Chicago does it again

Lost in freight: Houston drops in shipping hub rankings

Whether it be by land, by air or by water, Houston ships things to where they need to be, quickly.

However, in such an industrial city where the importing/exporting business is booming, oil is king, and airports are everywhere, the Bayou City somehow managed to slip in shipping standing. Houston dropped from the second best logistics, distribution and shipping hub in the United States to the third in Business Facilities magazine's recently-released latest rankings.

Though Houston is ranked third overall (now behind rival Chicago and No. 1 Memphis, home base of global shipping giant FedEx), the Port of Houston has handled more foreign waterborne tonnage than any other port in the United State for nearly 15 years.

Business Facilities rankings praise Houston as a robust shipping aerotropolis, since it is served by three major airports, including George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Houston’s major airline hubs could not compete, however, with the FedEx headquarters.

Memphis, ranked first for the second consecutive year, topped the charts because of its monster aerotropolis, its major railroads and highways, and its port, which is currently expanding into the Panama Canal.

“Memphis has an unsurpassed combination of air, rail, land and water shipping possibilities,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jack Rogers in a press release. “When it absolutely, positively has to get there, it usually goes through Memphis.”

Houston could someday top the charts again though. Laying along the proposed Interstate 69 NAFTA superhighway linking Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, the city could be able to transport more goods throughout the western world than ever before if the project's completed.

2011 Metro Rankings of the Top Logistics/ Distribution/ Shipping Hubs:

1. MEMPHIS

2. CHICAGO

3. HOUSTON

4. LOS ANGELES

5. NEW ORLEANS

6. PORT AUTHORITY OF NY/NJ

7. PHILADELPHIA

8. MOBILE

9. CHARLESTON

10. SAVANNAH

unspecified

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.”