Houston families of cancer patients say the exorbitant cost of parking, which can quickly reaches hundreds of dollars, is a top economic concern.
Maggie Gordon
Maggie Gordon is the Landing's senior storyteller who has worked at newspapers across the country, including the Stamford Advocate and the Houston Chronicle. She has covered everything from the hedge fund industry and education to craft beer and alligator hunting. No matter the topic, Maggie’s favorite stories combine quirky characters, adventure and humanity. Bonus points if she can find a love story. Maggie grew up on a cow farm in upstate New York, and graduated from nearby Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. These days you can find her at her home in Houston’s East End – or on Twitter.
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Houston’s trash pickup is overwhelmed. A monthly trash fee could fix that.
The average resident can be forgiven for not knowing the cost of tossing a year’s worth of trash. Unlike most major cities, which charge monthly trash fees, Houston funds its solid waste management department from the general fund.
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What to do if you’re one of the million Texans losing Medicaid starting next week
Don’t panic. That’s the advice Stacey Thompson has been dishing out on repeat for the past several weeks amid her phone’s constant rings, pings and dings. As a health care navigator, Thompson and her colleagues at the local nonprofit Civic Heart Community Services have been fielding calls from a growing number of Texans who will […]
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Gulfton students deserve better sidewalks on their dangerous journey to school
Hundreds of Wisdom students live in Gulfton’s massive apartment complexes, separated from school by U.S. 59 and Westpark Tollway. While the physical barriers can make Gulfton feel a world apart from the high school on Hillcroft, they’re less than 2 miles away.
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How do you measure time in Houston, a city without seasons?
For everything there is a season. That’s what they say anyway, in songs and scripture. But this is Houston, a seasonless city where fall and spring exist as concepts rather than on the calendar. How do you measure time in a place where it’s so easy to forget which month you’re currently winding through? I’ve […]
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Baytown Habitat for Humanity wants to build more homes – but it needs applicants
BAYTOWN – Whitney Williams can swing a hammer. She can wield a circular saw. And she’s an ace with a drill. But on Sept. 24, what she really needed was a stick. It was her 37th birthday, and as she stood outside the house she was helping to build – the house that will soon […]
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Secrecy around Galveston County health care switch unfair to beneficiaries
Karen and David Terrell have been seeing the same primary care doctors for 16 years. The couple trusts their care team intrinsically after a doctor caught David’s cancer during routine blood work. “If it hadn’t been for them,” Karen says, “we wouldn’t have caught the leukemia in time.” She doesn’t want to start over with […]
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As the East End changes, what do newcomers owe the historic neighborhood?
This is the first in our occasional “Developing Divide” series, in which columnist Maggie Gordon tackles gentrification in Houston’s East End. If you have a story to share about East End gentrification, fill out our form at the end of this story. I live in the East End. Let me be more specific: I am […]
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Pulling up a seat at the table for my first iftar
Victoria Pool-Ali and I are in the middle of a meaningful conversation about motherhood and religion when the clock ticks forward by one minute. It’s 7:42 p.m. “Hey,” her husband, Adam Ali, says from across the Pasadena couple’s kitchen. “I don’t mean to interrupt,” he says politely. “But it’s time.” Meaningful as our conversation was, […]
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What does Curious George have to do with the Houston Zoo's sea lions? More than you'd think.
Headlights cut into the darkness, two bright, bulbous eyes illuminating Krista Webber’s silhouette as she crouches and coos, tossing herring into a wooden crate. It’s the first morning of spring break, and in a few hours, this place will quite literally be a zoo. But at this chilly, predawn moment, all eyes – including the […]