Tag Archives: Harris County

SUV that crashed into the Energy Transfer pipeline valve recovered

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Human remains were found inside, sadly. Deer Park city officials confirmed human remains were found in the vehicle involved in the pipeline fire near Deer Park and La Porte after it was towed away Thursday morning following the four-day-long incident … Continue reading →

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Travis County files its own lawsuit over its voter registration efforts

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Counterpunching. Travis County officials sued Attorney General Ken Paxton and Secretary of State Jane Nelson on Tuesday over the state’s attempt to block attempts to sign up more voters ahead of a hotly contested presidential election. The new federal lawsuit … Continue reading →

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The Energy Transfer pipeline fire

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is never a good thing: Pipeline fire in Deer Park, TX. ~10 miles north of Johnson Space Center, and even closer to my Earth home. Nikon Z9, 200mm f2, 1/320 sec, ISO 25600. — Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) 8:56 AM … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

DUI charge dismissed against Judge Kelli Johnson

Posted on September 12, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This took an unexpected turn. Judge Kelli Johnson’s misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge was dismissed Tuesday after a toxicology report failed to reveal any signs of alcohol or drugs in her system at the time of a June arrest — … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Endorsement watch: “The sexiest race on the ballot”

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good call. Probably none of us is as excited about the race for Harris County tax assessor-collector as Annette Ramirez is. And that includes her Republican opponent. “I always call it the sexiest race on the ballot,” says Ramirez, 52, … Continue reading →

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Party Like A Rock Star 2024

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is a guest post from my friend Bill Kelly, who knows a thing or two about Planned Parenthood and having fun. Folks, this is Joe Biden (kinda). I need you to prep your costume and join us Saturday, September … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is there a better way to handle the nominee replacement process?

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Last month, and for the second time in less than ten years, I and a relatively small number of Democratic precinct chairs got to pick a replacement nominee for a powerful office whose incumbent had died at an inconvenient time. … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Paxton sues Travis County over voter registration drive

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

He’s consistent, we’ll acknowledge that. Escalating a series of attacks on voter registration efforts around the state, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday sued Travis County officials for hiring a company to identify names and addresses of eligible, unregistered … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

More felony charges against Hotze

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Throw the damn book at him. Conservative activist Steven Hotze ha s been charged with two more felonies in connection to a bizarre 2020 confrontation that left an air conditioning repairman facing the barrel of a gun held by a … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues Bexar County over voter registration drive

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

As promised/threatened. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday followed through on his threat to sue Bexar County over a new program that will mail out voter registration forms to unregistered voters. Bexar County commissioners approved the proposal on Tuesday … Continue reading →

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Paxton versus Bexar County

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sorry to make Ken Paxton the main character today, but he kind of is. Bexar County is moving forward with plans to hire an outside company to find and register potential voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election — … Continue reading →

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Judge Hidalgo advocates for the Flood Control tax hike

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve got my eye on this. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in her State of the County address on Thursday made her first public push for a proposed tax hike that would create more funds for infrastructure maintenance. Hidalgo said … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024, Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The current state of voter purging

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll start here, and there’s a lot to unpack. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced that the state has removed over 1 million names from the Texas voter rolls, mainly people who moved out of state or died but including … Continue reading →

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Election monitors coming

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

::rolls eyes:: The Secretary of State’s Office will again assign state inspectors to observe the handling and counting of ballots and monitor election records in Harris County, the state agency said while releasing a new audit outlining problems with the … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit against FIEL tossed

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good. A Harris County judge has denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to shut down local immigration nonprofit FIEL Houston. Paxton originally petitioned to shut down FIEL in July for allegedly violating rules that govern the organization’s nonprofit status. … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Paxton special prosecutors get bad pay ruling

Posted on August 19, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Bummer for them. A pair of lawyers who prosecuted Attorney General Ken Paxton on securities fraud charges won’t be paid more than a couple thousand dollars for their work on the case since 2016, a Houston-based appeals court ruled Thursday. … Continue reading →

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Paxton finds a new target to bully

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Vile, disgusting, authoritarian – one quickly runs out of adjectives. Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down an immigrants rights group in Houston, alleging it is “systematically” flouting nonprofit rules by advocating too aggressively against state laws and … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Heat mapping

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Pretty cool. Or hot. Kinda both. Your choice. Chris and Rachel Powers were ready for their second drive of the day when they parked outside a bakery in Houston’s East End. They cracked the passenger-side window of their Audi and … Continue reading →

