This Week's Hot Headlines

Best food city and Caitlyn Jenner's Houston visit top this week's most popular stories

Editor’s note: It's time to recap the most popular stories on CultureMap from this past week:

1. Houston tops New York in national critic's rankings of Best Food Cities in America.Houstonians know our city offers great food, and now the rest of the country is learning that, too. Read where Washington Post critic Tom Sietsema ranked Houston on his list of best food cities in America.

2. Behind the scenes details of Caitlyn Jenner's Houston visit: Most fascinating person gets real.2015's Most Fascinating Person dined and prayed during a surprise visit to the Bayou City.

3. Bam! Emeril Lagasse stirs up the kitchen at Houston restaurant — orders nearly everything on the menu. The famed celebrity chef had a whale of a good time at Reef.

4. Houston's best deli spreading the matzoh ball joy to West University and beyond.Restaurateur Ziggy Gruber spilled details about his new location.

5. Barrels of fun at unique new icehouse bar with 100 whiskeys and bourbon on tap. Get an inside peek at the new Heights-area bar, Eight Row Flint.

6. Charity Challenge spotlight: Working to promote healthy eating habits among children. Recipe for Success if one of 12 deserving nonprofits competing for a grand prize in the CultureMap Charity Challenge as they all raise awareness for worthy causes. You can vote for any of there here.

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema was impressed with Caracol.

Photo by Eric Kayne/Courtesy of BBVA Compass

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema was impressed with Caracol.

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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.”