Free Republic

The decision revives a lawsuit against a Texas officer who shot a driver after endangering himself by jumping onto a moving car. ============================================================= During a routine traffic stop near Houston in 2016, a police officer killed Ashtian Barnes by blindly firing two shots into his car after jumping onto the doorsill as Barnes began to drive away. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that the shooting was justified by the threat that the officer, Harris County Constable Roberto Felix Jr., faced when he shot Barnes. Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the...

A Houston resident reportedly chased a furniture mover he had hired to move a box containing a corpse Friday, leading to a road crash that left the resident injured and in police custody, authorities said. The furniture mover told the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) that Steven Eberly, the suspect, hired him to move furniture at his home, according to a statement published Sunday by HCSO Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. The furniture mover allegedly “observed a deceased individual in the boxes he was instructed to help move.” He then fled the residence in the Eberly’s truck with the suspect in its...

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas. (Gray News) - A Texas sheriff’s office is mourning the loss of four deputies who died by suicide in just six weeks, according to officials. On March 19, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced that a retiree had died “from an apparent suicide,” according to a post on Facebook. Gonzalez says that it marked “three for us within the span of a week.” “Our hearts are heavy,” he said. “We extend our deepest condolences to their families, colleagues, and friends. It’s a painful reminder that life is fragile and time is not promised. May they Rest in...

On February 5, 2025, an officer responded to a “suspicious person with a weapon” call near a Jack-in-the-Box located on the 5900 block of Gulf Freeway. The video does not say what department the officer was with. The address is in downtown Houston, so the officer is probably from the Houston Police Department. The officer noticed a young man and started questioning him. The young man stated he had been inside the Jack-in-the-Box watching his brothers sell “waters” outside. A man, with a knife in hand, had rushed at his brothers. The young man said he had pulled out a...

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to weigh in Monday on the fact that his top adviser voted last month in Texas, saying any questions about whether it was improper for him to cast his ballot in Houston are the responsibility of election officials there. During his first remarks to reporters since the Chicago Tribune reported last week that Jason Lee voted in the November 2024 presidential election in person on Election Day in Houston, Johnson said “this is a matter that is being looked to” but did not elaborate on what he meant. Asked who is investigating Lee’s voting...

Questions are being raised after a convicted murderer was caught with a loaded gun inside the Harris County Jail on Tuesday morning. The video above is from ABC13's 24/7 livestream. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said jailers at the 1200 Baker Street facility discovered the gun hidden inside a seat cushion on inmate Tyrone King's wheelchair after getting an anonymous tip. "It's something that amazes and astounds me and ought to make us go, 'Come on now,'" legal analyst Brian Wice said. King was serving time in prison for a 1995 murder conviction but was later paroled. He was arrested...

In yet another “accidental” discrepancy benefiting Democrats, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth announced on Monday that early voting turnout numbers in Texas’ Harris County might be inaccurate due to a “formatting issue” with their tracking spreadsheet. The news has sparked outrage from Republicans, who see this as yet another in a long series of convenient glitches and accidents that seem to lean in one political direction. Joseph L. Trahan, a candidate for Senate District 15, took to social media platform X to air his grievances. He wrote: “Harris County Central Count must have some kind of secret teleportation device they...

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth announced Monday that early voting numbers across the county could be off due to a formatting issue within the spreadsheet they use to keep track of the numbers. In a statement, Hudspeth said cells shifted for some of the voting centers in the spreadsheet and showed "incorrect numbers for other locations." Editor's note: The video atop this article is from a previous report. It's unclear how many locations the shift affected. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. The weather is expected to be a factor in Southeast Texas, so be prepared...

More than 1.2 million Harris County residents took part in early voting this year, falling shy of 2020's record turnout of approximately 1.4 million. According to the Texas Secretary of State’s unofficial results, 1,176,426 people voted in person across Harris County during early voting. As of the final day of early voting, Nov. 1, 53,500 had also already voted via mail, making for a total of 1,229,926 ballots cast during early voting. This is the second-highest number of ballots ever cast during early voting in Harris County. 2020 still holds the record with 1,265,405 in-person ballots and 171,247 mail-in ballots...

An elected official in charge of voter registration and tax collection in Texas hasn't swiped into her office for around four years .. Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett, who is responsible for the records of over 2.5 million voters, last accessed her office building in late 2020 according to county records that were seen by the newspaper. The Democrat, who assumed office in 2017 and is not seeking re-election in November, has oversight over voter registrations in Harris County, the most populous in Texas, which includes the city of Houston. County records also show Bennett has only sent 18 emails...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened two of the state’s most populous — and Democratic-leaning — urban counties with lawsuits over their plans to register voters by mail. Paxton wrote letters Monday to Harris and Bexar counties, claiming their mailing of voter registration forms would either “confuse” noncitizens about their eligibility to vote, or “induce” them to fraudulently register. “Either way, it is illegal, and if you move forward with this proposal, I will use all available legal means to stop you,” Paxton wrote. The attorney general pointed to his 2020 suit against a similar effort to send out vote-by-mail...

