Harris County Sheriff's Department announced Thursday they had arrested two men and one juvenile accused of beating a pregnant woman after breaking into her home in northwest Harris County. The woman was tied up with tape and beaten. She was taken to the hospital and an emergency C-section was perfo ... More >>
HCAD fights owners of moderate housing for every single assessment penny. So why is it routinely handing out tax breaks worth several millions to big corporations?
We've heard of judges issuing gag orders in especially sensitive cases, but until now, we've never heard of a judge issuing a blanket gag order: Harris County Family Court Judge Denise Pratt on January 23 sent a motion to attorneys in her court involved with SAPCR cases -- suits affecting parent-chi ... More >>
In the Fox show Bones, unreasonably attractive forensic experts spend countless hours identifying murder victims in a high-tech facility for the FBI. Harris County may not boast the kind of facilities or model-like attractiveness (though they may have a hot lab tech lurking somewhere over there) the ... More >>
Saying that owner David J. Hester is operating an illegal game room at 7304 East Freeway in Baytown, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan has filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary injunction to shut down this "common nuisance." According to the lawsuit, "Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's office h ... More >>
A southside homeowner broke up a robbery attempt by fatally shooting one of the suspects, and a Harris County grand jury will examine the case, Houston police say. The homeowner, 58, had arrived at his home in the 5800 block of Glenhurst about 10 p.m. Tuesday night when two armed suspects came up t ... More >>
There's a better chance these days a deputy of Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia will come knocking on the front door of your home demanding proof that your once-drunk self is remaining clean and sober. The Harris County Sheriff's Office is in the middle of an increased push in its SOBER program ... More >>
A long weekend that semi-officially marks the end of summer is a god cause to celebrate, but unfortunately too often that celebrating can get dangerous. In an effort to crack down on the danger, local law-enforcement agencies are making sure the public is aware that there will be increased emphasis ... More >>
The Labor Day weekend is fast approaching, and what better way to celebrate than taking the family out fishing for some good ol' Texas seafood fresh from the water? Especially if it's fresh from dioxin-laden water, like the stuff down by the San Jacinto Rover Waste Pits. Frankly, any family outing ... More >>
Update: According to the Harris County officials, the woman in the photo has been identified. Score one for the good guys! Original Entry:Local officials are seeking assistance finding the home of the woman pictured above. According to a press release, she was found constables of Harris County Prec ... More >>
Harris County's and the State of Texas's beef with the Le Promenade condominium complex and its individual owners was temporarily settled in Harris County civil court on Monday morning. A few weeks back, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan filed suit against the complex at 7400 Bissonnet, its homeown ... More >>
Something had to be done. After today's Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation board meeting -- and pending acceptance from Harris County Commissioners Court -- the Reliant Astrodome will become a multipurpose spot with the potential for hosting concerts and, yes, football. Now, don't ge ... More >>
The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have put together a list of health by county across the nation, looking at births, deaths and various measures of the quality of life. You can get a statewide ranking of the counties in your state, and if ... More >>
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett gave his State of the County speech today and, as expected, he announced things were going pretty good. He said the state of Harris County is "far better than most governmental entities" and that it remains a "County of Substance," in case you were wondering. Not all ... More >>
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... More >>
No park barbecues yetYeah, we've had some rain lately, but that doesn't mean the burn ban is going to be lifted. At least not for two weeks. Harris County was thinking of lifting it, but the proposal was pulled. "Even though the passage of cold fronts has brought needed rainfall and the num ... More >>
Today's the dayYou probably don't realize it, but today is election day. Mayor Annise Parker is running for another term, there's a crowded and interesting race to represent the new Montrose-Heights council district, and an HISD board member is trying to keep his job via anti-gay mailings. ... More >>
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... More >>
Problem may be solvedTwo years ago we wrote about how Harris County incarcerates juveniles who have been certified as adults for trial while they are waiting their day in court. It wasn't pretty -- they were kept in the county jail, but left in isolation for 23 hours a day. Legislators, par ... More >>
Nice try, chimp abuser.Acting on a tip, Harris County Deputy Constable Christine Kendrick went to a garage in Crosby in 2008 to check on a chimpanzee housed there. She heard the chimp screaming and found: a chimpanzee in a metal enclosure inside a garage. No water was available. The enclosu ... More >>
Road trip...to higher insurance rates.There's nothing like being a teen behind the wheel in summer. You've got your music blasting, you at least imagine the top's down, and the world is yours. Plus, if you're in Harris County, you have the added excitement of crashing at almost any moment. ... More >>
Here's an official police statement you don't get every day. To get the full flavor, just read it verbatim: This morning at 6:30 a.m., HCSO deputies responded to an alarm call at 13600 Treebank in northwest Harris County. Upon arrival, deputies observed the front door ajar. As deputies made ... More >>
You should really shred these at home.It's almost April. The air is warm with the hint of summer weather to come. Birds are chirping. Trees are blooming and that annual rite of passage is upon us: spring cleaning. For most of us, that means cleaning up around the house, maybe gardening a bit ... More >>
HCSOSuspected of at least three sexual assaultsHarris County sheriff's deputies say DNA tests show there's a serial rapist targeting women in the northwest and west sides of the county. At a press conference today, they released a composite drawing of the suspect, who uses a box cutter to th ... More >>
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>
