Subject: Randall Kallinen

• Graffiti Artist Sues H.P.D.

  January 30, 2007

• After Three Tries, Homeless Advocate Gets His Day In Court -- And Loses

  It was the trial of the century! Well, err, maybe not ... but to Nick Cooper it felt like it took that long to finally get the right to fight a traffic ticket in Houston's municipal court.In early May 2007, Cooper was handing out apples to a group of homeless people in an alley near the 2000 block of Crawford in Downtown. Suddenly, the cops showed up and began telling the homeless folks to move along. Cooper, a musician, blogger and journalist for www.indymedia.org, began taking pictures of the

  June 2, 2009

• Man Allegedly Beaten by Jailor and Denied Tape of Incident

  October 7, 2008

• City Council Needs An Open-Records Request To View HPD Tape

  October 21, 2008

• HPD Beat Man To Death, Family Says

  At today's City Council meeting, the family of a dead man will accuse HPD officers of beating the man to death.Houston civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen tells Hair Balls a report from the county medical examiner reveals that Marion Wilson, 52, died from blunt force trauma after an altercation with police five months ago. The manner of death, he says, is listed as "homicide." Wilson's family "wants to tell City Council and the public that [Wilson] died of blunt force injuries because th

  December 2, 2008

• A Second, Unreleased Red-Light Camera Study Might Not Be So Upbeat

  Much is being made of a Texas A&M study recently released saying that red light cameras reduce accidents by 30 percent across the state. But Hair Balls has gotten a whiff that there's another study out there looking specifically at Houston and that the results are not so rosy. What's more, a local civil rights lawyer says the City of Houston is refusing to release it. Attorney Randall Kallinen says Rice University professor Robert Stein (who is no enemy of the mayoral administration) co

  December 9, 2008

• If Kids Are Our Future, Then We're Going To Be Stuck Forever With Red-Light Cameras

  Ever wonder what happens when you throw a bunch of kids in a room and ask them to debate and vote on a hot issue? Well, as it turns out, pretty much the same thing as the old folks.   Last night, 23 members of the Mayor's Youth Council sat behind the microphones at City Hall discussing whether the city should restrict car owners from renewing their registration for not paying traffic violations caught on red light cameras. The grownup city council has already voted yes to this.The kids

  December 10, 2008

• Lawyer To Sue To Get That Secret Red-Light Camera Study

  Houston civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen says he is going to sue the city for refusing to hand over any information whatsoever concerning a red-light camera traffic-safety study conducted by a Rice University professor. Kallinen says he talked to the study's author, Professor Robert Stein, and knows the report is completed and shows data that is "in direct odds to" a Texas A&M study recently released stating that red light cameras reduce accidents by 30 percent across the state.Ka

  December 12, 2008

• The Battle Over Red-Light Cameras Goes On....And On

  If you thought all the clamor over red light cameras was over, think again.So far, most of the battling has been over the release of a Rice University professor's report, which seemingly contradicted a Texas A&M report. Then folks on both sides of the issue began squabbling about which report was more scientific, accurate, and so on. (For a good recap, check out the second item listed for January 4 at bloghouston.)Now, the same lawyer who sued the city to obtain a copy of the Rice report aft

  January 8, 2009

• That Report On Red-Light Cameras Is Getting Blasted Again

  Houston civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen says the results of an open records lawsuit against the city shows that red light cameras do not work and that city officials have been misleading the public about their benefits.In December, a study authored by Rice University political science Professor Bob Stein came out stating that though collisions are on the rise throughout the city, the red light cameras have helped."Collisions are going up all over the city," Stein has publicly said, "But r

  January 29, 2009

• Red-Light Cameras: Bob Stein Responds, And He's Pissed

  We've heard back from Bob Stein, the Rice professor taken to task over his red-light-camera report by attorney Randall Kallinen, who's accused him of buckling under political pressure to change his findings.Stein simply says the allegations against him are untrue. "Read the report," he says, "and read what [Kallinen] says and you'll find out that the alleged pressure doesn't match up with the report. They are factually incorrect."For starters, Stein says that collisions occurring more than 100 f

  January 29, 2009

• Library, Homeless Advocates Meet; It's "Chill"

  This afternoon, the folks from Food Not Bombs, a local group that serves vegan food to the homeless four nights a week in front of the Houston Public Library, met with some people from the library to decide how they could avoid another confrontation. "It was a lot more chill than I expected," Nick Cooper, a member of Food Not Bombs, tells Hair Balls. "What we really realized in this meeting was that you can't really call the downtown library anti-homeless, because they're providing all kinds of

  January 30, 2009

• Satellite Collision: Red-Light Cameras To Blame?

