For the first time, President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night (Feb. 28, 2017). Plus the Texas Legislature continued into its eighth week.

On this edition of Houston Matters, we convene our weekly political roundup to discuss the those and other political stories happening at the national, state and local level.

Joining us to offer their analysis this week are Jay Aiyer, assistant political science professor at Texas Southern University, and Andrew Schneider, politics and government reporter for News 88.7

Also this hour…

The Full Menu

March is a month of madness, of both the college basketball and St. Patrick’s Day variety. It’s also a month when basketball and hockey teams make their push for the playoffs, while MLS gets rolling, and Major League Baseball commences with spring training.

In other words, it’s a busy time for sports – and for sports bars. Our gaggle of foodies (David Leftwich, Katharine Shilcutt, and Eric Sandler) discuss their favorite sports bars and pub fare in a sports-minded edition of The Full Menu.

High Noon-Westerns

Tonight (March 1, 2017) at 7 at Brazos Bookstore, journalist Glenn Frankel will discuss his new book about the classic Hollywood western High Noon. The film, of course, stars Gary Cooper as a small town sheriff who finds himself up against the clock, some bad guys and his own conscience. It was released during the Hollywood blacklist and was penned by Carl Foreman, a former Communist who had to testify before the House Un-American Activities Commission as filming was taking place.

Foreman ultimately saw it as a parable about the blacklist. We talk with Frankel about this lesser-known aspect of what is today considered one of the great classics of the Western genre. Then area film critic Joe Leydon joins us to discuss other famous Westerns, which often sought to present lessons in morality. We also discuss why, in time, this popular genre fell out of favor in Hollywood.

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