CultureMap Video

City voice: Top video stories by Houstonians for Houstonians uncover hidden highlights

. . . and what Houstonians experience when exploring the city's main urban waterway, the Buffalo Bayou.

What do a story about personal redemption, a heroic quest for a holy snack and sushi etiquette have in common? They are among the current top stories in Houston's Voice, a user-generated video community for Houstonians by Houstonians.

Every couple of weeks, we at CultureMap will host our own short news video show, three minutes or less, featuring what's trending on this growing interactive network, so you can keep up with the latest easyly, quickly and conveniently — because local matters and because we know time is money.

CultureMap's Whitney Radley anchors this first episode, during which she talks about basketball hall of famer Calvin Murphy, an initiative at Houston Independent School District that helps teachers sharpen their classroom management skills, what awaits to be discovered along Buffalo Bayou, a lively festival that displays Houston's greatest asset and how Houston's Voice and Houston Media Source are working together give local producers a wider audience.

Editor's note: Hidden Houston, an interactive multimedia series, aims to reveal the many things that are unique about the Bayou City and its surrounding areas.

CultureMap's Whitney Radley anchors the first of a series of highlight videos featuring what's trending on Houston's Voice.

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Beyonce Super Bowl

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.”

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