breakfast of champions

Houston Olympic superstar Simone Biles shares new Wheaties box cover with her legion of fans

Fans of the breakfast of champions — and actual champions — are in luck, as a Houston-born G.O.A.T. has landed on the cover of an iconic cereal brand.

Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, has once again graced the cover of Wheaties. Houston's G.O.A.T. revealed the box on her social media channels on Thursday, January 19. She first appeared on a Wheaties box cover in June 2022.

"It’s here!!! My second @wheatiescereal box is rolling out in stores now. Keep an eye out for the new design in a cereal aisle near you," she wrote on a post that netted more than 36,000 likes.

Biles unveiled the Wheaties box cover in Houston at an appropriately titled "Breakfast of Champions" at the World Champions Centre in her hometown of Spring on Thursday. The event was hosted by Friends of the Children–Houston(Biles is an ambassador for the nonprofit), a group that helps children in the foster care system.

Friends of the Children's mission is especially dear to Biles, who was adopted by her grandparents and made a point to pose for photos with grinning young fans in the system. She participated in a Q&A session and was accompanied by her fiancé Jonathan Owens, a rising star safety for the Houston Texans.

"I am honored to be featured on my second Wheaties box and grateful for the opportunity to highlight Friends of the Children, an extraordinary organization that is working to make sure other youth have access to mentors and the support to dream big in life," Biles said at the event. "I hope my journey can be an example to all children that anything is possible, and I'm excited to help expand access to resources and mentorship in my hometown with the launch of the Friends of the Children—Houston chapter!"

Photo courtesy of Friends of the Children Houston

Boasting seven Olympic gold medals, 25 World Championship medals, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President Joe Biden in 2022, Biles was the center of a global debate when she took a self-imposed break during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which raised awareness on the importance of mental self care. Her public crusade against convicted predator Larry Nassar shed light on the plight of victims everywhere.

Happily engaged to Owens and living her best life, she also launched a clothing line with athleisure brand Athleta.

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).