  NASA has announced that one of its satellites has collided with a Russian satellite, creating a cloud of space debris that threatens other space objects.They did not say whether red-light cameras played any part in the collision.Scientists say, however, that satellites have never collided in the 50-odd years of them orbiting Earth. Then, not long after red-light cameras become popular, a collision happens? We don't think it's coincidence.The two satellites were about 500 miles above the eart

  February 12, 2009

• Good Times, Bad Times

  May 27, 1999

• Conroe Cop's Arrest Might Mean Good News For His Fellow Defendants

  Photo courtesy Conroe PDWhile the federal indictment unsealed earlier this week against Conroe police officer Michael Tindall - accused of robbing a bank where he occasionally worked  - surely came as sad and shocking news to some, there's at least one group of people who may have cause to celebrate: the suspects he arrested.According to Houston civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen, prosecutors may have a tough time getting convictions in cases where Tindall is the primary witness. Exampl

  March 26, 2009

• Local Guy's Suit Against Pat Robertson Helped By Racism From Pat Robertson's Students

  New evidence may help a Spring man prove the freedom of expression case he's filed in federal court claiming that Regent University, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson in Virginia, unconstitutionally kicked him out of school for posting a picture on the Internet of Robertson scratching his face with his middle finger extended. Former Regent University law student Adam Key made national headlines when, the lawsuit claims, he was banned from classes in 2007 after he posted the picture of Rober

  April 14, 2009

• Oh, Those (Racist) Scamps At Pat Robertson's Law School

  Photo courtesy Randall KallinenWe told you yesterday about Adam Key, a local guy who had been kicked out of Regent University, the law school created by televangelist Pat Robertson, because he had posted a picture on the Internet of Robertson idly scratching his face with his middle finger.We mentioned how Key's attorney, Randall Kallinen of Houston, had found web stuff posted by other Regent students who had gone unpunished. Among them a doctored Civil Rights-era photograph of an African-Americ

  April 15, 2009

• Bargain Basement

  Are open courts and basic defendant rights the latest flood victims?

  June 21, 2001

• As the Jim Crow Flies

  Court art attracts heat but no media light

  July 10, 2003

• Glen Cheek, Sexual Harassment, Randall Kallinen, Dildos, Ed Emmett and Property Taxes

  October 18, 2007

• Racism Goes Unchecked at Regent University, Meanwhile the Melanin-Challenged Turn Out to Protest... Something.

  April 23, 2009

• Collision Course

  A lawsuit challenges deputies who shoot fleeing drivers

  April 29, 2004

• Playing by the Rules

  A Houston softball team accuses Atlanta of being too straight

  September 18, 2003

• Hell on Earth

  Both sides in a Houston fight worship the same god: publicity

  September 4, 2003

• Tempting Teens

  Does a police sting program make kids into too-easy targets?

  August 14, 2003

• Letters

  Off the "X", Beaching Out, The Low Down

  July 5, 2001

• You're In Harris County Jail? You Ain't Getting Your Health Records

  Matthew Collazo, an inmate at the Harris County jail, has a series of bumps under his skin that are troubling him. He wants to see an outside doctor to make sure he is healthy, and needs his medical records from the jail. He asked for them in writing, but officials wouldn't give 'em up. Collazo's mother, Julie, obtained power of attorney over her son, and asked the jail again for her son's records. Still, the jail wouldn't budge. Then, after recording a conversation with a jail clinic supervisor

  May 11, 2009

• Spy Story

  September 17, 2009

• She's Suing To Make Sure Prayers Get The Hell Out Of City Council Meetings

  ​To Houston realtor Kay Staley, religion and organized government mix about as well as tequila and jagermeister. That is to say, not very well. And so she has launched a federal lawsuit against the City of Houston and city council member Anne Clutterbuck in an attempt to sever the two incompatibles, asking the courts to keep prayer out of city council meetings.Six years ago, Staley sued Harris County to get rid of a Bible displayed on a courthouse monument, claiming it was a constitutional vio

  October 27, 2009

• Federal Judge Dismisses Suit Involving Alleged Spy Shot By HPD Officers

  ​In the court of law, it never really mattered whether Roland Carnaby was a spy, as he claimed just before police gunned him down along the highway following a high-speed chase. After all, his widow, Susan, was suing the City of Houston and a pair of its police officers in federal court for excessive force and other civil rights violations.On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison chucked Susan Carbaby's lawsuit out of court before a jury ever got the chance to hear testimony or see the

  October 29, 2009