Hometown Glory

Somebody's watching you: Houston ranked a top city for snoopy surveillancecameras

From 1984 to Person of Interest, the fear of an all-knowing, all-seeing government is part of the modern experience. Big Brother doesn't live everywhere, yet. But he's apparently quite at home in Houston, which was ranked the No. 2 most watched city in America by Men's Health.

Houston was second only to Washington D.C. in the level of civic surveillance. Men's Health measured the numbers of cameras in the top 100 metropolitan areas, gathering data on traffic cameras, red light cameras, police surveillance cameras as well as the rates of authorized government wiretaps, because Uncle Sam isn't just watching, he's listening, too.

So, um, when it comes to being watched, is there something we don't know?

Strangely, there doesn't seem to be much correlation between legitimate fear of terrorism and high surveillance. Aside from D.C. and Houston, the top 10 camera-friendly cities includes such hotbeds of crime as Denver, Cheyenne, Mont., and Virginia Beach. New York sits at No. 32, just behind Salt Lake City.

At first Houston remaining at the top of the list seems like an oversight. Houston hasn't had any functional red light cameras since August 2011, though some of Men's Health sources still list Houston as having over 150 cameras monitoring intersections. Houston even finished above Dallas (No. 6) and Austin (No. 7), both of which have red light camera programs still in effect.

So that has to be an outdated ranking, right? Yet Houston's red light cameras were taken down only two months after a similar program was ended in Los Angeles. That city came in towards the bottom of the list, at No. 81.

So, um, when it comes to being watched, is there something we don't know?

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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.”