Only in Houston

Trump vs. Turtles, AI vs. Traffic, Meteors vs. Roofs

Star light, star bright, first chunk of space rock to smash a roof tonight.

By Meredith Nudo April 14, 2026 Published in the Summer 2026 issue of Houstonia Magazine

Can AI make Houston traffic better? If you’ve been paying attention to how the technology has actually been working, probably not.

You can measure how long someone has lived in Houston by how far their stare stretches beyond a thousand yards. It seems like every single day spawns some shiny new weirdness, fresher than an H-E-B butter tortilla and meaner than the parking lot grackles waiting outside to slice you up with a talon or four over some of the tortillas in question. Talking about it is therapeutic, though, so let’s gather together in our little Space City Healing Circle and express our feelings in a healthy, productive way, shall we?

It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

Well, actually…it was a meteorite. On March 21—less than two weeks before Artemis II launched toward the moon—NASA reported that a one-ton meteoroid, about three feet across, broke up in a fireball above the north part of the city, which “released an amount of energy equivalent to 26 tons of TNT into the atmosphere.” KPRC interviewed local homeowner Sherrie James, who claims a fragment smashed through her roof and into her daughter’s room. Luckily, nobody was harmed, but she did receive plenty of visits from local scientists. James also plans to sell the piece of meteorite. Considering gas prices these days, we admit we’re a little jealous of her good fortune, even if she has a roof hole to repair now.

One step closer to Skynet

In a move that makes perfect sense if your knowledge of tech news is relegated only to nonsensical buzzwords and venture capitalist word vomit, Houston City Council is considering implementing AI solutions to address traffic congestion issues, according to Houston Chronicle. AI, of course, stands for “artificial intelligence,” though only the first half of the phrase has proven itself accurate so far. Assuming this plan moves forward and, even more miraculously, AI actually does its job properly, the required data centers mean that Houstonians can look forward to even more precarious environmental stability and wild water consumption. Yay progress?

Surely, this will end well

Since not all of us are lucky enough to secure our futures with space rocks, a study by Texas Appleseed and United Way of Greater Houston noted that 14.4 percent of registered vehicles in Harris County roads are uninsured. Most of the participants stated cost as the major contributing factor behind why they decided to completely forgo coverage. Better dig up and double-check your own statements of benefits to make sure you’ve got uninsured motorist protections.

Torts for turts

President Trump is headed to court again. But not for 34 counts of falsifying business documents this time. Instead, the Turtle Island Restoration Network—whose Gulf Coast HQ is located in Galveston—plans to sue the administration for making oil and gas companies exempt from following the wildlife protections outlined in 1978 amendments to the Endangered Species Act. Per Chron, the decision to release fossil fuel drillers from environmental stewardship came last week, with “issues of national security” cited as the reason. The Turtle Island Restoration Network is joining with other conservation organizations like the Sierra Club, with the hope that critically endangered sea turtles, whales, and sturgeon may survive.

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