Regulating short-term rentals (Dec. 10, 2024)

Houston Matters

On Tuesday's show: Houston City Council is considering potential regulations for short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo. News 88.7 reporter Dominic Anthony Walsh explains what they're discussing.

Also this hour: The Texans’ Aziz Al-Shaair has been suspended three games for his blow to the head of sliding quarterback Trevor Lawrence. It came the same week a new study was released finding longer ice hockey careers may increase the risks of developing CTE. Some point to the need for better athletic equipment (improvements in helmets, for instance) as a way to reduce those risks. Others believe the more equipment, the more likely athletes are to hit harder. We discuss that debate and whether better protective equipment, better rules, or changes in attitudes towards contact sports can really yield fewer injuries.

Then, the family of Austin Tice, a Houston journalist and U.S. Marine Corps veteran kidnapped in Syria more than a dozen years ago, is making a fresh push with the Biden administration to secure his freedom. The Tices planned to go to the White House on Friday to meet with the National Security Council. In light of developments in Syria and how they might affect this story, we revisit a 2014 conversation with Tice’s parents, Marc and Debra.

And Americana singer Robert Earl Keen brings his annual Christmas show to House of Blues on Dec. 19. We listen back to a 2014 conversation with him about his holiday shows and his foray into bluegrass.