Ed Emmett

Kirk Boudreaux: County Judge Fires Employee, Saying He Misused Funds

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett has fired a staff member who he says siphoned off funds to spend on himself. Ed Emmett said the funds allegedly diverted by the employee, Kirk Boudreaux, were not county funds but instead involved Emmett's nonprofit organization that helps put on a trade show each year ... More >>

Bill Henderson: County Judge's Legal Counsel Allegedly Goes Rambo When Car Towed

Getting your car towed is an aggravating experience, to be sure. It's perhaps more aggravating if you're a former state district judge and current legal counsel to County Judge Ed Emmett -- in other words, a person who's used to not having to deal with the petty annoyances that afflict the not-poli ... More >>

Finally, We Have A County Commissioner Named Cactus Jack

Commissioner Cactus Jack Cagle​If you're going to replace a roguish rascal like Jerry Eversole on the powerful commissioners court, which you pretty much have to since he's entered a guilty plea in a corruption trial, how better to do it than with someone named Cactus Jack? Keeps the whole so ... More >>

Jerry Eversole Resigns: Death of a Fiefdom

Jerry Eversole: Not available to be kicked around anymore.​County Commissioner Jerry Eversole, who has long battled accusations of corruption and cronyism, has resigned his seat effective the end of this month. He sent a letter to County Judge Ed Emmett this afternoon. "It has been my absolu ... More >>

Space Shuttle Battle: City Hall Rally to Demand Houston Gets a Used Orbiter

Proposed Houston home for a shuttle.​As we've noted before, Houston is in a life-or-death battle to get one of the two retiring space shuttles that have flown missions, and they need all the help they can get. The solution: A City Hall rally, complete with Mayor Annise Parker, County Judge Ed ... More >>

Snopocalypse : Mayor, County Judge Urge Staying Home Tomorrow

Stay home, commuters​Mayor Annise Parker and County Judge Ed Emmett are urging Houstonians to stay at home tomorrow morning instead of risking their morning commute. Roads will be icy and treacherous in the morning, they said. Commuters "should stay off the roads -- once that slush...stays f ... More >>

Grand Prix Houston Making a Comeback?

Get this poster back up on Ed Emmett's bedroom wall!​A local organizing committee (LOC) for the Grand Prix of Houston announced Thursday its intentions of reviving the event at a press conference from the Houston Auto Show at Reliant Park. The committee, spearheaded by local businessman George ... More >>

Jerry Eversole, County Commissioner, Indicted By Feds

Jerry Eversole's long-awaited indictments: Today's the day, reportedly​Jerry Eversole, the longtime County Commissioner who's ruled his fiefdom with an exceedingly relaxed take on campaign-contribution laws and work ethics, has been indicted by the federal government, according to the Houston ... More >>

County Judge Emmett Separates Shoulder, Will Miss Eagles Game

Ed Emmett sidelined​Blatantly ripping off the Barack Obama basketball injury, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett's office has announced that he, too, is on the injured-reserve list. Emmett separated his shoulder in an early-morning tennis game today and will likely require surgery, spokesman Joe S ... More >>

Sam's Place

Lightnin' Hopkins finally gets his own historical marker.

Lightnin' Hopkins Dedication Draws Overflow Crowd

Photos by Matthew KeeverL-R: R. Eric Davis, Texas Johnny Brown, Milton Hopkins. For more photos from Saturday, see our slideshow here.​Lightnin' Hopkins is official. Saturday morning, a crowd that overflowed the tent erected due to the inclement weather (though it never actually rained) showe ... More >>

Harris County Tax Rate: Shockingly, No Increase In An Election Year

Renovated courthouse to open in August​Harris County's mid-year budget review is out, and it recommends no change in the tax rate from what it has been since 2007.There will be a little juggling involved: the tax rates for the port and the flood control and hospital district will go up, while the ... More >>

Edwin Charles Harrison: Harris County's Financial Director Indicted For Non-County Related Fraud

Edwin Charles Harrison: "...and I just can't hide it"​The job of being Harris County's financial director likely includes many requirements: Among them, we presume, is you can't be indicted for financial fraud.Edwin Charles Harrison, 54, will find out whether that's true pretty soon. The District ... More >>

Things Get A Little Testy At Commissioners Court

"Am not!!" "Are too!!" ​Harris County Commissioners Court met this week, and the subject of which law firms get hired to handle bond business came up.County Judge Ed Emmett tried to ask about spreading the business around or getting a discount. Things didn't go all that well.EMMETT: Okay, I just ... More >>

Frank Wilson Survival Watch, Day 4: The County Judge Doesn't Weigh In

​How long will the embattled Metro president last? Hair Balls presents today's installment of the Frank Wilson Survival Watch. 1. Ed Emmett won't muddy the Frank Wilson waters. Yet. Along with appointing two members to Metro's Board of Directors, there's no question that the county has a stake in ... More >>

Dogging the Dome

An extensive investigation has uncovered secret plans for the Astrodome's future.

