Past Articles by Laurie Johnson
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Most Domestic Violence In Texas Happens In Harris County Harris County has the highest number of deaths from domestic violence of any county in Texas. City leaders are reaching out to law enforcement groups to work on the issue. |
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University Of Texas Supreme Court Case Could Change College Admissions This Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case involving the University of Texas that could change how schools select students for admission. |
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Houston Council District E is a Unique Race on the Ballot Houston Council District E wasn't supposed to come up for grabs for another two years. But sitting Councilmember Mike Sullivan is running for Harris County Tax Assessor — and turned in his resignation early so the city wouldn't have to pay for a special election. |
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Mayor Parker's River Walk Comments Draw Attention of SA Mayor Houston Mayor Annise Parker isn't backing off a comment she made earlier this week about San Antonio's River Walk, but laughed-off the controversy today after the mayor there said Parker was envious. |
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Local Hospital Raided on Charges of Medicare Fraud Another nationwide Medicare fraud crackdown today again includes Houston, with a local hospital at the center of the Justice Department's sweep. |
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Houston's Bad Streets Cause Maintenance Headaches Houston Mayor Annise Parker says a new report issued by a research group in Washington D.C. about Houston's bad road conditions comes as no surprise. |
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Houston Drivers Pay More for Bad Roads A new report on transportation in Texas shows Houstonians pay more than other drivers in the state because of bad roads and congestion. |
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Early Voting Encouraged As Precincts Change Billboards are up across Harris County encouraging people to vote early. Local officials say the reminder is more important this year because of redistricting. |
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West Nile Virus in Houston Nearly Gone The West Nile Virus outbreak in the Houston region is nearly over. Health officials say they're finding fewer infected mosquitoes. |
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Judge Issues Restraining Order Against METRO A Harris County State District Court has granted a temporary restraining order against METRO over a lawsuit involving the light rail system. |
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Houston Health Officials Declare Syphilis Outbreak Local health officials say there's an outbreak of syphilis in Houston and Harris County. The number of syphilis cases is up 97 percent over the same time period last year. |
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Texas Drought Killed 301 Million Trees Last year's drought killed 301 million trees. That's the final estimate from the Texas Forest Service after looking at satellite images and ground assessments of forested areas in the state. |
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HPD Chief: 'Wait and See' In Police Shooting Of Disabled Man City leaders are asking the community to reserve judgment in the case of a wheelchair-bound man who was shot by a Houston police officer at a group home over the weekend. The mentally challenged man was a double amputee who threatened to kill the officers and his house mates. |
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Houston Apartment Dwellers Get A Vegetable Garden It's the time of year when Houstonians get to plant their fall vegetable gardens. This year for the first time — families at south Houston apartment complex will get to grow their own vegetables. |
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Houston Gasoline Prices Slowly Go Down Gasoline prices are down slightly in Texas this week. The average price of gasoline dropped two cents from last week — and Texans are paying considerably less than the rest of the nation. |
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No Plans For Houston Ban On Texting While Driving State and local officials are joining forces to convince people to stop texting while driving. But for now — the campaign doesn't have any enforcement in the city of Houston. |
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Can Houstonians Eat On $4 a Day? Food Stamp Recipients Do Could you eat on four dollars a day? That's the question the Houston Food Bank is posing in response to proposed cuts to the federal food stamp program. |
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Houston Arts Groups Turn To Crowd Sourcing For Money Houston arts organizations are tapping into a new form of fundraising — crowdsourcing. The new website "power2give.org" allows arts groups to post projects online and ask for contributions. |
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Houston Fights Obesity With New Collaborations A task force of 22 people will look at how to reduce obesity in the Houston area. |
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It's Not As Hot, So Why Is Houston Under Ozone Watch? An ozone watch is in effect in Harris County today. People with respiratory problems — children and the elderly should limit their time outside. |
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Houston Food Trucks Ask For Less Regulation Houston food truck owners want City Hall to ease up on regulations that make it difficult for them to operate in certain areas. |
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PUC Examines Power Generation Shortage In Texas The Public Utility Commission of Texas questioned energy companies today about how to get them to build new power plants and meet the growing energy demand in the state. |
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The Houston Police Department has new tools in its arsenal against drunk drivers. HPD will now use four processing centers to test and book DWI suspects and cut down on the time officers spend on such cases. |
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Mayor Parker Promotes Houston At DNC Houston Mayor Annise Parker is at the Democratic National Convention this week. Parker says while she is an official delegate — she's there to promote Houston. |
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A new 15-year report shows the number of pedestrian accidents for teens is going up. Anecdotal evidence suggests the cause could be cell phones. |
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Federal Court Ruled Against Texas Voter ID Law Texas Governor Rick Perry says we can chalk up another victory to fraud after a federal court struck down a voter id law passed by lawmakers last year. The next stop is the Supreme Court as Texas tries to push through a controversial new voting law. |
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Houston Taking Action Against Human Trafficking Houston is a major hub for human trafficking in the United States. That's why Houston Mayor Annise Parker has put together an advisory committee to come up with recommendations on how to deal with the problem. |
