local politics
A Texas congressman is quietly helping Elon Musk pitch building $760M tunnels under Houston to ease flooding
| August 28, 2025
By Lauren McGaughy, Texas Newsroom, and Yilun Cheng, Houston Chronicle Aug. 28, 2025 “A Texas congressman is quietly helping Elon Musk pitch building $760M tunnels under Houston to ease flooding” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, […]
Houston approves costly crosswalk upgrades for student safety. Critics say there are better options
| August 28, 2025
After a high school student was hit by an SUV near Lamar High Schoo in Augustl, Houston mayor John Whitmire has ordered crosswalk upgrades at the intersection of Eastside and Westheimer. The solution? A High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk installed by Houston Public Works that will allow students to press a button to activate a crossing light, […]
WATCH: Wendy Davis reflects on 4 years of Texas reproduction rights restrictions
| August 26, 2025
ABORTION | EXCO-Player | local politics | old texas | reproduction rights | TEXAS | TEXAS LEGISLATURE
It’s been nearly four years since Texas enacted the statewide ban, and former state senator and reproductive rights activist Wendy Davis is reminding Texans what’s at stake.
WATCH: Beto O’Rourke: Texans don’t bend the knee to Trump
| August 26, 2025
Beto | EXCO-Player | FORT WORTH | local politics | old texas | protests | redistricting | TEXAS | trump
Former US Rep. Beto O’Rourke rallied with hundreds of people in Fort Worth on Saturday against the GOP’s redistricting plan that would flip five congressional seats currently held by Democrats.
O’Rourke’s rally comes after Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Powered by People, O’Rourke’s political group, for helping fund the expenses of lawmakers while they break quorum and remain out of the state to block the House from voting on the plans. On Friday, a Tarrant County district court judge granted Paxton’s request to temporarily stop the funding.
“ In Texas, our knees do not bend, that doesn't work here,” O’Rourke told the crowd. “We're gonna fight these motherf*ckers for as long as it takes with everything we've got. We're never giving in, we're never giving up, and we're never bending the knee.”
WATCH: Houston pastor reflects on Hurricane Katrina
| August 26, 2025
Two decades after Hurricane Katrina, Houston pastor Shannon Verrett reflected on the devastating storm, the choas of evacuating and the heartbreak of personal loss.
“Most of the time when you're going through traumatic experiences in your life, you don't even know how strong your faith is. But when you weather the storm—when you're on the other side of through you begin to see: He had me back then. I was stronger than I knew,” Verrett, a pastor at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, told COURIER Texas.
Katrina struck Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, killing 1,392 people and causing $125 billion in damages. Tens of thousands of New Orleans residents, like Verrett, evacuated to Houston.