National Voter Registration Day is tomorrow, which is a great reminder to check your voter registration status! We have a handy toolkit so that you can make sure you’re prepared for what will be on the ballot this time around. 

We’ll be seeing you in person on Sept. 22 for On the Ballot: Courier Texas Live! 

But that’s not all—we want to give you the most hands-on and engaging experience possible when it comes to shaping the future of the great state of Texas. 

Our On the Ballot event is coming up, where you’ll hear dialogue from Texas politicians, content creators, and others moderated by renowned journalist Don Lemon. 

Come out to this jam-packed evening and say hi to me and the rest of Courier Texas. See you at POST Houston on Sept. 22, where doors open at 3:00 p.m.! More details to come. 

A story worth sharing with your neighbor

A Houston-area library card can get you free trips, grow your garden, and teach you about your family history. (Anna Raj/Courier HTX)

Registering for a Houston Public Library (HPL) or Harris County Public Library (HCPL) card can get you free access to tools, machines, workshops, classes, and field trips. 

We listed a few of these services earlier in the year, but there’s so much more to know about what your local branch offers. With over 48 libraries in the Houston area, there’s no need to pay for music subscriptions, purchase expensive equipment like 3D printers, or spend money on gardening tools and seeds. 

Houston’s free public libraries function as spaces where local communities can gather and gain access to resources that may otherwise be out of reach.

Support local journalism today.

We’re so glad you’re here. Through Sept. 30, we’re raising funds to help Courier Texas keep bringing you the local stories that matter most to our neighbors.

If you enjoy this newsletter and value the work we do, consider chipping in today. Any amount helps—and we’re grateful for every bit of support.

Thanks, as always, for reading and being part of the Courier Texas community.

Houston’s food and art news

Listening parties are taking off in Houston, creating community and powering the local music market. (Anna Raj/Courier HTX) 

🎨 This fall, Houston will host Untitled, Art—an international art fair planned for a weekend in October. But Houston’s art scene is bigger than a visiting festival. Outside of the fair, here are a variety of local art shows and gallery walks that should be on your list. 

🥪 A restaurant group that used to dominate the Houston food scene is now completely gone, their last restaurant closing this week. Find out what happened. 

🎶 These local listening parties are uniting music fans and fueling Houston’s oldest independent record store. Cactus Music’s free events allow fans to find each other through their favorite songs.

News about work and labor across Houston.

Houston construction workers are facing increased risk of injury and death as a new bill makes its way through Congress. (MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images)

As the summers get hotter, outdoor workers face heat-related injuries and even death because there are no federal or state protections keeping them safe. 

The state ranks first in heat-related worker deaths, with more than 300 Texans dying of heat exposure in 2023—the highest number since it began tracking these deaths in 1989. Even if you take work out of the equation, heat-related deaths in the US rose from an average of 700 per year between 2004 and 2018 to a staggering 1,700 yearly average between 2018 and 2025. In 2023, 562 of those deaths were in Texas.

On top of increasingly dangerous heat across the country, Texas has been impacted by a significant heat wave this summer, with record-breaking temperatures expanding from Texas and Oklahoma all the way to California. The increased heat is the result of accelerated climate change, which scientists say is making Texas hotter as each year passes. 

As a result, the heat index levels in many Texas cities have broken records this summer, and because the US doesn’t have a workplace heat standard, outdoor workers have had to labor in the sun with minimal protections.  

We talked to Texas’ workers about what protections they think they should have. 

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Anna Raj and edited by Crystal Niforos

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