HARRIS COUNTY

KPRC 2 is proud to once again partner with the <a href="https://www.ajc.org/houston" target="_blank">American Jewish Committee</a> for “America’s Table”.

Is bail reform responsible for rising crime in Harris County? That's the topic of discussion with our team of experts on this week's Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced Friday that she is lowering the county’s COVID-19 Threat Level from Level 2: Orange to Level 3: Yellow as indicators demonstrate a further decrease in cases, hospitalizations, and positivity rates.

One man was shot Friday after finding several suspects trying to break into his vehicle outside his home, according to Harris County Sheriff's deputies.

A man has been charged with murder after investigators said he initially blamed his wife’s death on a trespasser.

The holiday season is meant to be spent with family and friends, but according to law enforcement officials, it can also be one of the most dangerous times of the year starting the night before Thanksgiving.

A woman was hit and killed while in the parking lot of a shopping center in north Harris County, Houston police said Wednesday.

A $9 billion highway widening project being proposed in the Houston area could become an important test of the Biden administration’s commitment to addressing what it says is a history of racial inequity with infrastructure projects.

A $9 billion highway widening project being proposed in the Houston area could become an important test of the Biden administration’s commitment to addressing what it has said is a history of racial inequity with infrastructure projects in the U.S. The project’s critics, including community groups and some residents, say it won’t improve the area’s traffic woes and would subject mostly Black and Latino residents to increased pollution, displacement and flooding while not improving public transportation options. Its supporters counter the proposed 10-year construction project that would remake 24 miles along Interstate 45 and several other roadways would enhance driver safety, help reduce traffic congestion and address flood mitigation and disaster evacuation needs.

In the wake of the deadly Travis Scott concert, Bayou City and Harris County politicians have formed a circular firing squad.

The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said a tip from a first responder led them to an unpermitted boarding home near Baytown on Monday.

Twice found guilty of his wife’s 1999 murder, David Temple lost an appeal stemming from a mistrial declared during the punishment phase of his 2019 trial.

Officers from the Houston Police Department are responding to a reported homicide after a man was pronounced dead in north Harris County.

Harris County Precinct 4 deputies are investigating after a man was shot in the abdomen during a possible home invasion in north Harris County.

A crime-fighting tool is increasingly being used by businesses and neighborhood HOAs in Harris County.

Houston is hosting the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships at the George R. Brown Convention center, the first time this renowned sporting event is hosted in the Americas.

A man is in custody after Harris County sheriff’s deputies said he led them on a high-speed chase with four children inside the vehicle in west Harris County Sunday morning. Deputies said the man was suspected of drinking while driving.

A follow up to a KPRC2 Investigation. Customers renting cars for work or family trips, then getting pulled over-- at gunpoint-- accused of driving a stolen car. Our Investigates team exposed this problem in the Houston area and now we're seeing action.

Scrutiny over Harris County’s felony bond system has increased in the wake of the surge in violent felony crimes over the last year.

Harris County, Texas – The office of Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has issued subpoenas to the five members of the Harris County Commissioners Court regarding a now-cancelled $11 million contract the court issued to create a COVID-19 vaccine outreach program. The subpoenas request 11 months-worth of documents related to the process that led to the contract, which was signed in June and cancelled in September. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who sits on and presides over the Commissioners Court, convened a procurement meeting in March to score four proposals they had received from organizations bidding to carry out the program. Elevate Strategies LLC won the contract over the University of Texas Health Science Center, whose proposal apparently had scored higher and would cost less than the one from Elevate Strategies. None of the members of the Commissioners Court have been asked to testify in person, though it is very likely some or all of them will if the subpoenaed documents do not provide a quick resolution.

Two Houston-area ophthalmologists were penalized for abusing the Medicare system by overcharging for glaucoma treatment, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office says.

Deputy constables with Precinct 7 are looking for someone who opened fire and shot a driver while they were driving on Beltway 8 in southwest Houston.

For Leslie Nutt, a Cypress area resident, keeping track of her mail these days is now a full-time job.

KPRC 2 Investigates reviewed more than 250 murder and capital murder court cases to find out how much say Harris County prosecutors have when it comes to bond.

13-year-old Marcus Lewis, Jr. was last seen in Katy in mid-October, Texas EquuSearch said.

Harris County, Texas – On Tuesday, November 16, 2021, two Harris County commissioners joined three local voters to file a voting rights lawsuit against Harris County and the Harris County Judge over redistricting maps that they claim would rearrange the precincts undemocratically and for political gain. The only defendants on the suit are Harris County and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, though attorneys for the plaintiffs indicated that they view Commissioners Rodney Ellis of Precinct 1 and Adrian Garcia of Precinct 2 to be just as guilty of infringing on voters’ rights as the listed defendants. The plaintiffs’ attorneys also stated intentions to draw new redistricting maps as a counteroffer. Hidalgo responded to her colleagues’ claims about her intentions for redistricting by saying that the new map is meant to restore balance that was lost when Republicans redrew the precinct lines in 2011. We’re confident the map Commissioners Court adopted complies with both federal and Texas laws.”

Parents in northwest Harris County are fighting for change to a bustling intersection, which many parents say creates the perfect storm for accidents, especially with children crossing for school. On Tuesday, Harris County Precinct 4 deputies said a 12-year-old student on his bicycle was hit by a car crossing the intersection. This comes just months after a fatal accident involving an 18-year-old student in May. Now, residents are urging Precinct 4 and local leaders to make changes soon.

Residents who live in the Spring Creek Forest neighborhood in northwest Harris County said they take pride in where they live.

Texas received a near failing grade on a newly released report card on new mother and infant health.

