Don't Mess With Texas

Shuttle squabble continues — N.Y.'s Chuck Schumer to Houston: Drop Dead (withvideo)

Senator Chuck Schumer picks a fight with Houston.
Houston got snubbed for a space shuttle and now they're getting mad.
Ted Poe is leading the group of 16 Texas congressmen (and one from Utah) vowingto bring the shuttle back to Houston.

Your New York City trash talk doesn't scare us, Chuck Schumer.

The New York Senator has obviously heard our motto "Don't Mess With Texas," since he felt free to misappropriate it, but maybe he should have taken its advice.

Since NASA's inexplicable decision on Tuesday to deny Houston's space exporation heritage and snub our bid for a space shuttle, there's been an uproar in Space City.

While the selection of Florida's Cape Canaveral is hard to argue with and many Houstonians know that California technology centers and Air Force bases played a role in the space program, they are particularly incensed that New York's Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum received the shuttle prototype Enterprise rather than the Johnson Space Center.

On Thursday 16 Texas congressmen upped the stakes when they wrote a letter demanding an explanation from NASA administrator Charles Bolden and honorary Texan Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah actually introduced a bill to redirect a shuttle to Houston.

"If there is no rational explanation ... for the choice of the Intrepid museum in New York City ... we will do everything in our power in Congress, including legislation to prevent funding of the transfer, to stop this wasteful decision," said the letter, written by Rep. Ted Poe. "It's like putting the Statue of Liberty in Omaha," he added on the House floor.

Faced with a fight, Schumer stepped into the fray on Friday, telling Texans to "fugheddaboutit."

"I say to Houston, when people all around the world, in London and in Tokyo and in Paris, Buenos Aires say 'Gee, I can't wait for my trip to Houston,' then you can have a shuttle," said Schumer.

By his logic that the shuttles belong in the most internationally visited places, we should give the Enterprise to Paris, which has nearly twice as many international visitors and just as much to do with NASA's success.

New York, the city with the most tourist attractions in the country, needs a shuttle added to the mix like Donald Trump needs another bankrupt building with his name on it. Houston, on the other hand, considers the space program its contribution to posterity and the heart of a town built around science and engineering.

Will the controversy get Houston a shuttle over New York? Probably not. Unfortunately we are going to have to agree with Mayor Parker's statement on this one:

"If he could overlook the history of human spaceflight here in Houston, if he could overlook the fact that we have been the home to the astronaut corps since its beginning, if he could overlook the fact that the memorial services for the Challenger and Columbia disasters were here, … I don't know what else we can do to convince him."

See what Sen. Schumer said about Houston:

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good for the soul

Houston blooms as No. 3 best city for urban gardening in the U.S.

Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash

Let's get gardening, Houston

Folks in the Bayou City have plenty of reasons to develop a green thumb: Houston has harvested new acclaim as the No. 3 best city in America for urban gardening in 2026.

Lawnstarter's annual report, "2026’s Best Cities for Urban Gardening," compared 500 U.S. cities based on their respective public access to community gardens, climate, the prevalence of nurseries and gardening supply stores, and the number of regional gardening clubs and online groups.

Atlanta topped the list as the No. 1 best U.S. city, followed by Miami (No. 2); St. Louis (No. 4); and Jacksonville, Florida (No. 5).

For the uninitiated, urban gardening is the practice of growing plants or food in densely populated areas. Local examples include Blackwood Skyfarm, which is the largest rooftop farm in Texas, or Urban Harvest's 160 affiliate gardens – but backyards, apartment balconies, and vacant lots could also fit the bill. Additionally, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department has an Urban Garden Program where residents can volunteer to help locate sections of local parks to turn into community gardens.

Houston was No. 1 nationally in the "supplies" rank, and Lawnstarter said the city is home to 253 landscaping equipment shops – the most in the U.S. – and the second-highest number of gardening stores (276) and nurseries (132). The city also earned a respectable No. 6 rank for its "support and interest" of urban gardening, meaning many residents are searching terms like "community gardens," "vertical gardening," and others.

Here's how the city fared in the remaining three categories:

No. 115 – Public access
No. 157 – Climate
No. 390 – Private access (based on average yard size for starting an at-home garden)

Cathy Walker, president of the American Community Gardening Association, offered some tips for first-time gardeners to help get their hands in the soil: choose only a few easy growing plants to start; learn which growing zone you're in to determine the plants that will thrive in your area; watch how much sunlight your garden space gets daily; and prioritize keeping soil healthy with compost and mulch.

Ecoregions are also helpful for understanding what plants will thrive. Whereas zones are about temperature, ecoregions are much more detailed groups. Planters can learn about their ecoregion and get personalized growing tips from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation in its new native planting app, Wild Thumb.

Starting your own garden can also have a financial benefit, the report suggested. However, up-front costs can get high in gardening, so gardeners might have to stick to it for a few seasons to see savings.

"With grocery prices projected to rise by 3.1 percent in 2026, there’s never been a better time to grow your own food," the report's author wrote. "Estimates show that growing a 600-square-foot plot for fruits and vegetables can save you around $600 in a single season."

The top 10 best cities for urban gardening in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Atlanta
No. 2 – Miami
No. 3 – Houston
No. 4 – St. Louis
No. 5 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 6 – Orlando
No. 7 – Cincinnati
No. 8 – Fort Meyers, Florida
No. 9 – Tampa
No. 10 – Austin

urban gardening gardening houston