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Restoring The State's Mysterious Lost Pines This weekend marks one year since a wildfire destroyed Bastrop State Park and burned thousands of acres. The fire tore through a unique eco-system called the lost pines forest. Now a fundraising effort is underway to restore the decimated area. |
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No Mass Evacuations To Harris County As Tropical Storm Isaac veers further westward many New Orleans residents are making plans to evacuate. But Harris County is no longer an evacuation zone for people in coastal areas. |
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More UH Students Choose Dorm Living Thousands of teens are going through a rite of passage this weekend — moving out of their family homes and into campus housing. Officials at the University of Houston say more students than ever are choosing to live on campus. |
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Harris County Democrats Try To Oust Their Candidate The Harris County Democratic Party wants to remove a candidate from the ballot. The party says Lloyd Oliver — who is running for Harris County District Attorney — violated party rules and should be pulled from the race. One political analyst says it's an unusual and interesting case. |
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Does A Vote For METRO Mean A Vote Against Transit? A number of mobility and policy groups want voters to say no to the METRO referendum that will appear on the November ballot. They say a vote against METRO's general mobility plan will actually allow light Rail to expand in Houston. But what effect would a "no" vote really have? |
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Harris County Begins Aerial Mosquito Spraying Two more people have died of West Nile Virus in the Houston area. That brings the human death count up to three people — with more than a dozen infections. Harris County officials have ordered aerial spraying for mosquitoes in the west and northwest parts of the county. |
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Some Community Members Question HISD Bond Proposal Community members will gather tonight to discuss the proposed bond package Put forth by the Houston Independent School District. |
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UH Students Get New Immigration Resource The federal government now grants some undocumented immigrants — who were brought here as children — permits to stay in the country for up to two years without fear of deportation. But it's a complicated process and some legal experts are reaching out to immigrants to help them navigate the system. |
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METRO Board Reconsiders How To Share Revenues METRO's board will vote tomorrow on whether to accept a newly negotiated proposal about how to use its general mobility fund. Board members voted last week on a proposal that heavily favored the City of Houston — but Harris County and smaller municipalities were unhappy with that deal. |
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Houston Council Sends $410 Million Bond Package To Voters Houston councilmembers authorized a $410 million bond proposal for the November ballot. Voters will get to decide whether to grant that spending authority to the city. |
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Red Tide Rolls In On Galveston Beaches The waters off of Galveston Island — Bolivar Peninsula and Matagorda are inundated with a bloom of red tide. The algae are killing off fish and can cause human illnesses. |
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Section 8 Waiting List Opens To 20,000 Applicants The Houston Housing Authority is opening up its waiting list for housing assistance for the first time in six years. |
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Will New Concussion-Related Law Really Help? State law now requires school districts to provide more training to coaches and athletic trainers about concussions. In order for teams to participate in UIL competitions — they must have a concussion team including a physician on standby. |
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West Nile Virus Runs High This Year Dallas County officials declared a public health emergency after an outbreak of West Nile Virus infected 175 people and killed nine of them. Houston health officials say the virus is unusually active this year. |
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Houston Holds Community Vigil For Sikhs Houston will hold a candlelight vigil tomorrow night for the victims of the Sikh temple shooting. It's the second mass shooting in recent weeks and Houston leaders will gather at city hall for a time of mourning. |
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Janitors Make Final Plea For Higher Wages After weeks of strikes and stalled negotiations — Houston janitors will meet with building owners tomorrow to work out a labor contract. Janitors are asking for a raise to ten dollars an hour. |
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Pre-Paid Power Plans Could Ease Strain On Grid Houston residents now have a new option for purchasing electricity — a pre-paid plan. The city's smart meters and intelligent power grid are opening new ways for people to control their energy use. |
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As Texas Use More Power, Conservation Must Follow With the Texas power grid operating at near capacity — energy companies say there are easy ways to reduce your power usage. |
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BARC Competes For Record Number Of Adoptions Houston's animal shelter is in a national competition to win 100,000 dollars. It all hinges on whether BARC can significantly increase its adoption rate. |
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Houston's Creative Economy Outpaces Most Cities Houston's arts and creative economy is growing faster than those in most large U.S. cities. A study by the Houston Arts Alliance, University of Houston and Greater Houston Partnership — shows the creative community in Houston counts more jobs than the Texas Medical Center. |
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Meningitis Vaccine Costs Rise For Texas College Students Most college students in Texas must get the meningitis vaccine before enrolling in classes. But what many of them may not know is the cost of that vaccine is much higher than last year. |
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Bellaire Murder For Hire Case Dropped An unusual murder for hire case has been dropped by Harris County prosecutors. Jeff Stern was charged with attempting to have his wife killed — but the DA's office now say there isn't enough evidence to take the case to trial. |
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Penn State Alumna Says NCAA Sanctions Premature In the wake of this morning's unprecedented sanctions against Penn State University's football program — Houston-area alums are regrouping in support of their alma mater. |
