Fossil fuels built Houston into an energy capital. Can it lead the clean energy transition?

Sep 13, 2023
With the aid of workers, technology and cash from the oil and gas industry, new companies offer a glimpse of a post-fossil fuels future.
An oil refinery in operation with the Houston skyline in the background. Fossil fuels continue to enrich the Texas economy, but some see the need to respond to the climate crisis.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Houston residents face Aug. 28 deadline to sue the federal government over Harvey floods

Jul 25, 2023
Fewer than half the homeowners entitled to file claims have done so, and the August 28 deadline is looming.
Hurricane Harvey flooded Houston neighborhoods, like the one pictured above, in August 2017.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

How's Houston's economy working for the working poor?

Jun 23, 2023
A new United Way report finds a 5% increase in the number of Houston-area households struggling to afford basic necessities.
Affordability has been a long-time selling point for people in Houston, but optimism in the local economy is waning.
Loren Elliott/AFP via Getty Images

Immigrant women are increasingly running their own businesses

Jun 6, 2023
Roughly 11% of immigrant women are entrepreneurs, according to the American Immigration Council.
Ummehaani Karimjee began her flower design business Beginnings by UK after building up clientele through her religious community.
Elizabeth Trovall/Marketplace

Climbing housing costs rob Houston of reputation for affordability

Apr 18, 2023
Many Houston residents spend well over 30% of their income on shelter. On top of that, transportation costs are a growing burden on commuters.
Some Houston residents find themselves even more cost burdened than their counterparts in Los Angeles County. Transportation costs are part of the problem.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Houston officials are handing out rent relief, but not all landlords are signing up

May 31, 2021
The local program recently eliminated landlord participation as a requirement for renters to receive funding, so the payments can go directly to renters.
With the CDC eviction order set to expire at the end of June, renters are scrambling to pull together back rent.
David McNew/AFP via Getty Images

COVID recession puts damper on large construction projects

Nov 17, 2020
The Houston area lost the most construction jobs of any big city over the last year.
A worker directs traffic as construction takes place on a new tower in New York City in March.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Texan advocacy group fighting to recoup unpaid wages

May 30, 2019
Wage theft disproportionally affects those with limit resources to fight back.
A janitor does some cleaning at the Columbia Mall on July 24, 2017 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images

Research says collaboration is needed to address Houston's "food deserts"

May 1, 2019
In some cases, groups trying to solve the problem are competing for funding.
A small organic farm in the middle of Houston’s concrete sprawl. 
Travis Bubenik for Marketplace

Houston homeowners say the government owes them for flooding their homes after Hurricane Harvey

Feb 6, 2019
The lawsuit filed by Houston residents whose homes were flooded could set precedent for disaster liability.
Flooded homes are shown near the Barker reservoir following Hurricane Harvey August 30, 2017 in Houston, Texas.
Win McNamee/Getty Images