Free Republic

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) is mulling a run for mayor of Houston, Texas, according to reports. Semafor first reported Jackson Lee’s potential mayoral run after speaking to three sources familiar with the congresswoman’s plans. The publication’s Kadia Goba noted that Jackson Lee declined to comment on the matter when reached by phone.

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas officials on Wednesday announced a state takeover of Houston’s nearly 200,000-student public school district, the eighth-largest in the country, acting on years of threats and angering Democrats who assailed the move as political. The announcement, made by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s education commissioner, Mike Morath, amounts to one of the largest school takeovers ever in the U.S. It also deepens a high-stakes rift between Texas’ largest city, where Democrats wield control, and state Republican leaders, who have sought increased authority following election fumbles and COVID-19 restrictions. In a letter to the Houston Independent School District, Morath...

HOUSTON - Houston police say they need the public’s help identifying a suspect who violently robbed a woman and left her paralyzed. On Feb. 13, Houston police say Nhung Truong was attacked by a Black man in his early 20s in what officials believe was a jugging incident.

Houston police are searching for a man who followed and then robbed a woman shortly after she withdrew cash from a bank in Chinatown. Nhung Truong, a 44-year-old mother of three from Vietnam, went to the Bank of America at 9875 Blackhawk Boulevard and withdrew a large amount of money for an upcoming trip before driving 24 miles to the 9800 block of Bellaire, where the robbery took place at around 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 13, according to reports. In surveillance footage, Truong can be seen walking in front of a shopping center before a man approaches her and grabs...

Link to the HLSR Art Auctions. Record set today for Grand Champion of $275,000. Personal keynote would be the painting of Leon Coffee who decided to personally autograph the photo was $160,000.

HOUSTON – A Texas woman is accused of assaulting an H-E-B employee after she was told she had too many items in the self-checkout lane, according to authorities. The woman, 37-year-old Lynda Ukeh, has been charged with assault, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said in a social media post. Herman said that on Thursday, Ukeh went to the H-E-B store in the 7300 block of Louetta Road in Spring and tried to use the self-checkout lane. She had more than 10 items and was told she couldn’t pay, Herman said. Ukeh allegedly became upset and left the store,...

Facing anonymous complaints, Bowden could acknowledge guilt and pay a fine, but she has demanded a public hearing instead. ... A Houston doctor facing anonymous complaints over COVID-19 treatments has rejected a disciplinary compromise offer from the Texas Medical Board (TMB). Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist who studied medicine at both the University of Texas and Stanford University, says she has successfully treated more than 5,500 COVID-19 patients without a single death. She drew controversy in 2021 for promoting Ivermectin and other early treatments while publicly criticizing vaccine mandates. After receiving complaints last year, the...

Following her decision to use ivermectin to combat COVID-19 and issuing a declaration that she would only treat the unvaccinated, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden’s medical license is being threatened by the Texas Medical Board on behalf of complaints from two separate hospitals. Having treated more than 5,000 patients with COVID-19, neither of the complaints accuse Bowden of harming a single patient. “People close to me have encouraged me to give up for my own well-being, but I’ve witnessed too much and could not live with myself if I didn’t keep going,” said Bowden. “I did nothing wrong and will fight...

Houston won the No. 1 spot for dirtiest city, followed by Newark, New Jersey, San Bernardino, California, Detroit and Jersey City, New Jersey

On February 4th, 2023, a man entered a home at 15731 Treasure Cove in Tyler, Texas. The homeowner informed deputies the man insisted the homeowner’s truck belonged to him. This initiated a sequence of events that ended in the man’s death by gunfire as the police were on their way. Sgt Christian gave information to kltv.com: The homeowner reportedly forcefully removed the intruder from his residence and was able to lock the door.Before deputies arrived, the homeowner, armed with a shotgun, went outside to check on his truck; the suspect then returned to the property and the homeowner informed him...

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to visit Texas next month to help raise money for the Republican Party in various counties, The Texas Tribune reported. Sources initially told the Tribune that DeSantis will headline the Harris County GOP's Lincoln Reagan Dinner on March 3 and then appear at the Reagan Day Dinner in Dallas County on March 4. The county parties on Wednesday confirmed the visits by DeSantis, who's considered a potential contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. [cut] Although money raised at the dinners will benefit the county parties, DeSantis' appearances will give the governor a chance...

