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Joy Sewing

Joy Sewing

Houston Chronicle

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Our politicians are aging. It's time for Houston's next generation of leaders.

U.S. Rep. Al Green speaks against Texas redistricting efforts at a news conference at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Thursday, July 31, 2025. The deaths...

15.01.2026 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Houston, let’s talk more. That’s my wish for 2026.

Houston Chronicle columnist Joy Sewing with New York journalist Juan Michael Porter II at ChopnBlok in Houston on Jan. 6, 2026. Porter is one of the...

14.01.2026 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Houston finally has rules for short-term rentals. Will they stop the violence?

Five people were injured at an Airbnb shooting on Live Oak Street on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. You could call it a grim irony: As fireworks lit up the...

08.01.2026 40

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Houston’s Third Ward carried the city’s struggles and hopes in 2025. Here's how

A cyclist travels north up the Columbia Tap Rail-Trail past the "Sacred Struggles/Vibrant Justice" mural honoring Houston civil rights leaders on...

25.12.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

How a backyard garden connected me to Dave Ward

Laura and Dave Ward at Houston Children's Charity's 22nd annual gala. When I started my backyard garden last spring and posted about it on social...

23.12.2025 30

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

What can Houston do about bodies found in bayous this year? Here are some ideas.

Austin Watershed Protection Department employees work to clean up Lady Bird Lake.      Site Code: AAS     Status: Archived High-rise residential,...

18.12.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

A plant shop and a music studio in Third Ward? Absolutely.

I’ve written before about the many nightclubs and bars in Third Ward and how a handful of bad actors have made life difficult for nearby residents....

16.12.2025 40

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Houston needs more nurses — so why is Trump making it harder to become one?

Luis Molinar, BSN, celebrates his graduation from the St. David’s School of Nursing at Texas State University on a drive-by ceremony on the Round...

04.12.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Exclusive: Melanie Lawson to retire from ABC13 after 43 years

Melanie Lawson at the Heart Association's annual Heart Ball at the Hilton Americas Houston on Feb. 15, 2020. In 2024, ABC 13 anchor Melanie Lawson...

27.11.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Texas A&M’s crackdown on race, gender discussions is anti-American. Here's why

A man holds a LED candle and an American flag at a Texas A&M University campus vigil. As the Texas A&M University System — with its 12 universities...

20.11.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Why Greg Abbott’s TSU investigation looks like an anti-DEI power play

Students walk across campus at Texas Southern University on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023 in Houston.  Looking at Texas Southern University's recent...

14.11.2025 40

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

When floods come, Houston rallies. But when elections come, we vanish

A voter leaves a polling place at West Gray Multiservice Center in Houston in 2024. If the fate of the world relied on voting, there would still be...

06.11.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

SNAP cuts hit Texas foster kids: ‘We can’t rely on the government’

Katie Pham works while a free kids menu is displayed for SNAP recipients at Wizards Sports Cafe in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, Thursday,...

05.11.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

UTHealth professor’s slur shows racism still infects medical training

It doesn't require much effort to find out how to pronounce a word correctly — a quick internet search will do.  Take Aspergillus niger, for...

31.10.2025 30

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

With 24 bodies found in Houston bayous this year, who’s in charge of safety?

A view along Buffalo Bayou of I-69 and downtown is shown during a boat tour with Art & Environmental Architecture in Houston Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025....

30.10.2025 30

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

NY Times' Whitmire article misses much about Houston

It feels good when Houston is in the national spotlight for all the right reasons. Our city isn't perfect, but there's a lot of good here.  So...

25.10.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Spring Branch ISD lawsuit shows the harm of a gutted Voting Rights Act

Virginia Elizondo is photographed in her home on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Houston. As early voting begins for the Nov. 4 elections, I want to speak...

22.10.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

For state Rep. Gene Wu, the hardest part of public service is missing his kids

At right, state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, rests his eyes during a debate about congressional redistricting in August. At left, Wu and his wife, Miya...

