Houston officials have good reason to be pleased that reported crime is falling. Mayor John Whitmire has repeatedly pointed to lower crime numbers as evidence that the city is moving
The following is from the Houston Chronicle: Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz and his executive chief were no-shows Tuesday at a long-planned city council hearing to discuss the agency’s cooperation with
Houston has seen this movie before. A mayor knows someone. A city job appears. The salary is unusually high. The position was not handled like an ordinary city job. Reporters
Houston has embraced Flock Safety’s artificial-intelligence license-plate cameras as another tool for fighting crime. Police can search the system for vehicles associated with suspects, stolen cars, and criminal investigations. The
The Mayor Says Chris Brown Worked. The Controller Says: Show Me. Houston Mayor John Whitmire says his administration is serious about rooting out waste at City Hall. City Controller Chris
I have known Orlando Sanchez for more than 20 years. He is a nice guy. I have nothing personal against him. But nice is not enough. We already have a
Who Told ICE Where the Witness Was? The most troubling question in the case of ICE arresting a Houston crime witness is the simplest one: How did ICE know where
The little black camera beside the road does not know whether the person driving past it is undocumented, a citizen, a police officer or a grandmother going to church. It
Don’t feel sorry for the loss of the program; the beneficiaries needed to go on a diet. The city can build a much better program that really helps the little
I do not want a refund. I never bought John Whitmire. White progressives bought him because he was experienced. Moderate Democrats bought him because he promised stability. Republicans bought him
Excuse Me While I Beat My Own Drum Some mornings I wake up humble. This was not one of them. On January 20, I wrote a story titled “Harris County
Imagine Houston Residents as rich as Saudi Arabia, not because there is oil underneath us but because someone at City Hall saw a future fortune in water. Texas built pipelines
Houston’s reported 32 billion gallons of annual water loss is enough water to supply roughly 275,000 to 290,000 American households for an entire year. Using the EPA estimate of 82
I moved into this part of Houston in 1973. Richard Nixon was president. The Astros still played in the Astrodome. Houston was a very different city. The council districts have
I like Regina Lankenau. That is important to say before I start making fun of her. Regina was born in Monterrey. She has lived in Vienna, Warsaw, Aix-en-Provence, Laredo, and
I have called the Houston Chronicle a whore for years. Used to go to the Bissonnet Corridor to find her. She provides great service at a very reasonable price. Yet
Maybe the city has been eating raw vegetables grown with water from our bayous? By Manuel Barrera and Santiago IES Yesterday we asked a simple question. How much clean, treated
The news media isn’t asking these questions, and the Mayor isn’t volunteering the answers. Are Houston taxpayers getting screwed without even knowing it? Houston is famous for its bayous. Buffalo
A city should know why so many of its people are dying in the thing it uses as its name. Another body has been pulled from a Houston bayou. A
After heavy rains receded, another body appeared along Buffalo Bayou. Was it a new death—or an old secret the water finally gave back? Did Houston Find Another Body—or Did the
