Past Articles by Jack Williams
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Why BMC Sale Could Affect Jobs In Houston The announcement that a Houston-based business software giant will be sold to a private equity group could mean eventual layoffs and other changes at the company. |
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Southern California School Has An Idea For The Astrodome After striking out on local ideas over the past decade on how to use the empty Houston Astrodome, the people who operate the eighth wonder of the world may be taking an idea from an unlikely source in California this week. |
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New Dome Plan Has International Flavor A couple of Houston natives say they've come up with the best idea yet on how to Save the empty Houston Astrodome. The latest plan has the support of the Hofheinz family. |
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Houston Near Top Of US Cities For Real Estate Flash Sales Houston is third on a new list that ranks U.S. cities with the most one-day home sales over the past five months. |
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New Sobering Center Could Help Houston Save Money, Change Lives The center, set to officially open in a couple of weeks, could save the city money and allow for valuable interventions for people detained for public intoxication. |
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Report Shows State Pensions Fared Well A new report shows Texas public employee pensions did better than expected last year. That's good news for government agencies looking for ways to fund them over the next few decades. |
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IHS Looks At 'Drivers Of Change' In 2013 IHS CERA week continues today at the Hilton-Americas hotel downtown. Conference founder Daniel Yergin says this year's conference is highlighting the remarkable emergence of new markets and sources of energy |
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Airports In Sugar Land and Conroe Prepare For Life Without Air Traffic Controllers As soon as April 1st, air traffic control towers at two Houston-area airports could close, causalities of the so-called "sequester" and Federal Aviation Administration spending cuts. Lawmakers are still trying to agree on a compromise over the next day or so, but if they don't, things could change drastically at busy airports in Sugar Land and Conroe. |
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Houston Astronomer: Meteor Not As Bad As It Looked That meteor that exploded over Russia this morning is something that happens about once a decade. That's according to a Houston astronomer who says the object was too small for scientists to detect with radar. |
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UH Breaks Ground On New Football Stadium And Athletic Future The University of Houston has broken ground on a brand new football stadium that should be open for business in 2014. It's the culmination of a long process that will usher in a new era of UH athletics. |
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Saturday Is Special Election Day For Senate District 6 Many local voters will have a chance to choose a new state senator tomorrow in a special election to replace the late Mario Gallegos. |
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If you thought last year was an expensive one at the gasoline pump, you were right. It cost more to fill your gas tanks in 2012 than ever before in Texas. |
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Special Election Day Set To Fill Mario Gallegos' Senate Seat Governor Rick Perry has set a date for a special election to fill the empty seat of state Senator Mario Gallegos, who died earlier this year. |
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Longtime Richmond Mayor Hilmar Moore dies at 92 The Houston area has lost a bit of history this week with the death of Richmond Mayor Hilmar Moore. Moore led the small city in Fort Bend County for 63-years and leaves behind a rich legacy. |
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Disturbing Incident At Mosque In Cypress A dead pig left outside a Muslim mosque in Cypress has worshipers wondering if they were the target of a hate crime. The pig appeared to have been place on a deck outside the place of worship and was found by members of mosque last night. |
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East End Lawman Indicted After 14-Month Investigation A Harris County Grand Jury has indicted longtime Harris County Precinct 6 Constable Victor Trevino. The four felony indictments are related to a charity the East End lawman operated. A 14-month investigation by the Harris County Attorneys Public Integrity Division included nearly 200 interviews. |
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Sandy Could Both Benefit And Hurt Presidential Candidates As areas of the northeast begin to evaluate the scope of damage left in Sandy's wake, the two presidential candidates are still waiting to see how they should proceed in a crucial campaign week. One Houston political observer says Sandy could both benefit and hurt President Obama. |
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Houston State Senator Mario Gallegos Has Passed Flags at state owned buildings across Texas are flying at half-staff Wednesday morning following the death of Houston State Senator Mario Gallegos Jr. Gallegos served more than two decades in the state legislature after a long career as a Houston firefighter. |
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Houston Dog Rescue Groups Band Together For Weekend Benefit It's a problem that seems to be getting worse in some of Houston's most historic neighborhoods. Abandoned and abused dogs run the streets of the Fifth Ward, the East End and in the so-called "Corridor of Cruelty" near 59 and Little York. Now three groups are banding together to raise money and increase awareness to try to stop the abuse. |
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Houston homes sales up 20-percent last month compared to August of 2011. It's the 15th straight month of positive sales according to the new numbers from the Houston Association of Realtors. |
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Sail On: Tall Ship Elissa Ready For Repairs This morning, the tall ship Elissa begins a short trip from her home in Galveston to a shipyard in Texas City for the start of repairs that should get her sailing in the open water again soon. The people who care for the Elissa say she's a state treasure that needs to be preserved. |
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Metro Board Okays Ballot Language For November Funding Vote A ballot measure that would continue a Metro program that shares a portion of its sales tax revenue with smaller area cities has been given the green light by the transit agency's board. |
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Local Organization Helps Ivy League Dreams Come True The dream of an Ivy League or top-tier college education might seem out of reach for some low-income, high-performing students here in Houston, but one fledgling, volunteer-based organization is helping make some of those dreams come true. One man and a group of volunteers are building what they hope will be a way for many more top students to head off to elite schools. |
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Texas Voter ID Trial Gets Underway As the trial on whether Texas' voter ID law is legal goes into its second day in Washington DC, some observers says the issue is turning into a rallying cry for both parties. |
