How do you ‘defund the police’ in Texas? Very carefully.
Activist calls to defund the police are playing out in city budget meetings in Texas, showing the limits of what is possible as well as points of agreement in funding public safety.
Read more‘He woke the world up.’ Houston’s Third Ward remembers George Floyd.
As George Floyd is laid to rest in Houston Tuesday, residents of Houston’s Third Ward – where Mr. Floyd grew up – reflected on his life and the national crisis of conscience sparked by his death.
Read moreCoronavirus conundrum: What do we do when nature gets crowded?
Coronavirus lockdowns have made nature even more of a refuge. So as officials consider how to adjust rules for now-crowded parks, the public’s mental well-being is a big part of the equation.
Read moreMeet the immigration attorney trying to serve 2,000 asylum-seekers
Does a wall have to be physical to keep people out? Using red tape, shifting policies, and its southern neighbor, the Trump administration has created a nonporous barrier that has effectively changed the face of U.S. immigration. Part 1 of 3.
Read moreTo reunite a family kept apart, a wedding on a cross-border bridge
The year-old “Remain in Mexico” policy has created a new kind of family separation. Some committed couples are getting legally married at the border to try to help their asylum cases.
Read moreWhen red and blue agree to meet – and not change each other’s minds
Groups that facilitate civil discourse abound, post-2016 election. The challenge is learning to talk with your political opposite outside the structured settings of workshops and classrooms.
Read moreHouston, we have a solution: How the city curbed homelessness
Who deserves a home? To tackle homelessness, one city is rethinking that question. Houston has taken a “housing-first” approach in which a home is seen as a vital first step toward stability.
Read moreHouston’s pocket prairies: Natural solutions to unnatural flooding
Humans are innovators and tend to look to technology to solve problems. But increasingly, people are turning to the natural world for solutions as well. For Houston, that means reintroducing the prairie.
Read moreFort Worth asks, Can a klan hall become a place of healing?
When it comes to relics of hate, what is the best way forward? In Fort Worth, Texas, a group wants to use an old Ku Klux Klan hall to honor victims of racial violence and promote healing. Others say, tear it down.
Read moreWhy El Paso is determined not to roll up the welcome mat
El Paso is an old city with a big heart, residents told our reporter. Its embrace of all isn’t going anywhere, they say, despite a terrorist attack aimed at its diversity.
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