Government and Politics

For the Love of Guns

Something we have in common?

Rick Perry: Mum's The Word

Rick Perry has adopted a more behind-the-scenes approach this time around. That doesn't mean he hasn't been busy.

Mayor Parker Not Interested in "Embarrassing Council Members" with Another Food Truck Debate

Mayor Annise Parker may be with the times on certain issues -- she's certainly adept at social media, for one -- but the City of Houston's current food truck ordinance isn't one of them. Parker participated in a live online chat via CultureMap yesterday afternoon frm 1 to 2 p.m., part of her contin ... More >>

Are You There, Senate? It's Me, the National Rifle Association's Legislative Dude

Figuring that the pen is mightier than the, uh, firearm, the National Rifle Association's legislative director has sent an open letter to the U.S. Senate, stating the association's stance against a Senate bill that would regulate private gun transfers and expand background checks. Senate Bill 649, ... More >>

Sen. Dan Patrick Named Senate Education Chair, Re-dedicates Himself to Private School Vouchers

Conservative Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) probably wasn't expecting broad accolades from the education community when he was named chair of the Senate Education Committee on Thursday, and the quick negative reaction from mainline education groups did not disappoint. The dean of Harris County conser ... More >>

Senator Rodney Ellis Joins Chorus Questioning the Statewide Voter Purge

Amid the increasing uproar over the state of Texas purging its voter rolls and notifying people that their names will be expunged from the rolls because they are dead -- who aren't -- State Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) asks a good question. Why now? Why is House Bill 174 calling for a check of ... More >>

Brad Taylor: Enemy of Mine

College Dreams and The Name Game

Keith Judd: Texas Prisoner/Presidential Candidate Does Shockingly Well in West Virginia Primary

Majestically mulleted Texas prisoner-cum-presidential candidate Keith Judd has picked up 41 percent of the vote in West Virginia's Democratic primary. (We examined the Keith Judd phenomenon back before he was just a gleam in West Virginia's eye.) The Associated Press reports that Judd, serving time ... More >>

10 Rock Stars the GOP Should Nominate for President

As the 2012 presidential race begins to heat up in earnest, Rocks Off can't help but feel that the front-runners for the Republican nomination are lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Call it star power. Call it sex appeal. Whatever it is, these guys ain't got it. If the GOP is serious about wresti ... More >>

Here's Something: Obama Polls As Well As Perry In Texas; Both Over 50 Percent

Make his next one a Shiner​Here's something we wouldn't have guessed: Texans give President Obama about as good a job approval rating as they do Governor Rick Perry. More surprising, both are over 50 percent. The Texas Lyceum has a new poll out, and it shows Obama with an approval rating of ... More >>

Doctor Challenges Mayor Parker to Become Vegan, As If She's Not Busy With Anything Else

More, Parker. More.​Hey, Mayor Parker! Drop those bacon-wrapped Cheetos. In fact, drop everything, and become a vegan. You're not doing anything else, are you? So supposes Dr. Neal Barnard, a nutritionist who's coming all the way from D.C. to fix Houston's lardy lifestyle with legumes. As p ... More >>

HISD: Searches For Ways To Stanch Bleeding Budget, Mentions Taxes

Photo by Mandy OaklanderPaula Harris helmed an emergency HISD meeting this morning.​This morning, an emergency meeting was called by HISD officials who are growing more desperate as severe budget cuts looms closer. About 10 parents sat in Pin Oak Middle School's cafeteria and listened to board ... More >>

Treaty Oak Platinum Rum: The Gateway Spirit?

​Before I turned it into banana-infused deliciousness, I tried Treaty Oak Platinum Rum for the first time recently. I now have a grand master plan to surreptitiously replace all the vodka in the world with this rum. The world will thank me for it. With all its talk of "double filtered" this a ... More >>

City Council Fireworks over Proposed Arts Venue Lease Deal

James Rodriguez tells Hair Balls his concerns​Unlike the movies, sparks don't always fly at city council meetings. It's not all Mr Smith Goes to Washington all the time. In fact, most of the time, proceedings there beat C-Span 2 in the insomnia-curing department. Yesterday was one of the dram ... More >>

City Council Adopts Ethics Code Supposedly Among Toughest in the Country

The sound of loopholes closing?​City Council has passed a loophole-closing revision to its ethics code that City Attorney Dave Feldman said is "the strongest ethics ordinance [of] any city in the country." Lawyers will no longer be able to avoid registering as lobbyists unless they are perfor ... More >>

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

FAIR-y Tales: Fantasy Voter Fraud

Heights Walmart: That Mysterious 380 Agreement Continues Being Mysterious

Latest from the Heights: inaccuracies in the city council's "request for council action."​It's been about three weeks since we last wrote about the Heights Walmart and a possibility of a missing 380 application from developer Michael Ainbinder. We still haven't gotten any clarification from the ci ... More >>

King Street Patriots Ready To Go National

The King Street Patriots have plans. Big plans. ​At a King Street Patriots meeting Monday night, the group proved, at least for one week, that it's doing what Democrats and liberals couldn't after riding a wave of emotion to Election Day victories in 2008: still showing up. The group's founder, Ca ... More >>

County Officials: Vote-Counting May Be Slow; Majority Of Votes Already Cast

Perhaps 60 percent of the Harris County vote has already been cast​Harris County clerk Beverly Kaufman's office is warning that it might take a little longer than usual to count the vote tomorrow, because of the fire that wiped out the county's electronic-voting machines.The speed of the vote coun ... More >>

Early Voting Begins: Five Reasons To Get It Out Of The Way

The Harris County ballot is about as long as this, and not was gripping​Early voting began today in Harris County and elsewhere, as voters and candidates finally hit the home stretch for the very bizarre Campaign 2010.Voting early is usually a good idea; here in Houston it makes more sense than ev ... More >>

