How about that high-speed rail?

Houston leads the nation in super commuters — including 51,900 who drive to workfrom Dallas

As if the need for an efficient, high speed rail system in Texas weren't clear enough, take a look at these figures.

A study published by the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service, ranks Harris County at No. 1, nationwide, for super-commuters in the workforce.

The study defines a super-commuter as "a person who works in the central county of a given metropolitan area, but lives beyond the boundaries of that metropolitan area, commuting long distance by air, rail, car, bus, or a combination of modes," once or twice weekly.

Researchers found that super-commuting is becoming a trend in eight of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

Researchers found that this method is becoming a trend in eight of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

But even in a time when advances in digital communications make mobile offices both practical and commonplace, Harris County's numbers seem astonishing: In 2009, super-commuters made up an impressive 13.2 percent of the workforce, or 251,000 workers — a 98.3 percent increase since 2002.

According to the study, 51,900 of those workers made the miserable trip from Dallas-Fort Worth (a 218 percent increase from 2002) to Harris County jobs, 35,400 traveled from Austin (a 115 percent increase) and 31,100 came from San Antonio (a 116 percent increase).

Dallas-Fort Worth also saw an increase in super-commuters during the study years. Houstonians travel furthest and most, with 44,300 super-commuters (or 3.3 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth workforce), followed by Austin with 32,400 super-commuters and San Antonio with 13,800.

So, how about that $10 billion high speed rail line between Dallas and Houston?

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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.”