People balance on the Southwest Freeway divider in Houston as cars turn away from flooding after Hurricane Harvey slammed ashore in Texas in 2017. Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune
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Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said he is requesting $750 million in federal funds to be sent directly to Harris County after the county and Houston were awarded $0 out of the $1 billion pot in the latest round of Hurricane Harvey relief funds.
This announcement comes after an outcry from Houston and Harris County leaders who requested $1.3 billion from the Texas General Land Office, which was provided relief funds by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Texas General Land Office (GLO) announced Friday that the City of Houston and Harris County won’t receive any of the roughly $1 billion allocated for flood mitigation projects statewide.
‘Let’s all be alert’: Hidalgo addresses potential flooding threat to Houston-area streets, structures
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Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and a view of the Houston skyline. (Copyright 2021 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.)
HOUSTON – Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo addressed the threat of severe weather Tuesday afternoon, saying that streets will flood and there is a possibility that we could have structure flooding.
“I’ve been meeting with our emergency management team to prepare, we are looking at the weather. We’ve contacted partners. We’re staging resources, we’re vigilant, and I need to ask the public to be vigilant as well,” she said. “This is Houston, this is Harris County, you will know how it goes. We can go from zero to 100. In terms of rain events, just in the blink of an eye. So, I need you all to do what you know to do first, stay alert to the weather forecast to the local media.”
The Lone Star State’s coronavirus response has been a lopsided battle between Gov. Greg Abbott who’s wielded his executive powers to issue a statewide mask mandate and business restrictions and local officials like Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who were blocked by the governor’s orders from putting tougher COVID restrictions in place.
But thanks to the fact that the Texas Legislature only meets in odd-numbered years, and because Abbott’s executive authority meant he didn’t have to summon the Texas House and Senate to Austin for a special session, Texas legislators were powerless to shape the state’s coronavirus response for most of the pandemic.
Legalizing voter intimidation
May 14, 2021 |
A group opposing new voter legislation gather outside the House Chamber at the Texas Capitol in Austin on May 6. (Eric Gay/Associated Press)
A bill being rammed through the legislature has a number of provisions that are intended to suppress the vote of LBTQ and other minority voters
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
State Rep. Jessica Gonzalez has been working overtime this session fighting off not only anti-transgender bills, but, as vice chair of the Committee on Elections, fighting off voter suppression bills, too.
Along with three other committee members, including Rep. Michelle Beckley, D-Carrollton, Gonzalez has written to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, asking him to have the civil rights division of the Department of Justice “monitor the proceedings of the House Elections Committee and the Texas House for the remainder of the session” after committee Chair Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, on April 29 forced a vote on