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What The Houston School District Is Considering To Cover A $52 Million Budget Deficit In the worst case scenario, the Houston Independent School District is facing a deficit of about $73 million dollars for next school year. But the budget gap might be smaller than expected. |
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The Country Responds To Explosion At West's Fertilizer Plant The word from the town West right now is that 14 people are confirmed dead, including Dallas firefighter Captain Kenny Harris. That number may grow as Senator Cornyn says 60 people are still unaccounted for. While West attempts to find their feet in the wake of this disaster, the outpouring of support from all over has been heartening. |
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Texas Lawmaker: 'Any Major Metropolitan Area Is Subject To Terrorism' One Houston lawmaker says the events happening this week in Boston show that we need to be prepared for anything, at any time. |
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How A Charter School And A Traditional Public School Will Partner In North Houston In public education, there are traditional schools and there are also charter schools. Both receive tax dollars. Generally, they are totally separate realms in education. But in the Greater Houston area, there’s a new partnership between a traditional school district and an award winning charter school. |
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Iowa Community Knows Risks Of Fertilizer But Welcomes Plant Expansion There's a community in Iowa that now has a tragic link to the town of West, Texas. Both communities have had fertilizer plants that have exploded killing and injuring people. |
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Bauer Business Focus: Jose Pradilla Three Day Startup began as a student organization at UT Austin in 2008. It’s since spread to more than fifty universities on four continents. This weekend marks the second 3 Day Startup event at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business. Student organizer Jose Pablo Ramirez Pradilla joins Andrew Schneider on the Bauer Business Focus. |
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Record Store Day Focuses on Independent Record Stores Tomorrow is Record Store Day, and that means another batch of limited edition releases. It's a global event, and thousands of independently-owned record stores like Houston's Cactus Records on Portsmouth take part. |
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Residents Of West, Texas Struggle To Cope With Tragedy Residents are still trying to make sense of what happened in their tiny Texas town of West — just north of Waco. An explosion at a fertilizer plant killed an undetermined amount of people on Wednesday night and injured nearly 200 others. |
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Why MADD Is Talking Less About The 'Driving' Part Of 'Underage Drinking And Driving' Proms and graduations are coming up, increasing the probability of underage drinking. In an effort to make teens aware of the dangers of alcohol, Mothers Against Drunk Driving is calling on parents to take up the conversation with their kids. |
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Astrodome Proposals Deadline Set For June 10th The fate of the Houston Astrodome could finally be decided as a deadline for proposals was set. Voters will then determine the future of the aging structure. |
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LNG Conference Spotlights Transition From Importing To Exporting Natural Gas Over 10,000 industry professionals are in Houston this week for the 17th International Liquified Natural Gas Conference. Participants come from 80 countries. |
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What's Behind The High Number Of Work Zone Crashes? Texas Department of Transportation is appealing to drivers to pay attention in highway work zones. Officials say drunk and distracted driving is taking a toll, and highway maintenance workers aren't the only ones in danger. |
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What Houston Immigration Reform Advocates Say About Bipartisan Senate Bill The group of senators called the "Gang of Eight" has filed a bill to reform the country's immigration system. Here in Houston, home of large numbers of Latino immigrants, immigration reform advocates reacted to the proposal Wednesday. |
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Houston Officials Decriminalize So-Called 'Dumpster Diving' The City of Houston passed a new rule that will decriminalize fishing items out of public garbage cans. The so-called "dumpster diving ordinance" allows homeless people to rummage in the trash without fear of citations or arrest. |
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Alley Theater Announces $73 Million Renovation To 'Ensure The Theatre's Future' The Alley Theater announced plans to renovate its iconic downtown building. The renovations will bring changes to the lobby and to the theatre's main stage. |
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Texans More Likely To Have Savings Accounts, But We're Not Saving Much A new survey finds Texans are doing better than people in other states when it comes to setting up a savings account for a rainy day. But most Texans still aren't saving enough to deal with a major disruption in their lives — like an extended period of unemployment. |
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12 Hurt In ExxonMobil Refinery Fire In Beaumont BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) — An ExxonMobil spokeswoman says 12 contract workers have been hurt in a fire at a company refinery in Southeast Texas. |
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Don't Quit Your Day Job, A Reporter Engages In Games With An Improv Theater Veteran This weekend, professional improvisers, much like those folks from the old TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway, will perform at the 2013 Houston Improv Festival. As a longtime improv performer myself, rather than just bring you the usual sort of interview, I thought I might flex my improvisational muscles, and engage festival organizer Todd Boring in some improv games and learn about the festival along the way. |
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Smartphone App Documents Evidence At Accident Scenes A new app for your smartphone or tablet has been introduced that can be helpful after an accident. |
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Are Houston Streets Safe? 'Walkability Audit' To Determine Sidewalk Safety Freeways have allowed exponential growth in Houston. But one group continues to push urban planners to make areas like the Museum District more walkable. AARP conducted a recent survey and found that big improvements could still be made. |
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How Flame Retardant Chemicals End Up In Your Body Researchers are finding increasing levels of a flame retardant in the environment and in people. A Texas-based scientist has published several studies on the harmful effects of the chemical. |
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Texas Sen. Dan Patrick Slams National Media, Defends Education Reform Bill We've reported how Texas lawmakers are weighing big changes to the number of standardized tests in high school and graduation requirements, like algebra II. On Tuesday, Houston's state Sen. Dan Patrick defended the measures against national criticism. |
