Results tagged “homeless”

The 2008-2009 DiverseWorks season opens on September 19 with Understanding Poverty, a multimedia exhibition by Houston-based photojournalist Ben Tecumseh DeSoto. The exhibition will feature DeSoto's 20-year investigation into Houston's homeless and working poor, with field reporting contributed by Ann Walton Sieber and a special light installation by Sarah Whatley Ayers.

A lighter week for concerts, but many home-state bred musicians are in town. Tomorrow night, we recommend San Antonio's Girl In A Coma, but if you prefer 90's rock, you might want to catch Dallas' The Toadies return to Verizon Wireless. Speaking of returns, Bandera's Robert Earl Keen brings his annual Christmas show to town Friday night. Saturday, Warehouse Live is hosting a few local bands, headlined by Million Year Dance. Not from Texas,...

Houstonist has an active and amazing Flickr photo group. We receive many, many photos of Houston and the surrounding areas every day and unless you are an active visitor to our photo pool many of these photos go unnoticed. So in a weekly effort to bring you more amazing photos from Houstonist readers and photographers, we are going to feature a block of photos submitted to our Flickr photo group. The images will be dug...

Good morning, Houston. We just don't understand the entertainment juggernaut (or is it "juggernette?") that is Hannah Montana: Tickets to her Nov. 11 Toyota Center show sold out in five minutes Saturday, and now they're going for as much as $1,275 on eBay — granted, that's for a set of four tickets, but still, wow. The markup through eBay and ticket brokers has left some parents shelling out big bucks to give their kids...

Our favorite at-work timewasters over at TMZ.com are reporting that Houston's pop/R&B princess herself has reunited with original Destiny's Child member Michelle Rowland to open an apartment building: The Knowles-Rowland Temenos Place Apartments, for people trying to improve their situations who might not otherwise have a place to live. Through her charity, the Survivor Foundation, Beyonce and her family are building and financing the building, which will be a 48 unit "short term to longterm...

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom...

Westheimer Road is a long, thriving, paved snake of potholed infrastructure. It guides you into town from the Grand Parkway through Beltway 8 and Loop 610 until it brings you all the way into a cozy, little enclave of town we lovingly refer to as The Montrose. Not really the heart of Houston, because that would probably be the Medical Center, but more like the liver or one of the kidneys of Houston as...

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti...

Citing repeated safety violations at a north Houston apartment complex, the city took an unusual step Tuesday: It revoked the complex's certificate of occupancy, meaning residents will have to find other places to live within the net few days. The complex in question is Carter's Grove, the same place where two kids were nearly electrocuted in February while playing around an unlocked electrical transformer. But the transformer incident was far from the only problem at...

You remember when the E-shaped signs that used to identify Enron's headquarters sold for tens of thousands of dollars at auction, right? Well, if you missed the chance to blow your retirement fund on a big, shiny E, here's another opportunity to own a piece of the ill-fated energy company: The desks that once belonged to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are up for sale on eBay. Lay's desk and Skilling's desk were custom-designed by...

Whether you're attached or sane single on Valentine's Day, Houstonist has great ideas for those of you who are still without plans for this evening. And none of them require reservations! If you're interested in volunteering, Food Not Bombs Houston is always looking for earnest people to help hand out food to to the homeless in front of city hall. Not only is this a great way to spend Valentine's Day, it's a great way...

Police are investigating two shootings downtown early this morning, one a drive-by on the south end of downtown and another a mysterious incident near a construction project in the Second Ward. The drive-by happened at about 2:30 a.m. outside a bar at Milam and Pease. A group was walking out of the bar when a black Hummer drove up and someone in the vehicle opened fire on the victim, a young woman. Officials said the...

Each week, Houstonist highlights a few of the more interesting events going on in the city. Check back each day for more details. Is that so much to ask?! Monday, Jan 29 Movies Houstonians Love @ MFAH: Barbara Bush The Museum of Fine Arts' series, Movies Houstonians Love is back. The former First Lady kicks things off with a guest lecture preceeding her favorite movie,Life Is Beautiful directed by Roberto Benigni (Italy, 1997, 116...

We thought we'd take a stroll by Minute Maid Park to see what was going on at the site of the former William Penn Hotel, located at the corner of La Branch St. and Texas Ave. With the past exploits of Spire Realty, who chose to demolish the hotel one year ago, we were sure that perhaps something interesting was in the works. Unfortunately, the most activity that has occurred is the pouring of a...

Last week we told you about an enterprising Spring man who decided to cash in on last week's cold snap by selling a chunk of naturally formed Houston ice on eBay. Now for the rest of the story: When the ice auction ended, the hunk of cold stuff fetched a respectable $26 — not bad, really, considering you can make it at home for free. Houstonist talked to the seller, Mathew Cournane, about the auction....

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into...

