On today’s “Hello Houston,” Ernie, Frank, and Celeste talk with former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke who joins us in the first hour of the show to discuss his Harris County town hall tonight, the Texas Legislature, the Democratic party’s future, and more.

Also, in the first hour, we relaunch Ernie’s award-winning series InnerVIEWS and hear part of his conversation with Grammy Award-winning opera singer Ana María Martínez ahead of her concert this Saturday at the Hobby Center. For the full interview, click here. 

In the second hour, our hosts talk about the top stories of the day including HPD getting rid of ticket quotas, a Texas bill that would prevent cities or counties from holding a gun buyback program, and Houston’s big barbeque win.

Then, we learn more about the Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival, or HAAPIFEST, which begins tomorrow. We hear from HAAPIFEST director Tengah Nguyen, HAAPIFEST co-founder Cecilia Pham, and Houston filmmaker My Trinh, who directed a short film that will be showcased during the festival.

Plus, we dive into our weekly “Current Obsessions,” our regular Thursday feature where we share our pop culture recommendations.