Mario Gallegos

Follow the Money: Financial Reports Released on Alvarado, Garcia on Eve of Runoff

Mom always said you are known by the company you keep, but in the world of politics you're known by the contributors who keep you. Texans for Public Justice was out with that contributors list in that run-off duel between former Rep. Carol Alvarado and former Commissioner Sylvia Garcia for the late ... More >>

Charter-Friendly HISD Doesn't Like Sen. Dan Patrick's Charter School Bill

Sen. Dan Patrick's charter school bill has drawn the ire of the one school district that probably would have been the most favorably inclined to support it: Houston. The Houston Independent School District was charter friendly long before other school districts were, mainly due to the influence of ... More >>

Dean of Senate John Whitmire Praised for 40 Years of Service

Colleagues spent Monday afternoon lauding Sen. John Whitmire, known as the Dean of the Senate, for his 40 years of service in Texas elected office. The Texas Senate, more than any other elected body in Texas, knows how to do pomp and circumstances. It's often a slower and frequently a more polite v ... More >>

Mario Gallegos' Final Words: "Fuck Vouchers"

You can say whatever you want about State Senator Mario Gallegos -- and there was plenty, good or bad, to say about him -- but the man apparently knew how to make an exit. As he was on his deathbed, he had one message left for his final words: "Fuck vouchers." Policy Man!! The "fuck vouchers" quo ... More >>

State Senator Mario Gallegos Hospitalized In "Grave Condition" (UPDATED: He's Died)

State Senator Mario Gallegos, a member of the legislature for two decades and a thorn in the side of the Houston school district for much of that time, is gravely ill, a spokesperson says. Gallegos, 62, is hospitalized in Houston. "Senator Gallegos' family is at his side during this difficult time ... More >>

GLBT Hate Crime Victims Memorialized on Charles Armstrong's Property

Montrose residents lit a candle for hate crime victims.​Last night, throngs of people bearing candles filled an empty parking lot in Montrose, just off the main gay bar drag of Pacific Street. A block or two from here, Paul Broussard was murdered in 1991. Aaron Scheerhoorn was stabbed to death ... More >>

Terry Grier Says Please, Please Mr. Postman

​Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier has been busy writing letters, in one responding to state Senator Mario Gallegos, who has questioned whether some people are making money through Apollo 20 who shouldn't be, and a second and more immediate one to counter today's Houston Chronicle banner ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Mario Gallegos, Champion of Ethical Behavior

​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 >>

State Senator Mario Gallegos Says HISD's Apollo 20 Contracts May Be Unethical

Mario Gallegos goes after Terry Grier again.​State Senator Mario Gallegos, a persistent critic of Houston school superintendent Terry Grier's Apollo 20 pilot program, has asked the Texas Education Agency to audit the contracts involved in it. He says there are ethical questions involving HISD ... More >>

Mario Gallegos and Rodney Ellis Spar over Redistricting, and It Gets Ugly

Mario Gallegos gets on Rodney Ellis's fighting side.​An attempt to move the downtown George R. Brown Convention Center into Sen. Mario Gallegos's senate district caused a minor skirmish between Gallegos and his longtime Democratic colleague Sen. Rodney Ellis. Emotions during redistricting al ... More >>

HISD: Will Apollo 20 Become Apollo 60?

Senator Rodney Ellis​Under a bill proposed by Texas Senator Rodney Ellis, the Houston ISD could open up its Apollo 20 program for low-performing schools to some 60 campuses or about 20 percent of all the district's schools, extending school days and school years beyond what's called for by the ... More >>

Heights Art Heist Update

Lawyers loom, tempers flare

HISD Accused of Spurning HCC in Favor of Lone Star College

Has HISD found somebody new?​State Senator Mario Gallegos has a new beef with the Houston school district -- he says HISD is stiffing Houston Community College in favor of Lone Star College. Gallegos wrote to HISD superintendent Terry Grier saying the district's "been extraordinarily indiffer ... More >>

Sen. Mario Gallegos Files "The Terry Grier Bill," Calling for Openness in Superintendent Searches

Mario Gallegos: Won't get fooled again​Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos has filed a bill calling for public notice of finalists for a superintendent's position complete with two public forums designed to give any community -- not just its board of trustees -- a chance to check out a candidat ... More >>

Diana Davila Takes No Questions As She Resigns

Diana Davila left with a rambling statement​Diana Davila took no questions from reporters before or after resigning from the Houston school district board this afternoon.Instead she gave a somewhat rambling speech on her sudden decision, saying the time demands of the board-member job had become t ... 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 >>

Mario Gallegos Wants Terry Grier to Leave HISD

Mario Gallegos opens up with both barrels on Terry Grier​Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos, Jr. has gone on the attack against Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier and his reform efforts, sending out letters to the school board and state legislators, in which he says his office has been investi ... More >>

City of Coffee

Is Houston about to become America's coffee capital?

The Tomball Area Dominates Texas Monthly's Worst Legislators List

Texas Monthly's eagerly anticipated list of Best & Worst Legislators is out, and one thing is clear: Tomball and its environs are a sticking cesspit of ineptitude and hackery.Two of the top ten bad legislators on the list (a list which is generally accepted to be nonpartisan) are from the town n ... More >>

This Year's Rodeo Scandal: Diversity, Or The Lack Thereof. With Dueling Memos!

This year's rodeo brouhaha -- there usually is one -- surrounds the alleged lack of diversity of the event's staff, vendors and performers.State Sen. Mario Gallegos has filed a bill calling on the rodeo to open its books and get better about being inclusionary; local ctivist ben Mendez has circulate ... More >>

That’s Why You Should Stay up Late

Letters

Tax Cuts for Some

Bugged about property taxes? Buy a skyscraper.

Some Very Reliant Directors

Board members on gilded strings

Riding Short

Houston firefighters say the city has been playing Russian roulette by carrying crews of three members instead of four on its trucks. Last October, Jay Paul Jahnke anted up with his life.

When Will They Learn?

GOP label doesn't sell in mayoral races

Cracking the Club

Latinos find little sympathy from Commissioners Court

Mid-Summer Daydreams

The Democratic Party chief is full of promises -- and attitude

Does Not Compute

Loopholes still hamper electronic reporting of campaign finances

Curiouser and Curiouser

Ex-congressman Stockman is labeled a co-conspirator in prescription fraud

Worked Over

Quietflex laborers laud EEOC findings after setbacks

Workers Reject a Union

A January walkout fails to bring representation to Quietflex

The Insider

Political Goodfellows Editor: Gabe and Gary get new toys; Lee and Mario cry in their stockings

Brave Talk, Bleak Prospects

Outgunned county Dems feast before famine in 2000

Black and White Only

County jail counts strip Hispanics of their ethnicity

Semi-Safe

Pasadena police wanted bad trucks off the road. Then big-rig politics wrecked their plans.

Bum Deal?

Politics plays an uncertain backup to this "Gimme Shelter"

The Insider

The Insider

A Family Affair

Roland Garcia has the political backing to be the U.S. Attorney for South Texas. He also has a brother imprisoned for murder and drug trafficking -- a fact he somehow forgot to tell his congressional sponsors. That may not be enough to disqualify him, but

Letters

The Insider

The Insider

Letters

The Insider

The Insider

The Insider

The Insider

The Law East of Downtown

With his army of volunteer deputies, Victor Trevino is Harris County's most innovative and open lawman. But his sharp tongue hasn't endeared him to other politicians. And some wonder if all his power has gone to his head.

All the Law Enforcement You Can Afford

Harris County has abdicated a basic responsibility of government: to provide for the public safety of all. Instead, those who have get and those who don't get the leftovers.