One-On-One With A Future NASA Astronaut

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/houston-native-nasa-astronaut-candidate-moon-mars-anna-menon/285-f65dfaa5-b91b-4aa4-b794-3b8472bde1ae 

My latest assignment at NASA's Johnson Space Center was for an introduction of the latest astronaut candidate class.  It's the first to have six women on a team of 10.  One of them is a Houston native with whom I got to do a one-on-one interview.  Like other astronauts (or future astronauts) I've interviewed, Anna Menon had no reservations about potentially going into space.  In fact, she told she would love to be the first woman to step foot on the Moon and, perhaps, the first human on Mars.  She will likely be part of future Artemis program missions.  This story was one of several over the course of three days at JSC focused on the upcoming Artemis II mission.   

Demolition Looms For Landmark Houston Theater

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/granada-theater-jensen-drive-being-demolished-food-pantry/285-c2a1b91e-b555-4851-8480-03595fcb511c

This is a story that I was particularly interested in given my love of architecture and history.  It concerns the fate of the 1949 Granada Theater in the Eastex-Jensen neighborhood of North Houston.  The long-vacant building sits on a larger site that's set to become a large-scale Catholic Charities family service center.  The organization claims that saving the theater is not feasible.  But that isn't stopping community members and others who held a protest the day I turned this story.  I used the event as a backdrop for my live shot.  

Mom Gets Emotional Over Daughter's After-School Attack

https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/aldine-isd-student-attacked-gears-road-video/285-83ce5848-8c1c-4ce3-9b41-20292de19046

This is a story that was the result of someone contacting us via our "newstips" email.  We often get story ideas through this method.  In this case, a mom was concerned after her 13-year-old daughter was attacked on her walk home from school.  Video of the incident was shared online.  That's something that upset the mother even further.  We had to consult our station attorney regarding usage of the video since we didn't know the original source other than it likely being another student.  I had to make sure I carefully worded the script to be transparent about the video.  We also blurred it since juveniles were involved.  The mom had a particular dramatic message for other parents.