Star Volunteer

Renée Zellweger visits Texas to help animals find new homes after Harvey devastation

Renee Zellweger volunteering at Austin Pets Alive

Renée Zellweger, with a volunteer at Austin Pets Alive, also had stopped in Houston to help out animal rescue organizations.

Photo courtesy of KVUE News

Homeward bound! 70 cats and dogs are going on the trip of a lifetime to find their fur-ever homes in California.

Since Hurricane Harvey, local shelters have been packed with more and more animals. So, volunteers with Austin Pets Alive, Houston Pets Alive, MAD Dog Rescue, and Lucy's Pet Foundation are sending animals to California that were in shelters before the hurricane hit.

One volunteer made the opposite trip from California to Houston and Austin to help out.

"I was in Los Angeles and like everybody, I was just watching it and thinking well what are we going to do?" said Katy native and Oscar-winning actress, Renée Zellweger. "I'm a Texan and I just wanted to find a place where I could contribute. It didn't feel right to just send a donation. That works and everything but I'm from here so it didn't feel right to just stay home and not be part of a team."

Read more about Zellweger and other volunteers in the full story from our news partners at ABC13 and watch the video below:

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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.”