Harris County

Early Voting Still Shattering Records

The 2008 Voting Charts: The Harris County DA Race

Harris County Criminal Courthouse To Become Like A Sports Bar

Harris County Becomes Democratic

Major Dog-Fighting Ring Busted Here

If you were planning to go to a dog-fight this weekend, change your plans. And contact the DAs office. Federal and local authorities announced today they'd busted a major dog-fighting operation based in Harris County. Standing before an armored truck, representatives of the US Marshal's Office, ... More >>

Cheerleaders Indicted For (Unfortunately Enough, Non-Sexual) Hazing

Let the drooling begin! The Harris County DAs office announced this morning that they have indicted seven high school cheerleaders for hazing. Glenn Quagmire of Family Guy immediately went into overdrive with his giggity-giggitys. Cosmo Kramer started stuttering "ca-ca-ca-catfight." What kind ... More >>

The Houston Group Children At Risk Unfortunately Still Finds Its Name Relevant

Children at Risk's 10th report on Houston-area children is out, and it's as grim as ever."The 2008-2010 edition of Growing Up in Houston continues to underscore the many needs of our children," the respected organization says.Among the highlights:-47% of Harris County children live in or near povert ... More >>

The Nation Notices Harris County Ain't Killing People Much These Days

We first broke the news in October; the Houston Chronicle noticed it earlier this month, and now Time magazine has discovered it: There will be no one sent to Death Row from Harris County this year.Which, in historical terms, is kind of like saying Texas high schools will not be sending anyone to bi ... More >>

The Land Of The Killer Trains

It's bad news when the state lists you as the absolute most dangerous county when it comes to deaths involving railroads.It's worse when you take into consideration the report doesn't even cover the treacherous, havoc-wreaking collision machine known as Metro's light-rail system.The Texas Rail & ... More >>

Where To Indulge Your Obama-Mania In Houston

No one's going to be getting much work done around 11 a.m. Houston time tomorrow.That, of course, is when John McCain will be sworn in as the nation's first old-white-guy President; assuming you're down from the amazing high of Sunday's Lee Greenwood/Hank Williams Jr. concert at the Mall, you'll wan ... More >>

Bikers -- Someone Actually Wants To Hear From You

Bikers, the city of Houston wants to hear from you. Some of us only want to hear how you're going to get out of our way during rush hour, but city officials would rather hear about what you think is needed here to help you bike better, or whatever it is you do.An online survey is being conducted in ... More >>

Momentarily Idiotic Teens Won't Get The Book Thrown At Them

You're young, you do stupid things. That's pretty much a given.If you're a girl, the classic thing is shoplifting. If you're a boy, I don't know, criminal mischief, graffitti, something like that.The problem is if you're caught, there's a chance it stays on your record forever. And these days, when ... More >>

March Madness Now Includes A DWI Crackdown

Illustration by Mike "Dakinewavamon" KlineIt's March!! Time for Spring Break!! And March Madness!! And, ummm, a DWI crackdown by the Harris County DAs office.We don't know what kind of crazed marketing mind came up with the title "The 'March Madness' Anti-DWI Enforcement Campaign," but someone did, ... More >>

This Weekend's DWI Crackdowns Will Include Boaters, Baby

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 >>

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 >>

BloggingFAIL, Right Here In Houston

​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 >>

Unidentified Man, Bayou Body Count No. 41

​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 >>

Former Judge Pleads Guilty To Keying A Neighbor's Car

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 >>

Unidentified Man, Bayou Body Count No. 86

​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 >>

Mugshots: Sheriff Adrian Garcia Doesn't Want You To See Them

This mugshot would be highly secret information in Harris County, says the sheriff​Harris 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 Gets In The Gentlemen's Club Business

Harris County owns one of these places​In 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 >>

Getting Divorced In Harris County? Good Luck

Don't worry -- it'll take a long time before that case gets heard​Texas 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 >>

Summertime Blues: MADD And Cops Gather To Threaten Drunk Drivers

Photo by John Nova LomaxHave props, will travel​In 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 >>

Randall Kallinen, Others Want The New Public Defender's Office Done Right

Hulk mad if budget small​More 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 >>

Harris County Still Buying Cemetery Space For All You People Who Refuse To Be Cremated

He'd rather be in Philadelphia​Oooooh, 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 >>

Prosecutions For Choking Family Members Go Way Up

Don't do this in Harris County, Homer​Harris 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 >>

Acid Bombs: Sure, Set Them Off Next Door To A Cop's House. And Throw One In His Yard For Good Measure

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Geroge Wesley Ellington: Sheriff's Deputy Indicted For Moonlighting As Security For Ecstasy Dealer

Rave on, with the help of the Harris County Sheriff's Office​Harris 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 >>

DWI: Getting Away With It Is Getting Tougher In Harris County

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 >>

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 >>

Bloods And Crips: Harris County Is Coming After You (With A Civil Injunction)

Civil injunctions are coming​Lawyer 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 >>

Crips and Bloods: The Details On Harris County's Plan To Get An Injunction

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 >>

Harris County's Jail-Population Growth Third In Nation, Study Finds

Harris County Jail's having a population boom​In 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 >>

"Jeroni White Feather": Who Is She?

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 >>

Crips & Bloods: DA Gets Her Civil Injunction Against Them

First injunction granted in gang fight​The 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 >>

Bloods & Crips: Harris County Gets Its Permanent Injunction Against Them

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 >>

Comment of the Day: The Astrodome Ain't No Wrigley Field

​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 >>

Serial Rapist on the Loose in West/Northwest Harris County

HCSOSuspected of at least three sexual assaults​Harris 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 >>

Spring Cleaning: Let the Sheriff's Office Help You Shred Your Documents

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 >>

Sheriff's Office: No Bomb, Just World's Oldest Practical Joke

​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 >>

I-45 in Harris County: Most Teen Car Crashes in Texas

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 >>

Wolfgang Fisher: Tries to Reverse Chimp-Abuse Conviction Because Wrong County Was on the Search Warrant

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 >>

No More Juveniles Isolated In Harris County Jail?

Problem may be solved​Two 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 >>

Weather Roundup: Rain, Hail and Cooler Temperatures

Courtesy the Harris County Flood Warning SystemRainfall totals from weather stations throughout Harris County.​Walking out of the Houston Press offices last night around 6:30 p.m., there was a noticeable difference in temperature from the last time I had been out at lunch and a funny feeling o ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Rush Limbaugh Violates the Constitution

​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 >>

It's Election Day!! Go Out & Vote!!

Today's the day​You 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 >>

Harris County Keeps Burn Ban In Effect

No park barbecues yet​Yeah, 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 >>

Comment of the Day: We Spread the Anal Joy (Say What?)

​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 >>