Many of us had lost hope for the River Oaks Theatre – Houston’s oldest operational movie theater. It’s a sweet little piece of Art Deco, a place where we went on first dates, watched movies with subtitles, and danced the “Time Warp.”

But beloved as it is, the historic theater has had repeated brushes with demolition plans. Last spring, when Landmark Theatres lost its lease, the building seemed doomed. 

Today, though, we’ve got great news: The River Oaks Theatre has a new landlord, a new tenant, and a new lease on life. Star Cinema Grill, which owns eight dine-in theaters in the Houston suburbs, plans to reopen the River Oaks, and to show art-house and indy movies there. They expect to open late this year.

In today’s episode, I’m talking about it with Maureen McNamara, one of the founders of Friends of River Oaks Theatre; and David Bush, director of Preservation Houston.

🤑 Kyrsten Sinema visits Houston: Two swing-voting Democratic senators – West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Sen. Kyrsten Sinema – have frequently sunk Biden administration priorities. On Jan. 18, with legislation to address tax codes and climate change on the horizon, Sinema held a fundraiser at Houston’s River Oaks Country Club. The mostly Republican crowd included dozens of oil execs, such as Continental Resources chairman Harold Hamm and ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance. (The Guardian)

💉 Hotez and Bottazzi, nominated for a Nobel: For their work to develop an open-source, low-cost COVID-19 vaccine, to be used in low-income countries, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher nominated Houston vaccine researchers Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. Their research “is a contribution that is of the greatest benefit to humankind,” Fletcher writes. (Office of Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher) 

😷 The case against ethylene oxide: The EPA has found that the colorless gas, used for things like sterilizing medical equipment and purifying spices, is 30 to 50 times more likely to cause cancer than was previously believed, especially in children. Texas leads the country in manufacturing ethylene oxide, and an analysis by ProPublica and Texas Tribune shows that it dramatically increases cancer risk here in Houston. (Of special interest in Houston: The graphic about halfway down the Pro Publica/Texas Tribune story showing the difference in risk along the Gulf Coast.) 

👆 But the TCEQ says hey, no problem: Chemical manufacturing groups and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality maintain that ethylene oxide isn’t a health problem, and in 2017, as other states were cracking down on ethylene oxide, Texas actually raised the limit that plants can emit. Now the EPA may regulate the gas more tightly, forcing Texas plants to cut their releases.  (Houston Chronicle)

City Cast Houston contributor Olivia Flores Alvarez offers these suggestions:

• At the Alley Theatre, High School Play: A Nostalgia Fest is earning great reviews. The world premiere comedy by Vichet Chum centers on a small town high school drama team making its way through an important competition. When Paul, an openly gay kid transfers into the school, sparks fly between him and local boy. Paul’s entry in the theater competition, a gay-themed one-act play, draws a heated reaction from parents, and suddenly there’s more at stake than just a drama trophy. Through Feb. 13. Get details here. 

• Melvin Van Peebles fans can watch two of the maverick filmmaker's most important releases Friday through Sunday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The Story of a Three-Day Pass follows a Black U.S. soldier in France who has a weekend affair with a white woman. His milestone film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is about an innocent man framed for murder and features a wonderful soundtrack by Earth, Wind, & Fire. Get details here. 

• On Tuesday, hear Houston-area author Kristen Bird read from her latest novel, The Night She Went Missing, at Murder by the Book. When a teen goes missing in a small Texas town, everyone comes under suspicion. Fingers start pointing, and accusations are hurled. Get details here.

Tiffany Ritter of the Houston Arboretum writes:

Earwigs are wingless insects that are found in dark moist places. They are a worldwide order Dermaptera with more than 2000 species. Almost certain to be spotted when flipping over a log, earwigs are soil-dwelling hunters and eat smaller arthropods such as sowbugs. 

There's a European myth that earwigs crawl into ears. It started in the days of powdered wigs: Earwigs ate the flour off the wigs.

Their pincers are used sparingly in self-defense. Males have curved pincers, but females' are straight. So the one in the photo above is a girl.

• Remember the groundhog I belittled yesterday? Chuck Snyder writes that Phil is from “Punxsutawney, not Punxatawney; every Pennsylvania school kid (present and former) knows that…😄”

• In attempting to fix another spelling glitch yesterday, I committed exactly the same mistake again: The artist’s name is Salle Werner-Vaughn. It is not, not, not Werner-Braun. Correcting me a second time, Susan Chadwick writes gently, “You were probably thinking Wernher Von Braun.” 

Why play Wordle when you can hunt mistakes instead? Email stuff I got wrong to houston@citycast.fm.