hail to the champs

Houston Astros head to White House to celebrate World Series win with President Joe Biden

Your Houston Astros have a meeting with President Biden.

Photo courtesy of Houston Astros

For the second time in five years, the Houston Astros are headed to the White House to toast another World Series title.

The White Houseannounced on Monday, July 17 that the 2022 World Series champs will make their official World Championship visit to the White House on Monday, August 7 to greet President Joe Biden and staffers.

Die-hard fans, not to worry: August 7 is a scheduled off for the team.

One of the most pivotal Astros players to hoist the 2017 and 2022 World Series trophy is Jose Altuve, who made headlines in 2018 for what was described as his "mean mugging," awkward photos after President Donald Trump commented on the All Star's height during the ceremony. The president and Altuve also exchanged an awkward non-handshake (see below).

Awkward moment between Donald Trump and José Altuve. #Astros pic.twitter.com/BQHgclZEYa
— Richard W. (@IceManNYR) March 12, 2018

"The president was talking," plainly explained Altuve after the ceremony in response to the alleged awkwardness. "What do you want me to do? I was just standing there listening. It was an honor to be there. If I didn't want to go, I just wouldn't go."

"I'm (standing) behind the president, probably one of the most important guys in the world," he told reporters. "I can't be laughing or doing stupid things while he's talking. I need to listen."

Altuve is one of just three Astros from the 2017 squad to make the trip, as his teammatesAlex Bregman and Lance McCullers, Jr. are also invited to the White House. We'll see how his handshake with the leader of the free world goes this time around.

As for the two other OG 'Stros, here's hoping Bregman hand delivers a case of Breggy Bomb products to the president, along with a "Bury Me in The H" T-shirt from McCullers.

Just who was the very first World Series team to visit the White House? That honor goes to the 1925 tradition of World Champion Washington Senators, who didn't have to travel far from their home base of Washington, D.C. to visit the White House in 1924.

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).