"F" for Fail

Hold your breath: Houston's air quality remains among worst in the nation

While Houston's air quality has improved in some respects, it still gets an "F" for levels of ozone or smog — the sixth worst in the nation.

Those findings were released Thursday in the 15th annual national air quality report by the American Lung Association. The report compiled air pollution data for the most recent years available (2010, 2011 and 2012) and found that while Harris County has improved in the areas of year-round and short-term particle pollution, it still lags in the critical area of ozone pollution, moving up from seventh place last year.

“The air in Houston is certainly cleaner than when the American Lung Association started the State of the Air Report 15 years ago," Jennifer Cofer, interim executive chief officer for the American Lung Association, Plains-Gulf Region, said in a statement. “The continued reduction of particle pollution-soot, smoke, dust-is due to cleaner diesel fleets and cleaner power plants to a large degree as well as some private/public partnerships on projects in Houston such as paving the roads near the Port of Houston. However, Houston still fails to meet the national standards for ozone (smog)."

The most recent findings show air quality declined in 2010-2012 across much of the nation, even though many areas reduced particle pollution, a pollutant recently found to cause lung cancer.

Especially alarming is that levels of ozone, a powerful respiratory irritant and the most widespread air pollutant, are higher than revealed in the previous year’s report. In fact, nearly five out of 10 people live where the air they breathe earned an "F."

The top cities graded "F" for ozone pollution are:

No. 1: Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif.

No. 2: Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, Calif.

No. 3: Bakersfield, Calif.

No. 4: Fresno-Madera, Calif.

No. 5: Sacramento-Roseville, Calif.

No. 6: Houston-The Woodlands, Texas

No. 7: Modesto-Merced, Calif.

No. 8: Washington, D.C.-Baltimore-Arlington

No. 9: Dallas-Fort Worth

No. 10: Las Vegas-Henderson, Nev.

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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.”