Ongoing problems identified in the administration of elections in Harris County, the largest county in Texas, are enough to warrant state intervention, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson says. After Harris County election administrators acted “in defiance of state law,” Nelson said she determined an “enhanced presence by the Secretary’s office” was necessary for the November 2024 election. As a result, SOS Elections Division staff will assist Harris County officials “for the duration of the election period from early voting, to Election Day, and through tabulation.” Nelson released the findings of audits on Monday that her office conducted in four...

Disturbing video shows two young brothers, aged 12 and seven, stab a 59-year-old woman in her garage then flee on their bikes in Harris County, Texas. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said the unnamed woman, who has a mental illness, got into an argument with the boys around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday outside of her home on April Valley Court. The children initially rode off on their bikes, then surveillance camera footage from a neighbors house captured them returning about 12 minutes later, reported Click2Houston. Video showed the shorter boy wearing blue gloves and a white shirt and the taller...

Republican Ted Cruz is neck and neck with his expected Democratic challenger in the race for the Texas Senate seat, according to a poll. A University of Texas at Tyler (UTT) survey found that incumbent Cruz and Texas Representative Colin Allred, the current frontrunner to be Democratic challenger in November's Senate election, are both tied on 41 percent when potential voters are asked who they may support in the race, with 12 percent saying they are still unsure.

A Harris County, Texas homeowner shot and killed a man after he allegedly stole a BBQ pit from his home early Sunday morning, according to officials. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a social media post early Sunday that deputies responded to the 15000 block of Ralston Road near Kentington Oak Drive after reports that a man had been shot and was confirmed dead. A preliminary investigation revealed the dead man allegedly attempted to steal the shooter’s BBQ pit from his home. After discovering his grill had been stolen, the homeowner left his home and chased down the suspect...

HOUSTON – Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo [aka County Supervisor] fired back Friday after the Texas Rangers [police force, not baseball team] opened a new public corruption investigation tied to “concealed” records subpoenaed during a grand jury’s review of the federal indictments of three of her high-level staff members.The records subpoenaed are related to the investigation launched last year into how the county’s nearly $11 million COVID-19 outreach contract was awarded to a local woman’s LLC.In a news conference streamed live on Click2Houston.com, Hidalgo said she wanted to call out the truth, as well as “what’s false.” She accused Harris...

The Texas Secretary of State's Office released its preliminary findings of an audit of Harris County’s November 2022 election. It did so after the legislature passed a bill filed by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, to address multiple election-related failures in Harris County and ensure the largest county in Texas properly manages elections. After the Texas legislature passed the bill during the regular legislative session, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law. The county then sued but the Texas Supreme Court allowed the law to go into effect Sept. 1. “Harris County clearly had multiple failures conducting the election...

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson has released preliminary findings from the state’s audit of Harris County’s November 2022 election. “Harris County clearly had multiple failures conducting the election and violated election law for estimating needed ballot paper,” said Secretary Nelson. “Mistakes like these led to a poorly executed election which left many Harris County residents frustrated and may have prevented them from voting. It is important to talk about these issues now in order to address them before the 2024 election cycle.” Nelson said the findings show problems with voter registration data, failure to provide necessary supplies to polling...

A new, multi-million dollar program was announced Monday in Harris County that looks to help bridge economic inequality and reduce poverty. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Commissioner Rodney Ellis introduced the $20.5 million investment program called Uplift Harris. The program will be proposed during Tuesday's Commissioner's Court meeting Tuesday. As the first of its kind for the city, a pilot program would launch later this year, if approved, where families living below 200% of the federal poverty line - approximately $40,000 for a family of four - will receive $500 a month to support household needs. However, Commissioner Ellis...

The Texas House passed two key election reform bills after they passed the Senate last month. Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, filed both bills to prevent election irregularities that occurred in Harris County over the last two election cycles from occurring again or from being replicated in other counties. Bettencourt introduced the election reform bills after allegations of widespread fraud were made after the 2020 and 2022 elections in Harris County and numerous lawsuits were filed stemming from Democratic officials changing election management procedures. “Both bills passing means the botched 2022 elections in Harris County shouldn't happen again,” Bettencourt tweeted after...