Tag Archives: Harris County

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 →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

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 →

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

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 →

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

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 →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

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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Scott and McCrutcheon win HCAD runoffs

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Not much to say, you can see the live results. There were 12,479 total mail ballots, so another 1,436 were received after Tuesday. A bit more than 11K votes had been counted as of 10 PM and two thirds of … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Uplift Harris remains on hold

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Doesn’t look good for them. The Supreme Court of Texas ruled against Harris County’s guaranteed income program Friday, continuing to block the county from sending checks to participants. In an opinion written by Justice James D. Blacklock, the court said … Continue reading →

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

HCAD Runoff Day is today

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth announced that the June 15 Uniform Runoff Election Day is this Saturday. There are 131 Election Day vote centers open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across Harris County. “A runoff election … Continue reading →

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June HCAD special election runoff early voting Day Nine: On to Saturday

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

And we are done with early voting for the HCAD runoffs. Here’s the final EV report. Let’s have another chart, shall we? Month Mail Early Total ============================== May 14,152 19,500 33,652 June 11,043 18,048 29,091 As predicted yesterday, we have … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

June HCAD special election runoff early voting Day Eight: Let’s not be too pessimistic about turnout

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I was struck by the following passage in this Houston Landing story about the HCAD runoff elections. Turnout in the Place 1 race was just 2.1 percent of Harris County’s 2.56 million registered voters, according to Harris County Clerk’s Office … Continue reading →

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

June HCAD special election runoff early voting Day Seven: Two more days to go

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s your Day Seven EV report for the June HCAD runoff. And just for kicks, let’s do a comparison with the May election for this day in the EV process. Month Mail Early Total ============================== May 13,446 10,282 23,728 June … Continue reading →

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Mayor Whitmire wants to get rid of ShotSpotter

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Fine by me. Mayor John Whitmire revealed plans to scrap the city’s $3.5 million ShotSpotter program, positioning Houston as the latest city government to abandon the controversial gunshot detection technology after a brief experiment. “I think it is a gimmick,” … Continue reading →

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June HCAD special election runoff early voting Day Five: The pace of the mail ballots

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll get right to it, here’s your Day Five EV report for the June HCAD runoffs. I’ve said before in these recaps that I don’t often have much to say about them because there’s not much of a basis for … Continue reading →

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

June HCAD special election runoff early voting Day Four: Keep those mail ballots coming in

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I haven’t been giving a day-by-day update on the early voting numbers for the HCAD runoff elections – it’s a little harder to say something interesting when there are no similar elections to compare the current one to. But here … Continue reading →

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Harris County settles sexual misconduct lawsuit against Precinct 1 Constable’s office

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

An ugly chapter. Harris County commissioners on Tuesday agreed to pay four women $1.5 million, settling a civil lawsuit that alleged an array of sexual misconduct and exploitation during so-called “bachelor party” stings while working as rookie Precinct 1 constable … Continue reading →

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

A look at recent trends in early, mail, and Election Day voting

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve noted before how I completely overestimated Election Day voting totals in the November/December 2023 and March 2024 races, based on recent past data from similar elections. I’ve tentatively concluded that even for races where a lot of Election Day … Continue reading →

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Harris County seeks a new direction for HART

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Hopefully a solid reset and restart. Possibly even with the same vendor, if they can make the best offer and no other questions come up. Harris County officials on Tuesday began making new plans to extend a program that sends … Continue reading →

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June HCAD special election runoff early voting Day One: Yeah, we’re doing this again

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Current mood: here to tell you that more voting starts today in houston — jen rice (@jen_rice_) 1:39 PM – 3 June 2024 Here’s your Day One report for the runoff. It’s fair to say that the voters, fresh off … Continue reading →

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Runoff endorsement watch: One for two

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron revisited their HCAD endorsements for the runoff, with one needing a change since their first choice finished third last month. For the Place 2 runoff, voters have a choice between two qualified candidates, Kyle Scott and Melissa Noriega. … Continue reading →

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County Clerk announcement on HCAD runoff early voting

Posted on June 2, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth announces that early voting for the June 15 Uniform Runoff Election begins on Monday, June 3, and runs through Tuesday, June 11. During early voting, 26 vote centers will open from 7 … Continue reading →

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Early voting for the HCAD runoffs starts Monday

Posted on May 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I mentioned this yesterday, and I will say it again before Monday. Early Vote Centers will be open from Monday, June 3, 2024 – Tuesday, June 11, 2024 (Mon-Sat: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sun: 12 p.m. – 7 p.m.) … Continue reading →

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Judge Hidalgo will run again in 2026

Posted on May 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

In case you were wondering. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Thursday she plans to seek a third term in office in 2026. Hidalgo told the Chronicle during a live virtual event that she is “really excited” to run for … Continue reading →

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