PLUS they're hit with attorney's fees!!A judge has made permanent the temporary injunction she earlier granted against the Bloods and Crips gang, a first in Harris County. The civil injunction bars 47 gang members from an area around the Haverstock Hills apartment complex in northeast Harris ... More >>
First injunction granted in gang fightThe Harris County District Attorney's office announced last month they would be seeking civil injunctions against gang members operating near a northeast side apartment complex, and late this afternoon a judge granted the first such one in Harris County. ... More >>
Update: We're told she has been identified. Harris County investigators are looking for information to clear up the mystery of a woman's body found wearing men's clothes with a plaintive note in a pocket. The woman, 5-2, 100 pounds, believed to be between 25 and 40 years old, was found in Spring F ... More >>
Harris County Jail's having a population boomIn an era when locking fewer people up and spending less on jails seems to make sense and is rapidly becoming en vogue, Harris County was increasing its spending and putting more folks behind bars than nearly any other populous county in the country, a ... More >>
Where's your injunction?It's time for the Bloods and Crips to lawyer up. Harris County is taking a bunch of gangsters to civil court. "This is a grand day in Harris County," DA Pat Lykos said this morning during a news conference. Lykos filed a public nuisance lawsuit today against 33 "known m ... More >>
Civil injunctions are comingLawyer up, all you Bloods and Crips on the northwest side. Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos will announce tomorrow the county's first civil injunction filed against a gang, targeting "members of the Blood and Crips gangs who have continually preyed upon t ... More >>
Perhaps 60 percent of the Harris County vote has already been castHarris 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 >>
Blood tests for drunk drivers will be the norm now that Harris County got a fat chunk of federal cash. Drinking and driving is serious business in Harris County, and to prove it, the District Attorney's office held a press conference this morning to promote some changes they've made. "A lot of dr ... More >>
Rave on, with the help of the Harris County Sheriff's OfficeHarris County Sheriff's deputies moonlight all the time, providing security for local businesses.Including ecstasy dealers, apparently.A federal grand jury indicted a sheriff's deputy for selling criminal information to a ecstasy dealer ... More >>
The Harris County ballot is about as long as this, and not was grippingEarly 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 >>
I can haz felony on my record?There's a certain lack of common sense inherent in building homemade acid bombs, but it's the type of lack that can be common in males in their teens and early 20s.There's a very special lack of common sense, however, in building such a bomb and setting it off in you ... More >>
Renovated courthouse to open in AugustHarris 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 >>
Don't do this in Harris County, HomerHarris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos has issued a year-end report totaling up work done by her office in 2009.It shows things are getting busier over there, but one chart in particular stands out.Listing the top 10 felony dispositions for 2008 and 20 ... More >>
He'd rather be in PhiladelphiaOooooh, cremation: It's so terrible. How can you possibly shake hands with St. Peter at the heavenly gates if you're a pile of ashes?Harris County is running out of cemetery space to bury indigent people. So they should switch to cremation, right? You can pack a lot ... More >>
Hulk mad if budget smallMore than a dozen local civil rights and justice advocacy groups banded together Wednesday in an attempt to ensure that the proposed Harris County public defender office gets done right.At a news conference, the organizations, which come together to form the Greater Housto ... More >>
Photo by John Nova LomaxHave props, will travelIn what is now a time-honored pre-Labor Day Weekend/dog days of summer ritual, police and members of several anti-drunk driving advocacy groups gathered yesterday to stress what they claim is a multitude of alternative modes of transport for nocturn ... More >>
Don't worry -- it'll take a long time before that case gets heardTexas Lawyer magazine has a good look at the docket problems in Harris County's Family Law Center, where nine courts have about 34,500 cases pending on their dockets.One lawyer notes that in his 25 years of practice, the county's po ... More >>
This mugshot would be highly secret information in Harris County, says the sheriffHarris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's office has announced a new policy where they will no longer provide the media -- or you, the public -- with mugshots of arrested people until they have been convicted of a crime ... More >>
Harris County owns one of these placesIn the market for a strip joint? Has Harris County got a deal for you!!The county is now the proud owner of a club with the classy name of Velvet Touch, out on Highway 6.Apparently the velvet touches cost you, because the club "was taken by the district attor ... More >>
Judging by where the body was found, this one looks like that homicide detective's nightmare: a body dump. Around eleven A.M. yesterday, workers picking up trash in the 12800 block of TC Jester -- an isolated, discontiguous and distant northwest Harris County stretch -- found the body of an ... More >>
Former district judge Woody Densen,a little-missed Harris County courthouse fixture, has pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and fined $1,500 for the idiotic, petty keying of a neighbor's car caught on security video, the Houston Chronicle is reporting.Densen was apparently annoyed that the neighbo ... More >>
Another body was found. There is not much info, just a few bare facts and loads of questions.On Saturday afternoon, a couple of guys were driving along the 100 block of Gulf Bank, just north of Highland Heights, when they spotted a man lying in a yard.Harris County deputies say the men pulled ove ... More >>
Paul Kennedy is a DWI lawyer in Houston with a blog called The Defense Rests.Let's check some recent highlights!!Friday, August 7: Remember to Think Before You Post Online. "In a talk at the ABA's Annual Meeting [Judge Susan Criss] reminded the attorneys in the room that what you put up on Faceb ... More >>
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 >>
Photo by jvh33Tired of all those pain-in-the-ass DWI crackdowns? Thinking you can get around them and still indulge your urge to endanger yourself and others by operating heavy, moving machinery while drunk by tossing back some Jack Daniel's on your boat?Think again. This Memorial Day weekend, the D ... More >>
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