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Get Down and Dirty This Week in the Garden

By Lorretta Ruggiero

Mar 17, 2022

With all the troubles going on in the world, many of us may be tempted to veg out in front of the television binging on the must-watch shows our friends have been raving about. And sometimes we need a brief escape from the news and doom and gloom. There are...

Candace Owens and Houston U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw at a 2018 Turning Point USA event in Palm Beach, Florida.

Opinion: Greatest Hits of Candace Owens, Ted Cruz’s SCOTUS Hopeful

By Jef Rouner

Feb 4, 2022

When Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement, President Joe Biden vowed to fulfill a campaign promise to fill the vacancy with the Supreme Court’s first Black woman. Republicans, who prefer all nominations be picked by the Federalist Society, promptly freaked out. Our own Sen. Ted Cruz waded into the fray...

Jenna Hanes, forefront, was among eight protesters arrested Monday at Sen. Ted Cruz's home.

Yep, Sitting on Senator Ted Cruz's Lawn Will Get You Arrested As Climate Change Protesters Discover

By Margaret Downing

Jun 21, 2021

Members of a group of activists who walked all the way from New Orleans to Houston to bring awareness to climate change, experienced an up close and personal with Houston police Monday who arrested eight of them after repeatedly telling the protesters to get off the grass at Sen. Ted...

Some days, the harvest is worth the work.

Houston Gardening: After the Rain Has Gone

By Lorretta Ruggiero

Jun 11, 2021

Houston has had a tough year weather-wise. Though we didn't have a major flood or hurricane in 2020, we had an unprecedented hard freeze in mid-February 2021 that damaged a lot of our landscaping and numerous citrus trees. But our gardens bounced back and some plants actually flourished, renewed with...

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Russ Poppe of the Harris County Flood Control District at Friday's press conference.

Lina Hidalgo Wants a New Deal on Hurricane Harvey Mitigation Funds [UPDATED]

By Margaret Downing

May 21, 2021

"The deck was stacked against us from the get-go." That was Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo's assessment at a Friday press conference in which she protested the criteria used to determine what counties and cities would get what share of the federal funds set aside as the Hurricane Harvey Mitigation...

The playscape has some great climbing features.

Houston Arboretum Opens Slightly Feral Playscape

By Jef Rouner

May 13, 2021

The Houston Arboretum is by far my favorite place in the city since Wilde Collection burned down, so I’ve been watching with eager anticipation as they slowly finished the giant new playscape they have been working on for what seems like forever. It finally went public this week, and it’s...

Houston: How Does Your Garden Grow?

By Lorretta Ruggiero

Apr 28, 2021

The month of April is nearly over. After the devastating freeze in February, Houston has seen even more unusual weather with cooler-than-normal temperatures and a mix of wind, storms and dry spells through the past two months. However, a look around the Bayou City's neighborhoods shows the resiliency of nature...

A Houston Garden After the Winter Storm

By Lorretta Ruggiero

Mar 10, 2021

The unprecedented winter storm that hit Texas on Valentine's Day was not wholly unexpected. The forecast for unusually cold temperatures in Houston had many of us scrambling to wrap our pipes and stock up on comfort snacks. For Houston gardeners, however, it meant a last look at our budding fruit...

A mother and daughter help to anchor trees on Dunes Day.

Your Christmas Trees Can Help Texas Fight Climate Change

By Jef Rouner

Dec 29, 2020

Don’t throw out your live Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands once the Christmas holiday is over. Brazoria County needs those to help fight the increasingly strong storms that have been pounding the Texas coast as climate change makes hurricane season longer and more brutal. The county has been running its...

Lush vegetaiton, one of the beautiful elements of Buffalo Bayou, could be wiped out.

Five Reasons Channelizing Buffalo Bayou is a Bad Idea

By Jeff Balke

Nov 30, 2020

As you may have read recently, the Army Corps of Engineers released its study on proposed changes to Buffalo Bayou and its upstream reservoirs in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and it was a stark reminder that we must remain hyper vigilant to keep plans like these from manifesting into...

Let's not destroy Buffalo Bayou, shall we?