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Houston's Housing Market Improves For 22nd Consecutive Month The March housing numbers are out and the Houston market shows no signs of slowing down. Housing inventory is at a 13-year low. |
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American Airlines' Flights Are Grounded Due To Computer Outage Update: American Airlines computer systems have been resolved, but delays are expected. |
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Bill Would Stop Private Lawyers Who Help Counties Sue Polluters Sometimes, private lawyers can receive millions of dollars when they win big lawsuits that are filed on behalf of the government. Later this morning in Austin, a legislative committee is set to consider putting a stop to some of those "contingency fee" arrangements. But some county governments, who use those arrangements to sue companies for polluting the environment, say banning them would have a devastating effect. |
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Poll Shows 87 Percent Of Undocumented Latino Immigrants Want To Be U.S. Citizens A new poll shows how deeply rooted most undocumented immigrants are in this country. The poll comes as the so-called "Gang of Eight" in the Senate is getting closer to presenting a bipartisan proposal for immigration reform. |
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Midday Job Fair Seeks Resumes And Smiling Faces Jobseekers can speak directly with recruiters from several companies this morning at a career fair. |
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HISD Technology Officer: District Wants Graduates To Be 'Good Digital Citizens' This morning it was reported how the Klein Independent School District first prepares teachers before every high school student gets a laptop to use in class and take home. The Houston Independent School District is working on a similar plan. |
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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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As Population Grows, Sugar Land Looks For New Ways To Bike And Walk Sugar Land wants input from residents on how to make it easier to walk and bike around the city. Officials are finalizing a master plan and there's a public meeting tonight to gather input. |
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United Airlines Celebrates New And Improved Terminal At IAH At four times larger than the previous facility, United Airlines' new terminal at George Bush Intercontinental Airport certainly qualifies as a Texas-size terminal. |
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What You Need to Know About the Measles Case In Harris County Harris County is still investigating a rare case of measles in a young boy. Although the boy appears to have contracted the virus overseas, health officials are still taking the case very seriously. |
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Elderly Woman Charged In Murder For Hire Plot Against Montgomery County Prosecutors An 84-year-old woman is accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill a Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney and injure Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon. |
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Houston Students Celebrate Latino Culture Through Mariachi Music Students in Patrick Henry Middle School in Northeast Houston can learn traditional Mexican music as part of their curriculum. The style of music is called Mariachi. It's full of energy and conflicting emotions — and it's giving the school's predominately Latino students a way to explore their roots. |
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Interview With Local Healthcare Leader Ron Cookston About Obamacare's 'Individual Mandate' The health reform law known as Obamacare goes fully into effect next year. Americans without health insurance will have to obtain some kind of policy, and many Texans will turn to online marketplaces to shop for them. KUHF Health and Science reporter Carrie Feibel sat down with Ron Cookston. He directs Gateway to Care, a local coalition that is getting ready to launch a massive outreach campaign to the uninsured. |
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What Did Klein School District Spend $100 Million On? Houston School Superintendent Terry Grier wants every student from third grade on up to have a laptop. The program could start in high schools in Houston next fall. But in some suburban schools, take-home tablets are already the norm, like in the Klein Independent School District in Northwest Houston. |
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Survey: 14 Percent Of Texas Businesses Targeted By Fraud A survey finds that one in seven Texas businesses have experienced incidents of attempted financial fraud in the past two years. |
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House to Feds: Pressure Mexico to Release Water The Texas House on Thursday voted to formally ask the U.S. State Department to apply pressure on the Mexican government to release water owed to Texas under the terms of a treaty signed in 1944. |
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Senate Passes Unemployment Drug-Testing Bill Under a bill by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, applicants for unemployment benefits could be subject to drug testing if their responses to a questionnaire raise red flags. |
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What Does The Future In Space Look Like? Experts Discuss At Rice University Noted space scientists from around the country gathered at Rice University to discuss the impact of space exploration and what the future holds. |
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How To Make Houston's Streets Safe For Everyone What if you could safely walk or bike on any street in Houston? That's the idea behind a new initiative called Houston Complete Streets. |
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Houston Bike To Work Day Brings Out Regular, Occasional And Non-Bicycle Commuters Today is Bike to Work Day in Houston and dozens of cyclists joined Mayor Annise Parker in riding to city hall from different locations across the inner loop. The annual day aims to encourage more Houstonians to think about the possibility of bicycle-commuting. |
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As Investigation Continues, Dylan Quick Is Held Without Bail As authorities sort out why a college student stabbed 14 students at Lone Star College in Cy-Fair earlier this week, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia says that incident and one earlier this year at another Lone Star campus shouldn't taint the school. |
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Oh, The Places You Can See Wildflowers In Houston Springtime in Texas brings colorful bursts of wildflowes to roadsides around the state, with many families planning driving trips to enjoy the bluebonnets and other annual blooms. But if you're not able to hit the road to the Hill Country and other popular spots, there are lots of places to view impressive wildflower displays here in Houston. |
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Parents, Teachers Deliver 1,600 Signatures Against Testing To Houston School Board At the HISD board meeting Thursday night, parents, students and teachers asked the district to stop relying so much on standardized tests. |
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New Magnet Schools For Medicine And Energy To Open In Houston Two new magnets will open next school year in HISD. They will capitalize on two of the city's biggest industries: energy and medicine. But the plan is creating some concern. |