A new report indicates that a shortage of paper at multiple Harris County polling places on Election Day was more severe than initially indicated. According to KHOU-TV, 121 polling places did not initially receive enough paper to cover the voter turnout at their polling places. The county’s Elections Administration Office had previously estimated the number as being between 46 and 68 polling places. The county’s post-election review document admitted that its investigation “has not yet revealed how many of these VCs had to turn voters away due to a paper shortage,” using the abbreviation VC for “voting center.” [more at...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A 36-year-old woman told police she fired a gun into the air because someone cut her off on the road, causing her to lose control and crash in West University Place. The incident happened at 4001 Bissonnet, but HPD did not give the exact date or time. According to police, Fawntavia Sallie was heading east on Bissonnet when another driver cut her off. She lost control and crashed into a brick-landscaping fixture. Authorities said Sallie told them she fired into the air three times because she was upset about the crash. No one was hit, police...

The National Weather Service in Houston issued a Tornado Emergency for the first time in the office’s history Tuesday for a twister that tore the southeast side of the Houston metro area. The tornado was reported by both spotters and was confirmed by radar, according to NWS officials. Reports of tornadoes traveled east into the evening in Louisiana. Pictures and videos show the damage that was left behind. “Holy crap. I’ve got a tornado on the ground right in front of me,” said storm chaser Brad Arnold. “People are driving right into it. Hold on, it’s going to get wild.”...

One person she stole from described the woman as nicely dressed but smelling “heavily of body odor,” according to Houston Police. Coleman’s crime spree started Nov. 15 when investigators said she approached Katie Otten, an employee at Galleria Houston, in the mall parking lot and demanded money, reported KTRK. The thief had her hand in her pocket, making Otten think Coleman was armed. Otten told the Houston station. “She forced her way into my vehicle and was like, ‘OK, take me to an ATM.'” The hijacker then forced the terrified woman to drive to multiple ATMs before making a final...

A Texas man released on a $2 bail for allegedly choking and kidnapping his former girlfriend was rearrested within days for continuing to threaten her... Aubrey Taylor was arrested after allegedly holding his former girlfriend hostage, choking and terrorizing her on Dec. 27 in Harris County, Texas. He was offered a $2 bond — $1 for each count — during his court date on Jan. 13 and was rearrested on Jan. 18 for violating court orders and allegedly threatening the victim.. “Repeat offender accused of beating woman gets $1 bond. Horrific,” said Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot on Twitter. “Texans...

Business owners in Houston, Texas, say that a crime spree described as a "relentless wave" of robberies is forcing them to sleep at their businesses overnight armed with guns. Coaches Pub owner Robert Curry told KHOU-TV that he saved up money for many years and moved to Houston to purchase a bar and accomplish his dream. “I lived in my RV for the first four months that I was here in Houston to get it started,” Curry said. “And honestly, it was my baby.” But just eight months later, he says that a string of robberies might put him out...

Bar owners in Texas have resorted to sleeping in their watering holes — while armed with guns — thanks to non-stop burglaries and the city’s soft-on-crime policies. Lindsey Rae, the owner of Two-Headed Dog in Houston, was part of a coalition of bar owners — whose cash registered and liquor cabinets have been emptied recently — that begged elected officials for help Wednesday. “I have been burglarized 15 times in the last year,” Rae said during a city council meeting. “We’re seeing, if they are getting caught, they’re getting re-released because of the cash bond issues we’re having,” Rae explained....

Community activists in Houston are calling for a restaurant patron who shot and killed a robbery suspect during a holdup to be arrested, saying he went beyond self-defense despite many calling him a hero. Customers were eating inside a local taqueria when 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington entered and pointed a pistol at them and demanded cash. As he gathered the cash, an armed patron can be seen on surveillance video getting up from the booth he was sitting in and shooting his pistol at Washington multiple times. "He was within the law when he fired the first initial shots," said...

The mother of an armed robbery suspect who was shot and killed by an armed customer in a Houston, Texas, taqueria last week said she spoke to her son hours before the incident, and he promised he would do better, according to reports. In an interview with Fox station KRIV in Houston, Corine Goodman shared what the last conversation with her son, 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington, was like before he was killed. "Thursday morning was the last time he called me. He said mom, son to mother, I’m trying to be the best person I can be," Goodman said.