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A Look At Mike Anderson, Harris County's New GOP DA Nominee Nearly a week after his resounding GOP primary victory over Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, Mike Anderson says the reality of the win still hasn't completely sunk in yet. Anderson says he'll now focus on the November election after a primary campaign that took down an incumbent. |
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Professor Says Likely JP Morgan Sanctioned High Risk Trades That Led To Losses Word last week that recent trades may have led to a $2 billion loss for bank giant JP Morgan Chase is still sending ripples of shock through the financial world. But one local financial expert says it was probably the work of more than just one trader. |
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State Distributes $633 Million In Tax Revenue More good news for the Texas economy as sales tax revenues increase for the 25th month in a row. |
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Registration Open For Upcoming Aussie Job Fair If you've always wanted to work "down under," you might have a chance to do just that in less than two weeks. Australian oil, gas and mining industries will be here recruiting skilled Houston workers. |
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Child May Have Been Targeted In Revenge Plot Over Ended Affair Officials from the Fort Bend County Sheriff's office say the woman who kidnapped a 9-year-old boy Monday was seeking revenge over a failed affair with the boy's father |
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What Texas Does Regulate In Licensing Could Be Considered Burdensome A new report shows so-called "occupational licensing" hurdles here in Texas are making it more difficult and more expensive for some to work. |
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Your Pre-Paid Debit Card May Be Riddled With Fees A leading financial rate aggregator says consumers should know all the facts before they sign-up for a pre-paid debit card. |
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Without Regular Rain, Houston Could Slip Back Into Dry Spell After a wet first part of the year, the regular rains we had gotten used to have gone away again. Drought experts say it would be easy for the Houston-area to slip back into a dry pattern. |
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Dome Collectibles Could Help Offset Demolition Cost As Harris County, and eventually local voters, decide what to do with the empty Astrodome, dusty relics of the glory days of the Astros and Oilers are sitting untouched. Selling some of those collectibles to Houston sports fans could help offset the cost of either tearing down the dome or turning it into something else. |
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Gov. Perry Surveys Damage Of Tornado Devastation Texas Governor Rick Perry applauded first responders in North Texas today. The met residents of the town of Lancaster, south of Dallas and then flew over the area to survey damage. |
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Yates Attorney Says She's a Different Person Now The attorney who represented Andrea Yates through several trials says he's confident she's fit to leave a state mental hospital to attend church services. Jack Williams has the latest on Yates' request to take trips outside a mental hospital. |
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TX-DOT Trying To Keep Up With Freeway Graffiti Fighting graffiti is a never-ending battle in Houston, but when it's scrawled along a major freeway, it's an even bigger eyesore. TX-DOT and a number of local partners are doing their best to keep up with the vandals. |
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HFD Firefighter Dies Responding To Fire A veteran Houston Fire Department captain is dead after collapsing at the scene of a small apartment fire on the city's southwest side this morning. |
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Fifteen Year Resident Of The Houston Zoo Dies A giraffe that spend the past 15 years at the Houston Zoo has been euthanized after attempts to fix a troublesome hoof were unsuccessful. |
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Jewish School Will Play In Tournament A local Orthodox Jewish high school basketball team will get to play in the state tournament after-all. |
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Local Pastor Asks Mayor To Resign Houston Mayor Annise Parker says there's really nothing she can do to appease a local pastor's group that says she's too outspoken in her support of gay marriage. |
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Ohio Shooting Brings Back North Forest Incident Yesterday's school shooting in Ohio brought back some bad memories for students at a local high school. A shooting there early last month left a student wounded and led to stricter, but so-far effective security measures. |
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Houston Included In Program To Help Future Home Buyers Houston will be one of the first cities to be part of a new program that will help first time and other home buyers who have had a hard time purchasing homes in the tight credit market. |
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Metro: Light Rail Growing Pains Could Pay-Off After years of just one light rail line in Houston, three new routes are now under construction at the same time. It's a huge undertaking for Metro, but also a big sacrifice for the many small businesses along the new routes. Those construction headaches could eventually pay-off. |
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Emergency Managers Say Houston Weather Never Surprises Yesterday's surprise deluge across the Houston area is a good example of how unpredictable our weather is. Forecasters expected rain, but nowhere near the amount we received. Local emergency and planning officials say nothing surprises them anymore in Houston. |
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Flu Season In Houston Likely To Peak Next Month It's been a quiet flu season so far here in Houston, but that could change next Month, and one local expert says there's still time to get a flu shot. |
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Former County Commissioner Gets Probation Former Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole has been sentenced to three years probation for lying to FBI agents investigating corruption charges. |
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New Commissioner Settling Into Job He's only been on the job for three months now, but the newest member of Harris County Commissioners Court says he's never felt more comfortable. Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle says some of his skills as a judge have helped out in his new job. |
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Plants Have Four Years To Comply With New EPA Rules New emissions rules for coal-fired power plants across the nation could help Houston avoid dirty air that drifts our way. |
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New STAAR Test More Challenging Than TAKS Implementation of the state's new accountability exam, the so-called "STAAR" test, is just a few months away, and ups the stakes considerably when it comes to what students and educators need to know. |
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Man Armed With Rifle Shot And Wounded By HPD A man who brandished a rifle at Tranquility Park downtown this evening is hospitalized after he was shot by a Houston police officer. |
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