Didn't get any ice at your house during the Great Storm of 2007? Well, don't worry: Thanks to eBay, you, too, can own a genuine chunk of naturally formed Houston ice. No kidding. According to the eBay listing, which you can find here, the chunk of ice was taken from trees and road signs in the Houston area. But there's more: The winner of the auction will also get two fig leaves with ice droplets...

Good morning, Houston. Thought you were gonna get a day off work, didn't you? But not yet: The rain that was supposed to move into the city last night and create icy mayhem has split, passing us to the north and south. So there's no ice or sleet — for now, at least — but we're not out of the woods yet. Another band of wet weather should hit this afternoon, and with today's...

H-Town is seriously busy! This weekend brings Lights in the Heights, The Citrus Festival, the XMAS Tree Project, The Tree Lighting Downtown, The Houston Blues Society Holiday Ball, ensuring the homeless have plenty to eat, and shopping for either gifts, or that perfect ensemble to wear to Houstonist's Birthday Party. But wait, there really is more - and more, and more - 'tis the season, after all. If you are not imbibing on the company...

Food Not Bombs Houston, the local chapter of a global organization dedicated to eradicating the problem of poverty all over the world, recently launched a program that helps to feed many of downtown Houston's homeless. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm, volunteers gather on the corner of McKinney and Smith to hand out food. From their mission statement: As an organization, Food Not Bombs simply tries to redistribute a tiny...

Houstonist will be taking Thanksgiving off, but that doesn't mean you should. There are plenty of places all over the city that need volunteers to do everything from deliver meals to carry balloons this week. Here are just a few: TXU Energy is sponsoring a 5K Fun Run that benefits Sheltering Arms, an agency that provides a wide array of services for the elderly. Volunteers are needed to help with registration, set-up, water stations, etc....

Houstonist likes pets and pet charities (animals in general - really. Well, iffy on the reptiles - that's just us). We advocate promoting pet adoption, spaying/neutering or just hooking up a homeless pet with a meal, worthy causes, all. To that end, we are bringing to your attention a wine and warm fuzzy event benefiting animals. Houston PetSet, along with the Houston Humane Society, is hosting a wine tasting at The Tasting Room Midtown...

Weird news out of Willis: Yesterday afternoon, a homeless man reportedly shot a trucker who was on his way to a fast-food restaurant. The shooting took place at Interstate 45 and FM 1097 at around 1 p.m. when truck driver Willie Ray Goree of Irving was walking to Jack in the Box and talking on his cell phone. For no apparent reason, Feofaaki A. Hafoka, who was living under a nearby overpass, fired at least...

A plane crashed in Montgomery County this afternoon; engine failure was apparently the cause Tuesday's police chase by the guy who thought he couldn't be chased had City Council all atwitter this week The Labor Department has proposed a $12 million settlement to cover some Enron workers' claims Kalip Jefferson, 18, was found guilty of murder today for killing a woman when he ran a red light during a 2005 police chase Donations to the...

We don't know if you've noticed lately, but some of the landscape you see as you're cruising down Houston's freeways is, ah, unappealing. It's something you hear people complain about every once in a while — particularly the collection of car lots, furniture stores, run-down strip malls and adult bookstores along the North Freeway, which provide a quick overview of Houston's attractions to people driving into town from Bush Intercontinental Airport. (We find the...

Remember how Mayor Bill White's anti-panhandling campaign began yesterday? Well, you weren't the only one to notice (if you did notice, that is): In a bizarre move, a homeless guy e-mailed KHOU and said the mayor's push for Houstonians to donate to social service agencies is a bad idea. The homeless guy is Randi Laird: “The mayor says if you want to give, give to the Coalition for the Homeless. Well the Coalition has no...

Starting Monday, Houston drivers will begin hearing radio advertisements in which Mayor Bill White will urge residents to give money to social service agencies instead of street panhandlers — and the city has already started gearing up to help make that point. The ad campaign is part of a strategy White announced last year to help reduce panhandling; another part is an ordinance City Council approved in December that put restrictions on roadside soliciting (which,...

More than 20 area firefighters have been questioned about a series of arsons in east Harris County; officials say two Cloverleaf firefighters are suspected of setting, then responding to, fires in at least two buildings A Texas Department of Corrections employee was run over by a bus this morning while she was transporting prisoners downtown; the extent of her injuries isn't known If Galveston has to be evacuated ahead of a major hurricane, 100 air-conditioned...

So the East Freeway wasn't the place to be early this morning, thanks to a shooting spree that apparently began with a case of road rage. The shooters were three men in a green pickup truck, the victims were a group of people in a gray Ford Tempo, and a couple of random people got caught up in the mayhem — and beyond that, things aren't too clear. According to KTRK, the guys in...

The Houston Chronicle and Mix 96.5 hosted an advance screening of the new comedy “You, Me and Dupree” last night at the Edwards Marq*e. We begged and pleaded our way in (and got stuck in one of the dreaded front rows, resulting in a massive neck ache). Any movie that boasts an all star cast like “You, Me and Dupree” gives the audience high hopes. The reviews for the movie, however, brought them crashing down:...