19.10.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Emancipation Park lacks family appeal, and an $18.5M renovation won’t help

Faye Reese, 7, enjoys a swing at Emancipation Park in Houston on Monday, May 31, 2021. An Emancipation Park sign seen on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in...

16.10.2025 30

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Marianne Williamson brings a message back to Houston: Love must get louder

Then-Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson speaks at the Faith, Politics and the Common Good Forum at Franklin Jr. High School, Jan....

12.10.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

30,000 workers sidelined — and Houston does what Washington D.C. won’t

Furloughed and unpaid federal employees rally outside Senator Ted Cruz’s office to protest the government shutdown on Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, in...

09.10.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Houston deserves immediate answers after multiple bodies are found in bayous

Onlookers watch as the Houston Police Department recovers a vehicle and the body of a teenaged girl from Brays Bayou in 2022. The car, carrying three...

02.10.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

To Houston, with Joy: A newsletter for a city that’s never simple

Houston Chronicle columnist Joy Sewing poses for a portrait in the Chronicle studio in Houston, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. This is an excerpt from...

28.09.2025 30

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Columbia Tap Trail's $7.5 million 'safety' improvements include no stop signs

A cyclist rides along the historic Columbia Tap Trail on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 in Houston.  The Columbia Tap Bike Trail, which travels through...

25.09.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Delayed pension checks have some ex-Houston employees on food stamps

Javier Medina, seated next to his father Julian Medina, tried to get help from the Texas Workforce Commission, but was ineligible. Other ex-city...

17.09.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Gutted Houston Latino Learning Center falls victim to cutthroat Texas politics

Ceiling damage is visible in a classroom and kitchen at the Latino Learning Center in Houston, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. If you want to know what it's...

11.09.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Hundreds of Houston retirees still wait for checks as pension delays drag on

Houston Mayor John Whitmire is photographed during a July 2025 city council meeting. Two weeks ago, I reported that some Houston city employees who...

29.08.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Hurricane Katrina still haunts Houston, 20 years later

Approximately 18,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees packed into the Reliant Astrodome for their third day in the stadium on September 3, 2005 in Houston.....

27.08.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Houston’s ‘civility’ rules push homelessness from downtown to our doorsteps

A woman sleeps on a Houston homeowner's walkway in August. Since Mayor Whitmire enacted a 24-hour civility ordinance for downtown, Riverside Terrace...

22.08.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Exclusive: City employees who took Whitmire's early retirement haven't been paid

Houston city administrators and elected officials stand with Mayor John Whitmire as he discusses details of his balanced budget in Houston in May,...

15.08.2025 30

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

300,000 Black women out of work should be a signal to all Texans

Carolina Wilson, with the United States Postal Service, left, talks with prospective job applicants at a 2024 job fair in Sunrise, Fla.  The news...

07.08.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Trump’s blatant gerrymandering is a call to action on racist Texas politics

My kids have gone with me to enough community meetings to know that we show up because our voices matter. I've told them so a thousand times. In this...

02.08.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Donald Trump's Medicaid cuts could be a death sentence for HIV-positive Texans

Juan Michael Porter spent nearly three months this year without his HIV medication because of an insurance snag. It costs $4,216 a month. Marc Cohen...

14.07.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

How Washington Ave. residents are leading the fight against nightclub mayhem

Editor's Note: This is the third column in a three-part series reporting on problems with bar and club activity in Houston's neighborhoods. Read Part...

03.07.2025 30

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Third Ward is fed up with ‘turn-ups’ and street takeovers. Houston needs a plan.

Residents say they are doing their part. Still, it's not enough to quell the effects of the wild partying along Emancipation Avenue in Third Ward that...

02.07.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing

Houston's Third Ward residents fight nightlife noise, trash and chaos

Lizette Cobb wasn't sure how to kill the stench of boiled crawfish shells that someone dumped in front of her house. She tried cat litter. It helped a...

01.07.2025 20

Houston Chronicle

Joy Sewing