A recap of Houston's 2025
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Goodbye and good night, 2025. Photo: Shafaq Patel/Axios
It's been a long year, Houston.
The big picture: Each morning, we've delivered the news in your inbox, from the heavy to the fun.
- 📆 Before we turn to 2026, we're looking back at this year's major stories and our favorite coverage.
❤️ Historic Hill Country floods caused unimaginable heartbreak for Houston families.
💐 U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died after attending President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress. We reflected on the former mayor's legacy and what came next.
- His open seat set off a special election and now a runoff.
🏛️ Politics in Washington reverberated in the state — from immigration raids and tariffs to how universities and students were impacted.
📜 Lawmakers went into double overtime — tackling THC products, approving new restrictions on trans Texans and, of course, redrawing congressional maps.
- We followed how Houston Rep. Gene Wu led Democrats out of Texas to stall a state House vote on the new congressional district map.
🤠 Gov. Greg Abbott made headlines — from disputes with Muslim groups to ending in-state tuition for undocumented students.
🚲 Houston's deadly streets and the response from local officials remained under scrutiny.
🎮 We explored the year's trends — from claw machines and mahjong to coffee raves.
🍴 We tried some curious food combinations, too — including cotton candy bacon, Tajín dates and gochujang corn cookie ice cream sandwiches.
🌈 Public art disappeared, from rainbow crosswalks to the George Floyd mural in Third Ward.
📚 New things arrived — bookstores, a grand cultural center and even a virtual racetrack.
🧸 One pop-up kept pace with the summer's Labubu craze of the summer.
🌊 We reflected on 20 years since Hurricane Katrina and how it reshaped Houston, including the residents and businesses that put down roots here.
🎬 Houston showed up on the screen — from "Mo" to the Astroworld tragedy documentary.
❄️ It snowed. Hard to believe, given this week's warm weather, but it was a fun time.
😭 And finally, when the world felt especially heavy, we shared pictures of sunsets and peaceful walks that led to unexpected wisdom. We even shared the best places to cry.
The bottom line: Thank you for coming along for the ride. See you in 2026.