This Week's Hot Headlines

Beloved Houston NY-styled pizza joint's triumphant reopening heats up week's top stories

Romano's Pizza reopened this week.

Courtesy of Romano's

Editor's note: It's time to recap the top stories on CultureMap from this past week.

1. Houston's most authentic New York pizzeria serves up reopening date. The restaurant may look different, but the food, thankfully, is exactly the same.

2. Ken Hoffman perfectly predicts the future of the beloved Astrodome. Our columnist would like to see the Dome either be fixed up or torn down, but he's skeptical that either will happen.

3. Where to eat in Houston right now: 10 new restaurants for posh dining and diverse dishes. This month's group of new restaurants include the newcomers at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the latest project from the couple behind Oporto.

4. Meet the couple behind Houston's cult-favorite burger spot, plus fresh Anglo-Indian fare in The Heights. On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," the couple who own Burger-Chan discuss the status of their new location and so much more.

5. Massive west Houston water park makes a splash with big beach bash. The Welcome Back Beach Bash features live music, strolling in-park entertainment, and family-friendly activities.

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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.”