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I got those “Same old HGAC” blues

Posted on August 16, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t see this resolving any time soon. Nearly seven months after Houston missed a deadline to increase its role in regional planning, negotiations with the Houston-Galveston Area Council have stalled indefinitely, despite a mandate by Houston voters in last … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023, Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Uplift Harris 2.0

Posted on August 16, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

If at first you don’t succeed… Harris County will relaunch its guaranteed income initiative with added restrictions following Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit challenging the legality of the Uplift Harris program. Though the Uplift Harris legal battle is still making … Continue reading →

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The great timesheet caper has been foiled

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We can all sleep better at night knowing this guy is off the street. The Texas Rangers concluded an investigation into Harris County’s highly scrutinized November 2022 election, finding no evidence that there was an attempt to sway the results, … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Harris County Flood Control District tax hike proposal on the ballot

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

One more item to vote on. Harris County will ask voters in November to increase the Flood Control District’s property tax rate to fund a “transformational” investment in drainage for years to come. The district’s current tax rate is 3.1 … Continue reading →

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Translators needed for non-criminal courts

Posted on August 8, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. Harris County has long afforded free interpreters to people navigating criminal cases, but it does not always offer the same to those with civil cases, local lawyers say. The denial for interpreters has become so routine that some … Continue reading →

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July 2024 campaign finance reports – Harris County offices

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: Senate and Congress State offices Lina Hidalgo Rodney Ellis Adrian Garcia Tom Ramsey Leslie Briones Sean Teare Dan Simons Ed Gonzalez Mike Knox Christian Menefee Jacqueline Lucci Smith Annette Ramirez Steve Radack Teneshia Hudspeth Carla Wyatt Marilyn Burgess Candidate … Continue reading →

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The JRR is now the JJR

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: The Harris County Democratic Party (HCDP) will announce today that it has chosen to honor the legacy and dedication to the Democratic Party of the late congresswoman, Sheila Jackson Lee by renaming its premiere annual gala in … Continue reading →

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More on Judge Kelli Johnson

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Not great. Top judicial leaders in Houston have effectively removed hundreds of pending cases from state district Judge Kelli Johnson and assigned them to other jurists in the wake of two recent DWI stops — one on June 25 that … Continue reading →

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Saturday Beryl roundup

Posted on July 13, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We need better outage data. Meanwhile, the system that once fed CenterPoint’s map – which has quietly continued to report data under the hood of the utility’s website – became overwhelmed almost immediately after Beryl reached the greater Houston area. … Continue reading →

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Judge Aguilar back on the bench

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

As expected following the dismissal of the charges against him. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct has lifted the suspension of a Harris County felony court judge after a misdemeanor assault case against him was dismissed. The chair of the … Continue reading →

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Sheriff’s office looking at AI solutions

Posted on July 7, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This actually sounds pretty reasonable to me. With thousands of hours of body camera footage and non-emergency calls and not enough staff to tackle it all, Harris County Sheriff’s officials are thinking of turning to artificial intelligence to handle some … Continue reading →

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Domestic violence charges dismissed against Judge Frank Aguilar

Posted on July 6, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Okay. A misdemeanor assault case that led to the suspension of a Harris County felony judge was dismissed Wednesday by Galveston County prosecutors, court records show. Prosecutors contend probable cause exists against 228th District Court Judge Frank Aguilar, who was … Continue reading →

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Judge Kelli Johnson appears in court

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I wish her well in resolving this. Judge Kelli Johnson, 52, entered the misdemeanor courtroom — 11 floors below her 178th District Court bench — to face an elected official like herself as hundreds of defendants have done in her … Continue reading →

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Reps. Fletcher and Hunt push flood tunnel study

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good teamwork. After six years of delays, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is under new bipartisan pressure to complete the study of a massive underground tunnel system in Houston that could prevent catastrophic flooding like what happened during Hurricane … Continue reading →

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Criminal court judge Kelli Johnson arrested for DUI

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Not good. A state district judge behind some of Houston’s most high profile criminal trials was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after weeks of spotty attendance on the bench and a traffic stop by law enforcement in April. Houston … Continue reading →

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B-Cycle’s reprieve runs out

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Sad to see it go. Houston’s long-struggling system of on-demand bicycles is reaching the end of the trail. BCycle, the system of kiosks with available bikes spread around downtown, Midtown and other locations will close June 30, officials with the … Continue reading →

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