Sharp-Dressed Fans

Billy Gibbons and other Houstonians share their favorite Astros memories.

HBA Releases Bar Poll, Bad News for Former Judge Janice Law and Others

Former judges Janice Law and Sharolyn Wood can't be happy with today's release of the results of the Houston Bar Association's annual poll of its attorneys about the Houston judiciary, but County Judge Ed Emmett and District Clerk Loren Jackson should be ecstatic with the ringing endorsements they r ... More >>

Dynamo May Go Uptown For A New Stadium

​KTRK's Miya Shay reported an interesting development in the never-ending quest to build a stadium for the Houston Dynamo -- the team is considering an offer to build it near the Galleria, instead of the east side of downtown.The idea surfaced at yesterday's Commissioner Court meeting, and Dynamo ... More >>

A Reprieve For What Counts As A Historic Houston Building

Courtesy Greater Houston Preservation Alliance​It's news!! A historic Houston building will not be torn down Yet, at least!!Harris County Commissioners Court voted yesterday to belay the wrecking ball on the Hogan-AllnochDry Goods Building, which was likely to be torn down to make space for a Minu ... More >>

The Fine-Dining Options At The Courthouse Have Gotten Slimmer

​Tough times have hit the employees, the lawyers, the defendants and the hangers-on at the Harris County courthouse complex -- the cafeterias have been shut down.On Monday, people strolled up to get their morning coffee and bagel and found only locked doors. On Tuesday there was a sign asking them ... More >>

Black Firefighters Protest Lack Of Action On A Noose In A Locker

Photo by Paul KnightA senior captain in the Houston Fire Department kept a noose hanging in his locker, and according to the Houston Black Firefighters Association, the fire department, city council and mayor haven't taken the incident seriously. "They basically gave him a slap on the wrist," firefi ... More >>

It's A Nice Taxpayer-Supported Gig For Former Chronicle Reporter Alan Bernstein

As we told you last month, 29-year-veteran Houston Chronicle reporter Alan Bernstein started off his new gig as communications director for Harris  County Sheriff Adrian Garcia by promising openness and transparency, a policy that did not quite include divulging his new salary."That will be a m ... More >>

For Their Own Good

Harris County juveniles certified as adults are jailed in isolation 23 hours a day — without being convicted of a crime.

Ed Emmett Is Officially Pretty Pleased With The Ike Response

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett's official and final scorecard on local-government response to Hurricane Ike: "Pretty good."At a press conference Monday he addressed what worked and what didn't, and announced that most things worked out well."A state has the primary responsibility, if you will, and if ... More >>

Katrina Housing Aid Is Ending. For Real, This Time

It seems like a long, long time ago, those crazy days when hurricanes Katrina and Rita came ashore.In Houston, we mostly felt the effects of Katrina, of course, as New Orleans evacuees came over. Some started lives here, others eventually went home.But now -- finally, some would say -- the rent assi ... More >>

There's A Pressing (And Hidden) Deadline For Replacing Paul Bettencourt

Paul Bettencourt threw Harris County politics into a tizzy when he announced, shortly after his successful re-election bid in November, that he didn't want the job after all.A lucrative private-sector job was available, he said, and he had to take it.Which meant that the Harris County Commissioners ... More >>

News You Can Use, Deer Park

If you live in Deer Park -- well, any sentence that begins that way is unlikely to end well. And that's the case this morning, as a large chunk of the town is under a shelter-in-place order because of a fire at a plastics plant along 225. We're lucky we live in such a modern age, where informa ... More >>

The 2008 Voting Charts: The County Judge Race

They're Letting Anyone On The Tollroads These Days

Traffic Problem To Be Solved (Maybe)

All The Traffic Problems Solved!

Tomball Gets Power, Loses a POD

Ike: Officially A Disaster

Eversole's No Longer Announcing He's Screwed

Free Housing For Mentally Ill Inmates Proposed

Edouard Didn't Affect Government Budgets, Either

Mental Anguish at Texas West Oaks Hospital

Go to this private psychiatric facility, and you might be helped. Or you might be shut in a room all alone and end up like Amanda, with a broken arm. Or dead.

Playing Pretend: Local Sports Media Figures as Political Pundits

Harris County Curfew Extended. Tailpipes to Remain Free of Bananas.

Teachers' unions, Harris County politics, scams

Support the union, go to jail

Political Interns, Tom DeLay, the Astrodome, HOV Lane Violators

A City Hall staffer gives a memorable lesson

Little Big Crony

Bob Lanier's buddy Billy Burge wants to play the power game the way it was played in the old days. . . . . . But the rules have changed.