it does business in a state like Texas, where a history of violations doesn't mean much.In calculating th ... More >>

Dow Chemical Forgets To Leave The Light On

Ever have trouble keeping your hot water heater pilot light on? It's annoying, yes, but the worst repercussion is a surprise cold shower.Pilot light problems occur in the petrochemical world, too, but the repercussions are decidedly more consequential.In the case of a Dow Chemical Co. plant in Texa ... More >>

Houston Astros, Netflix, Congressman Ron Paul

It could be a year of despair for Astros fans

In His Prine

Out of the Park

Second Ward slugger Aaron Treviño scores a scholarship and prepares to leave the barrio behind

Horse Shoed

HPD loses its cool at the Halliburton demonstration

Brave New Art

Artists take on corporations and the government in "Thought Crimes"

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Wretched Excess

Sludge, spread across the land, makes some people vomit and others very rich

Welcome to Fire Island

While communities across the country block LNG terminals, Quintana just shrugs

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

Showdown at the Bar X

There ain't enough room in this town for Helen Phillips and her enemies

Thrown for a Loop

Plus: Hot Topic, Shooting Fish?, Sympathy - Not

Global Warming Is Good for You!

Cheap heating bills! Great gardens! Thriving civilizations! In energy-crazed Houston, friends of greenhouse gases abound

Agent of Doom

Former enemies unite against the continuing fallout from deadly defoliants of the Vietnam War

Raw Roots

Excavations for plantation artifacts - and the real truth - are unraveling the genteel gloss covering Texans' old notions about the slave era here

Andy, Opie and the Almighty

A church searches for God in the good Mr. Griffith's TV series

Coming to No Good End

Undertaker Jay Herman shot his lover, Edwina Prosen, to death in 1991. That's the only thing he and her family have agreed on since.

Psychic Phenomena

Bubba Henderson says he sees all, knows all. Sometimes that's the problem.

(Pay)checks and (Im)balances

Fat starting salaries! Hefty raises! HISD says its administrators deserve them.

Taking the Waves

A tale of love, life and longboarding

Press Picks

Alison Cook looks back at 1997: The Year That Bit

Press Picks

Shadow Over Texas City

Petrochemical plants and refineries are the lifeblood of Texas City's economy. But for Hester Joiner and her neighbors, all they've provided are foul odors, property damage and mysterious ailments.

Smile! It's Earth Day!

What Did He Do To Deserve This?

Attorney John O'quinn says his big-business enemies are out to do him in. But the real source of his troubles may be closer to home.

In The Rough

In its quest for a Municipal golf course, Lake jackson learned a valuable lesson: Never buy land without checking it out first. Unfortunately, the lesson came six years too late.

Press Picks

Letters

The Exterminator

Tom DeLay, the bug man from Sugar Land, has always despised environmental regulation. Now, as House majority whip, he's in a position to do something about it.

Got Mad, Got Even

Two former HL&P workers took revenge against the Light Company, but say the city settled for "chump change"

The Year of Living Anxiously

Are We Having Fun Yet? Or is it just the jangly buzz of advanced urban stress syndrome?

The Poison Connection

A "gas leak" in a Matamoros chemical plant wafts a poison and paper cloud toward a corporate office in Houston