Chasing history

Houston cameraman is tracking Amelia Earhart: Heading into shark-infested waterson $2.2 million project

Discovery Channel producer Steve Schnee, left, with Houston-based cameraman DonFriedell on The Earhart Project expedition.
Courtesy Photo
When not on the road filming network news stories, the cameraman works with hiswife at Lisa Malosky Productions.
Photo by Michelle Watson/LastNightPics.com

Emmy Award-winning cameraman Don Friedell has had his share of interesting assignments in his 30 years behind the camera, but few have intrigued him as much as his current gig on The Earhart Project.

He's part of a Discovery Chanel team joining The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) expedition to the waters of the South Pacific where they hope to find the remains of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra. Their destination is Nikumaroro, formerly Gardner Island.

"He's done a lot of amazing things all over the world," Malosky says. "This ranks right up there for him."

Houston-based Friedell and wife Lisa Malosky have called a brief hiatus for Lisa Malosky Productions while he works this project. "He's done a lot of amazing things all over the world," Malosky says. "This ranks right up there for him."

The eight-day boat trip from Hawaii will culminate in 16 days exploring the island and shark-infested waters where Earhart's plane is believed to have gone down 75 years ago. It's a privately-funded $2.2 million project that the Discovery Channel will present as a documentary in August.

Friedell's work has apepared on 60 Minutes, Primetime Live, 20/20, Dateline NBC and PBS' Frontline. His most recent national Emmy was for Scott Pelley's 60 Minutes story "Snake Oil."

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H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).

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H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025