Could have been us

Google's April Fools' prank hits Sugar Land where it hurts

As you most likely noticed, Google gave Topeka, Kan., some April Fools' Day love — as an acknowledgement of the town's one-month, search-engine-sucking-up name change. It's hard not to crack a smile when you go to Google and see Topeka above the search-engine box in big blue, red, yellow and green letters.

Sometimes, payback is funny. Topeka announced it should be referred to as Google, Kan., for the month of March in a bid to be selected as a test site for the search giant's new extreme high-speed fiber-optic Internet network. So Google changed its name to Topeka for today, without any advance announcement.

Topeka city officials realized what had happened when their phones began ringing off the hook.

"We've had a lot of fun with it. It's brought attention to our city," Topeka mayor Bill Bunten told the Associated Press. "I appreciate that they received our effort to change the name in good humor and we do the same with their change to Topeka."

It's all great fun — unless you're one of those other cities that's trying to smooch up to Google to be chosen as one of the sites for the company's experimental super-fast Internet service dubbed Gig. Like our area's Sugar Land for example.

Sugar Land has also been vying for the reputed 100-times-faster-than-normal Internet network, but has seen no such reward for its push. The less than 200 residents who've shown they care are probably disappointed.

Should've taken our advice!

It's not too late ... Bing Sucks, Texas?

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”