Liveblogging the Walmart Vote

The City Council is set to vote this morning on a proposed 380 agreement with developer Michael Ainbinder, who plans to build a Walmart near the Heights. The vote could technically be delayed another week, but Mayor Parker said yesterday if a council member tries to do that, she'd overrule the ... More >>

Heights-Area Walmart Gets its Public Hearing

The mayor says the Walmart vote can't be delayed any longer; City Council must decide tomorrow. ​The public had its last chance today to talk to the mayor and city council members about a proposed "380 agreement" between the city and developer Michael Ainbinder, who plans to build a Walmart near t ... More >>

Walmart Tagged, Metro Gets Spotlight At City Council

At least one city council member asked Metro if it's time to re-evaluate certain plans. ​At a Houston City Council meeting that was supposed to clear up a few things about a planned Walmart development near the Heights, Metro, and its financial mess, ended up being the issue of the morning. Counci ... More >>

Rick Perry & Bill White: Midnight Is Nigh In The Great (And Silly) Deadline For Debates

Debates over debates are so fun​The finger-pointing continued Wednesday as the great gubernatorial debate over who's at fault for not having a gubernatorial debate came to Houston.Republican Governor Rick Perry has given Democrat candidate Bill White until midnight tonight to release tax returns f ... More >>

Tomball Leaves Nation's Illegal-Immigrant Problem Unsolved

Tomball lets cooler heads prevail, thereby dooming America​The Tomball City Council, despite a packed hall that included many non-residents, decided not to jump into the illegal-immigration debate last night.You might call it common sense, or you might call it further evidence that Muslims and Mex ... More >>

Electronic Voting: Harris County Is Scrambing After Warehouse Fire

R.I.P, little buddy​When Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman got a call from the fire department a little after 4 a.m. today telling her a giant warehouse holding nearly all of the county's voting machines had burned to the ground, she couldn't believe her ears."It's like losing a member of the fa ... More >>

Seized

Inside the brutal world of America's kidnapping capital

No Changes Needed At Houston's Messed-Up Fingerprint Lab, City Council Decides

Photo by umboodySome council members think money won't make the problems at HPD's fingerprint lab go away. ​The Houston City Council approved today -- despite concerns from several council members -- a contract to keep paying a consulting firm to basically run the police department's fingerprint l ... More >>

Mario Gallegos Continues His Anti-Terry Grier Letter Writing Campaign

Gallegos is writing, but he's not hearing back from Grier​State Senator Mario Gallegos has continued to dictate letters since calling for Houston ISD superintendent Terry Grier to leave in an earlier letter, saying Grier was going to ruin the lives of students here.In his latest set of letters -- ... More >>

Ted Poe, Obsessed With Vagina

When you're named Al Green, of course you're going to talk about the ladies​For hardcore political junkies -- and we do mean hardcore -- capitolwords.org can be downright addicting. Although the actual meaningfulness of the site might be up for debate, its wonkish fun factor is not: the site track ... More >>

Galveston Voters Reject Fancy $35 Million Stadium

The time is NOT now, Galveston voters said​In case you missed the news, Galveston school district voters over the weekend thunderously voted no on a proposal to build a $35 million sports stadium on the island.The proposed stadium was touted as a way to help rejuvenate Galveston as it tries to rec ... More >>

Down on the Farm

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights.

Great Moments In Political Debate, La Marque Style

​You can have your Daniel Webster rising in the Senate to give his storied Second Reply to Hayne; the La Marque City Council has set the bar for legislative contemplation far, far higher with its epochal Argument Over A Past-Due Library Book.As noted in the Galveston County Daily News, the ever-sq ... More >>

Bad Day On The Political Trail: When Glenn Beck Sounds Saner Than You

​(Updated with Perry reaction)How do you know you're having a bad, momentum-killing day on the campaign trail?When you're forced to put out an official statement saying No, I don't believe 9/11 was an inside job.Debra Medina, who had been surging recently in polls of the GOP gubernatorial primary ... More >>

Free Martin Zet

A Czech artist escapes his past in the Station's "Necessity."

The Mayorial Madness Continues... Plus: Memories of Mary's

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

Five Reasons Why Peter Brown Barely Beat Roy Morales

​Ah, Peter Brown. You spent more than $3 million of your wife's cash, you put up dazzling ads that showed you jazzercising your way to Houston's future, you led the polls most of the way, as long as "Undecided" wasn't included.Yet you lost. Badly. Instead of making the runoff, you had to struggle ... More >>

You Call This Progress? Denied The God-Given Right To Vote Just Because You Hate Computers

Rise up, Luddites!​What do you do if you want to vote today but have a fervent opposition to using a computer?You get screwed, that's what.Rad Rich, who pretty much founded the punk scene in town in many ways, went to vote today. He then concisely described his experience for Hands Up Housto ... More >>

Spy Story

Con man or super spook — either way, Roland Carnaby wasn't supposed to meet his death on a Houston highway in a high-speed chase with the cops.

Adios Bookstop and "Poll" Dancing

Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans

Web exclusive!

Was Cesar Chavez Really Against Illegal Immigration?

Mi Bandera es la Tierra

Performance artists Nicolás Ramiro Valdez and Maria Alejandra Ibarra defend Mother Earth

Barack Obama and Me

It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator

Thai Xuan Village

The city is handing out grants to spruce up apartments near Hobby Airport. Unfortunately, a group of dilapidated Vietnamese condo units don't qualify

How to Hide Your Weed

An ex-cop from East Texas decides to switch sides

The Ballad of Bert and Rob and Susan

Caught in a conservative council love triangle

Don't Dump Your Debt on Me

A miffed Lanier makes common cause with the controller