By Amanda Hart Photo courtesy of Barrio Dogs, Inc. Houston has a notorious homeless animal population and, over the years, this problem has only become worse. Although homeless animals seem to wander all over the city, the problem appears to be of particular concern in Houston’s East End. Barrio Dogs, a grassroots nonprofit, was started by the concerned citizens of the neighborhood. The organization is not only feeding and housing these helpless animals but also reaching out to the community through education about proper animal care and the importance of spaying and neutering our pets. FPH caught up with Gloria Medina ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman As no one needs to be reminded this spring’s political conversation was dominated by the fight over public education funding, both here in Texas and across the nation. As the story unfolded one question kept buzzing around, the one question no one was asking: “Why?” As in why pick on education funding now after all we’ve been in tight budget spots before? Why are conservatives so intent on making it impossible for schools to do their job? Why has it come to this: teachers and parents taking to the streets to keep schools open? Admittedly at the ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman After word came out in early March that Texas Governor Rick Perry was blocking reporters from his twitter account Free Press decided to see if we could sign up. Not surprisingly we are among the few reporters in Texas that Rick Perry hasn’t gotten around to blocking. What is surprising is how little Rick Perry has to say on twitter. No one has ever accused Perry of being the most tech savvy guy, we were going to say high tech Texan, but then we realized Michael Garfield registered that shit in, like, 1994, but in the middle ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman Outside Love Elementary everything is prosaic; the sound of a Mariachi trumpet drifts east across Shepherd and down 13th Street from a used car lot dotted with US, Texas and Mexico flags. Timbergrove Little League’s White Socks practice run downs on the school baseball fields, and in the shadows cast by the booms of TV trucks a jogger stops to kick a soccer ball with a father teaching his two young sons to pass to the inside of your teammate’s feet. Inside Love Elementary things are not so pleasant.  Parents, holding signs and wearing t-shirts proudly proclaiming ... Read More »

By Alan Smithee Last week the National PTA released a statement endorsing the Common Core State Standards, which are standards developed by 48 states and the District of Columbia for teaching math and language to students in grades K-12. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal  the standard is a blueprint for education, it  “doesn’t tell teachers exactly what to teach or how to teach but lays out broad goals for student achievement.” The Journal articles states that if these documents are adopted they “could trigger wide-scale changes to state tests, textbooks and teacher-education programs nationwide.” Well, not quite nationwide. Care ... Read More »