Free Republic

After nearly nine hours of chanting and tears from seas of opponents and supporters in color-coded T-shirts, Houston City Council passed an ordinance on Wednesday extending equal rights protections to gay and transgender residents.

Houston METRO police need your help apprehending a man who is punching people on a rail platform. According to surveillance video, a man walked up to a passenger who had just exited a train onto the platform at Main Street near Preston downtown and punched him in the face. The video then shows the same man punching another man as he gets onto the train from the same platform. METRO Police Chief Victor Rodriguez says he doesn’t think the attacks are related to the so-called “knockout game.” “A review of the tape does not indicate that anybody else is involved,”...

A Texas teenager whose date died in their hotel room after her senior prom has sent a series of emotional text messages to a friend suggesting she passed away following an overdose. The unidentified date frantically called 911 on Saturday morning after waking up in a North Houston Hyatt to find that 17-year-old Jacqueline Gomez was not breathing. Investigators said that the MacArthur High School senior showed no outward signs of injury and the results of her autopsy are pending. They added that her boyfriend is not suspected of any crime. Now text messages that he sent to one of...

“This is a group of people that are generally homosexual activists,” said Liz Theiss, an opponent of the ordinance. “And they have obviously found someone in power in Mayor Parker to forward this bill and force it on the traditionalists in this city.”

Houston is on the verge of a two-pronged “export boom” that could help create more than 55,000 new energy sector jobs, according to a study scheduled for release Tuesday. The overhaul in Mexico’s energy sector, along with the growth of liquefied natural gas and chemical plants, will mean new jobs in Houston as companies ship more products abroad. “The oil and gas industry always like to talk about what’s the next frontier,” said Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership, which produced the report. “Mexico is the next frontier. Chemicals is the next frontier.” Mexico’s energy...

HOUSTON – The Houston City Council is currently considering an ‘equal rights’ ordinance which would allow men and women to use restrooms and shower rooms designated for the opposite sex, as long as they identify with the opposite gender. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, an open lesbian, is promoting an “Equal Rights Ordinance” designed to quell any discrimination in America’s fourth largest city—including any discrimination on the basis of “gender identity.” “Gender identity means an individual’s innate identification, appearance, expression or behavior as either male or female,” the most recent ordinance draft states, “although the same may not correspond to the...

HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM) – Deputies with the Harris County Precinct One Constable’s Office say a man has been terrorizing a neighborhood in the Woodland Heights area of Houston by going to the bathroom in several yards at night. “We’ve had reports from six to eight neighbors out there that someone is actually coming into their yard and defecating — generally on their driveways,” said Sgt. J.C. Mosier. Authorities believe the unknown man is committing the act between 1:00 and 4:00 a.m., but a motive for crimes has not yet been established. “I think the neighbors are laughing about it, but that’s...

I need some local help to get from IAH to Webster,TX. Then, later from South Post Oak Rd to IAH. Mapquest sends me way around the loop.

The mayor’s timeline envisions presentation of the draft ordinance to public stakeholders and City Council committee on April 30, 2014 and placement on the council agenda for May 7, 2014. Although the exact language is still being finalized, the ordinance will prohibit discrimination in city employment and contracting, housing and public accommodations. This would include bars, restaurants, retail stores and businesses that provide services to the public. Complaints about violations of the ordinance would be reviewed by the City’s Office of Inspector General and a new seven member board known as the Human Rights Commission. “A young African American should...

Friday on MSNBC's "NOW With Alex Wagner," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) said "deportations are not working for our country " and continuing to deport undocumented immigrants "meets the standard of the Eighth Amendment inhumane and cruel treatment"...

The apparent murder of a Chinese-American man, along with three family members, at his home in Houston, Texas, this January was recently said by an established overseas Chinese newspaper to have some connection to the former Chinese security official Zhou Yongkang, who is at the center of an intense corruption investigation.

Dan Patrick and Julian Castro Immigration Debate http://kut.org/post/rewatch-dan-patrick-and-julian-castro-immigration-debate BY MATT LARGEY 4/15/2014 KUT.ORG State Senator and GOP Lt. Governor candidate Dan Patrick faced off against San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro in a televised debate over immigration tonight at 6pm. The debate was moderated by the Texas Tribune's Evan Smith.

Legendary singer Willie Nelson will be featured at a high-dollar fundraiser for Democratic governor nominee Wendy Davis. The event will be held April 27 in the Houston backyard of plaintiff’s lawyer Steve and Amber Mostyn, featuring barbecue, Nelson and — for those who stay overnight at the Hotel ZaZa — a campaign briefing on Monday morning.

memorial service Wednesday at Fort Hood — the site of last week’s shooting rampage. The memorial is also the same day Obama will reportedly attend a Democratic fundraiser in Houston for House and Senate candidates. The Associated Press obtained an invitation to the April 9 event where tickets start at $16,200 a person and go up to $64,800 for a couple. Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are also expected to attend. The AP reports that the money raised at the fundraiser will go to

FULL TITLE: Family of teenage boy 'killed by girlfriend's father after sneaking into her bedroom' demand that SHE is charged Family and friends of the teenage boy who was shot to death by his girlfriend's father after sneaking into her bedroom are demanding that the girlfriend be charged with accessory to murder or involuntary manslaughter. A group of the 17-year-old Johran McCormick's supporters, including his mother Zakia McCormick and community activist Quanell X, rallied on Wednesday morning outside the home near Houston, Texas where authorities say the teenager was killed on March 13. Investigators have said McCormick's 16-year-old girlfriend let...

In 2011, Kansas passed the SAFE Act — Safe and Fair Elections — which requires voter ID, proof of citizenship and signature verification. In other words, it’s designed to make sure that all votes cast in Kansas are cast legally by the person identified as the voter. The law was to go into effect January 1, 2013. But the Obama administration stood in the way. At issue are the forms states use to register voters for federal elections. Kansas and Arizona require proof of citizenship, while the federal government’s form — incredibly — does not. The federal government attempted to...

This is one horror film plot that may be all too real: Billions of voracious ants are about to descend on the Houston area, destroying entire homes and anything else that gets in their way. Rasberry Crazy Ants, even more destructive and mobile than their angry cousins, fire ants, are just weeks away from descending on the largest city in Texas. Since 2008, the ants, which entomologists believe came to Texas from South America aboard a cargo ship in the 1930s, have expanded their presence to 27 counties from just eight. Once in a home, they zero in on electrical...

State Sen. Dan Patrick is no stranger to over-the-top statements about immigrants and immigration. The Houston-area Republican, who is the GOP’s leading candidate for lieutenant governor, told a group in 2006 that immigrants are “bringing Third World diseases with them,” referencing “tuberculosis, malaria, polio and leprosy.” (A top official at the Department of State Health Services had to slap that down, pointing out, for instance, there hasn’t been a case of polio in decades). When asked to address the issue of immigration at a forum of leading business groups during this campaign, Patrick chose to talk about violent crime, as...

A huge fire is burning at a residential building under construction in the Montrose area. The blaze is happening at West Dallas and Marconi. A large portion of the building is on fire. Flames and smoke can be seen from miles away. Firefighter have called for a 4th alarm.

A house overflowing with more than 100 people presumed to be in the U.S. illegally was uncovered just outside Houston on Wednesday, a police spokesman said. The suspected stash house was found during a search for a 24-year-old woman and her two children, a 7-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy, that were reported missing by relatives late Tuesday after a man failed to meet them as planned at an undisclosed location on the city's north side, said John Cannon, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department. Many of the people in home that authorities said appeared to be part of...