By: Amanda Hart There is a cat serial killer on the loose in the loop. Since 2024, multiple cats have been mutilated and left for the owners to find in the Heights, Montrose, and River Oaks neighborhoods.  The most recent attack was this past June and occurred in the neighborhood of Lazybrook in the Heights. The victim’s family cat was cut in half and part of the cat was positioned in front of their home in the street and the other half was located ten days later a few blocks away.  The police acknowledged that the cat was mutilated ... Read More »

By: Amanda Hart The Station Museum of Contemporary Arts presents: Liminal Space Contemporary Music Ensemble. Liminal Space is presenting a program of works by American expatriate composer Frederic Rzewski, featuring the politically-charged minimalist masterpieces Coming Together and Attica, inspired by found text related to the 1971 Attica State Prison riot. Liminal Space is: George Heathco, electric guitar and Luke Hubley, marimba and percussion with Special Guest Misha Penton, speaker Liminal Space seeks to develop and present a contemporary alternative within the Houston community, and to serve as a bridge to connect those on the fringe, distanced by the boundaries of genre and style. ... Read More »

Photo Credit: Paul Hester/Akbar Baloch By: Amanda Hart Voices Breaking Boundaries, a local grassroots nonprofit arts organization, is putting on a “Homes and Histories” walkable art show this Saturday in Houston’s historic Freedmen’s Town. The show will begin at 2pm and end at 4pm on Saturday, December 1st. Artists will include Akbar Baloch, Tina Dismukes, Amanda Hart, Paul Hester, Jibran Jawaid, Autumn Knight, Babette Niemel, Robert Pruit, Sehba Sarwar, Kaneem Smith, Koumankele African Dance & Drum Ensemble and many more. Voices Breaking Boundaries (VBB) had this to say about the event: VBB invites you to cross borders in a journey ... Read More »

By Amanda Hart Photo courtesy of Tony Diaz Tony Diaz is a Houston poet, novelist, activist, leader, professor, visionary and all around badass. He has been an active Houston community member for many years now. Diaz recently set out on a new adventure, Librotraficante, in which he travels the country organizing and creating banned book libraries. In Arizona, where ashes of institutional racism are still smoldering, Tony and his fellow book smugglers took a creative and visionary approach to breaking down those walls and replacing them with hope - hope for a better tomorrow for us and, more importantly, our ... Read More »

By Amanda Hart Illustration by Blake Jones Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst recently appointed some rather craptastic people to some rather powerful positions. Our very own Houston Senator, Dan Patrick, was appointed to chair of the Senate Education Committee. Patrick has been an outspoken supporter for implementing school vouchers (or school choice) into our public school system. Shortly after Patrick’s appointment he touted at a press conference, “Our base has wanted us to pass photo voter ID (law) for years, and we did it. They’ve wanted us to pass school choice (vouchers) for years. This is the year to do ... Read More »

Illustration by Blake Jones A look at how proposed voter ID legislation is attempting to silence the minority vote By Amanda Hart This past month a Federal District Court, along with a little help from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, thankfully struck down the recently passed Texas voter ID law, SB 14. The law would have required voters to show a government-issued identification to be able to cast a ballot this election cycle. A letter from the Justice Department to the state of Texas clearly outlines why Texas can’t have nice things, “We conclude that the total number of ... Read More »

Illustration by Blake Jones By: Amanda Hart It has been a rough few years to own a vagina. In 2024 alone, there were 711 anti-choice measures enacted across the country.  Texas, as we all know, didn’t exactly wave its “We <3 Vagina” flag. We lost the Texas Women’s Health Program effectively leaving low-income women without access to birth control and life-saving cancer screenings all because the federal government would not allow our legislators to exclude Planned Parenthood from the service providers list. Just this year, 430,000 women will be left without birth control, cervical exams, breast exams, STD testing, and ... Read More »

Consider this a methadone clinic for the secessionist itch that so many Texans are dying to scratch. Read More »

"Freedmen’s Town is the last remaining intact freed slave town in the entire country. When you consider how much of it has already been demolished, the importance of preserving what is left becomes undeniable." Read More »

By Amanda Hart Photos by Erica Raggett A new coffee shop recently opened in the Heights, and it’s serving up a lot more than just your daily dose of caffeine. A 2nd Cup and its creator, Erica Raggett, are taking on human trafficking one cup of coffee at a time. They are located at 1035 E. 11th St., and their current hours of operation are Sundays from 8am-2pm and Tuesdays from 4pm-10pm. Free Press Houston sat down with Erica to talk about how A 2nd Cup came to be and what they hope to accomplish here in Houston. FPH: Who ... Read More »