On Thursday's Houston Matters: Houston has a new interim housing director amid a dramatic week in city politics. We learn more about why Mayor Sylvester Turner fired Tom McCasland, the previous director, who alleged the mayor steered Harvey relief funds for affordable housing to a preferred developer’s project.

Also this hour: Former Obama administration official and Rice alum Ben Rhodes talks about how he believes recent events in America could hurt democracy abroad. It's the subject of his book, After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made. He’s discussing it tonight at an event at the Asia Society.

Plus: On this month’s edition of The Bigger Picture, we discuss Clint Eastwood's new film Cry Macho and the evolution of masculinity on screen.

And we learn about efforts to establish a first-class institution of Latino art here.