Army Corps Needs a Do Over on the Buffalo Bayou Plan

By Jeff Balke

Nov 17, 2020

The Army Corps of Engineers recently released plans for altering Buffalo Bayou as a means of decreasing flooding — deadline for comment ends this week — has certainly stirred up emotions among Houstonians and with good reason. The plan is an unmitigated disaster that would absolutely decimate the bayou and...

President-elect Joe Biden promised to make climate change a priority. Rice's Jim Blackburn has some ideas on how he can.

Top 5 Ways Biden Can Reverse Trump On Climate Change

By Schaefer Edwards

Nov 11, 2020

It’s no secret that Donald Trump isn’t exactly a tree-hugging environmentalist. Far from it — During Trump’s administration, the United States has pulled out of the biggest international agreement to fight climate change, rolled back regulations on emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere and has taken down guardrails put...

Exploration Green, an old Clear Lake golf course flipped into a flood prevention area, is one of many local projects to protect our region from the effects of hurricanes.

Houston Wilderness Turns To "Super Trees" and Old Golf Courses To Fight Flooding and Climate Change

By Schaefer Edwards

Oct 15, 2020

Houston Wilderness president Deborah January-Bevers knew that the coronavirus was going to turn Houston upside down when Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner cancelled the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in early March. When she heard the news, the local environmental nonprofit was just wrapping up a tree planting event with NRG...

Gov. Greg Abbott gave an update Tuesday on the killer amoeba found in Lake Jackson's water supply.

Abbott and State Leaders Talk Lake Jackson's Brain-Eating Amoeba Problem

By Schaefer Edwards

Sep 29, 2020

Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference an hour south of Houston in Lake Jackson Tuesday afternoon to give an update on the ongoing effort to purge a killer amoeba from that city's water supply. Area residents will be asked to keep boiling their tap water before using it for...

The Story of Plastic considers plastic's endgame.

A Documentary Focusing on Plastic Before it Ends Up on the Ocean Floor

By Trent Johnson

Jul 21, 2020

We see plastic every day. The material lines shelves at grocery stores in the form of bottles, bags and cases. It acts as a container for our leftover meals and provides our children and loved ones with distractions in the form of toys and video game and movie cases. The...

Clearly more Houstonians in need than $15 million can help.

City Closes Rent Assistance Site After Deluge of Calls, More COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Reported

By Margaret Downing

May 14, 2020

The city of Houston's new site designed to handle rental assistance requests because of COVID-19's financial impacts did not crash Wednesday despite earlier reports that it had, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner. It was just shut it down once officials figured it was out of money, said Turner at an...

Texas State Parks Close at End of Day Today

By Margaret Downing

Apr 7, 2020

Gov. Abbott has decided safety trumps recreational yearnings and has ordered the state parks of Texas to close their gates as of end of business today. Would-be visitors will have to take their hopes of hikes, bikes, jogs, walks, fishing and wildlife viewing elsewhere. It just got too tough for...

The Health Museum has a food-focused exhibit.

The Global Kitchen at The Health Museum

By Lorretta Ruggiero

Jan 28, 2020

Houston is chock full of residents who call themselves "foodies" and our growing exposure on the international culinary stage has made the city a destination for gourmands seeking the most creative dishes Houston chefs have to offer. There are also the everyday tourists looking for the best barbecue, Viet-Cajun crawfish...

The plaintiffs have decided to step aside for now and Turkey Leg Hut will continue to smoke.

Like the White House Turkey Pardon, Turkey Leg Hut Lives to Smoke Another Day (and Night)

By Margaret Downing

Dec 9, 2019

On the same day the two parties were due back in court, the plaintiffs in the Turkey Leg Hut restaurant case announced they are suspending their lawsuit and giving the owners of the Third Ward facility one last chance to clean up their act. Plaintiffs represented by Cris Feldman of...

Turkey Leg Hut lives to smoke another day

A Judge Decides to Let a Fired Up Turkey Leg Hut Smoke On For Now

By Margaret Downing

Nov 27, 2019

Turkey Leg Hut restaurant got its sentence reduced Tuesday when a judge decided to let it smoke on through the Thanksgiving holiday at its usual night time hours instead of the reduced schedule originally imposed on it by a temporary restraining order signed on November 20. Civil Court Judge Beau...

Environment

Texas Oyster Season in Trouble

Houston Gardening: It's Bloomin' Time for Flowers

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