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced Tuesday that it is seeking leads in the 1981 cold case homicide of Karen Lynn Douglas, of Harris County.

The new maps drastically change three of four Harris County precinct boundaries, and the two GOP lawmakers believe that would lead to the loss of at least one of their seats.

Two commissioners have filed a lawsuit against Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Commissioner Cagle and Ramsey filed a lawsuit against Harris County's new redistricting.

Here are things to know for Tuesday, Nov. 16:

man has been arrested and charged for evading arrest and having possession of a controlled substance, according to deputies with Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s office.

The county attorney will propose a 30-day pause on the federal lawsuit as county leaders continue to negotiate with TxDOT.

A county administrator will work with other government agencies to review security, fire and other safety plans at the music festival.

Calls for an independent investigation into what led to 10 deaths at the Astroworld music...

Calls for an independent investigation into what led to 10 deaths at the Astroworld music...

A Harris County contract to conduct an outreach campaign to encourage COVID vaccinations was canceled in September, but the issue has come back to life in the form of grand jury subpoenas for every member of the Harris County Commission.

At a special meeting of the Harris County Commissioners Court on Monday, the court voted to temporarily pause the lawsuit against the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) I-45 expansion project.

The Harris County administrator will meet with the Harris County Sports Convention Corporation and the Harris County Sports Authority.

Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey was the lone "no" vote.

Houston police are searching for a suspect who fatally shot a man at a home on Nov. 3. Tyree L. Hector, 20, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Lonnie Day, 41.

Harris County commissioners will vote to approve an in-depth analysis of the planning, preparation and execution of Astroworld Festival 2021 on Wednesday.

A 71-year-old woman who was diagnosed with dementia was stabbed by her son at an apartment complex in north Harris County, deputies with the sheriff’s office said.

Governor Greg Abbott’s administration will decide how much of the package will go to the state’s largest city and surrounding Harris County.

A mother has been charged with felony murder after causing a crash that killed her 4-year-old daughter and injured four other children early Sunday, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

A man who confessed to shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend inside of her mother’s home was found dead in New Mexico Friday, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

Deputies arrested a man at a Chicken Express restaurant in North Harris County Thursday after he allegedly threatened to harm the manager and “shoot up” the establishment.

Here are things to know for Friday, Nov. 12:

Spring, Texas – Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constables, along with the Houston Police Department are in pursuit of a suspect who allegedly shot at a Spring Police Station, Monday. A Precinct 4 Constable spotted the suspect Thursday morning on 610 in the Pasadena area, and a chase ensued. The chase has led deputies through Downtown Houston and they have now made their way back to Interstate 45 headed North. The Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter is tracking the white sedan as it weaves in and out of traffic in south Houston. According to radio reports, dispatch advising the responding officers that the suspect is wearing a bullet proof vest and is armed.

Houston police confirm that a suspect who led law enforcement officers on a nearly hourlong chase across the Houston area Thursday morning has died

A woman is dead after deputies say her ex-boyfriend fired multiple shots at her and two other males inside a home in Spring.

An investigation is underway as Houston-area law enforcement agencies join officials from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to look into alarming numbers, reflecting how some residents are treating pets.

A 1980 cold case murder victim has now been identified. On Halloween night, 41 years ago, a teen girl arrived in Huntsville, Texas. She was alone, and asking strangers for directions. We now know who she is.

Harris County Sheriff's deputies are searching for two suspects who fled the scene of a shooting following an altercation Wednesday afternoon.

A man wanted in the brazen shooting deaths of two men in broad daylight is now off the streets, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said.

County Judge Lina Hidalgo warned that completing the toxicology reports alone would take weeks.

Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Ruy Lozano says no HFD personnel were inside NRG Park during Astroworld Festival.

Harris County commissioners are calling for a thorough investigation into what went wrong Friday night at the Astro World Festival.

Officials with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office presented the father of a fallen deputy with a special honor in memory of his son.

According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/insur202108-508.pdf">US government</a>, more than 31 million people lacked health insurance in 2020.

The search is on for a suspect who allegedly fired shots at the building of the Harris County Precinct 4 Constables Office Monday afternoon.

In a Monday tweet, Judge Lina Hidalgo listed the names of the eight young victims lost in...

Deputies with Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to an apparent shooting that left one man dead in north Harris County Monday morning.

Harris County medical examiners are still looking to identify one of the victims from Friday night’s Astroworld Festival, during which eight people died and more than a dozen were hospitalized after a sold-out crowd rushed the stage during Travis Scott’s set.  The unidentified man is 6 feet 2 inches tall, 498 pounds, according to the ...

The probe will "involve our homicide division as well as narcotics," the Houston police chief said.

Long-term plans in Harris and Montgomery counties could make the trail the nation's longest urban greenway.

At the same time, in Texas, an increasing number of counties are rethinking who should run elections altogether.

The mobile unit, known as the “RAAM,” will be able to detect a wide array of compounds and provide real-time data to PCS' online dashboards.

Hidalgo last raised the COVID threat level in August, when the more transmissible delta variant caused a fourth wave of the pandemic across Texas. The county previously hit its highest threat level in June 2020, which lasted until May.

The amendment emerged as a response to COVID-related bans on church services by large counties, including Harris County – it may be subject to lawsuits for violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

.

Republican Commissioners Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey are likely to sue to block implementation of the Ellis 3 map, which switches the two commissioners’ precincts and increases the minority population in Cagle’s new district.

Harris County, Texas – This past Monday and Tuesday, October 25 and 26, 2021, deputies with Constable Mark Herman made six Driving While Intoxicated arrests throughout Harris County Precinct 4. Each arrest was made after Standardized Field Sobriety Tests were administered and suspects were determined to be intoxicated behind the wheel. Constable Herman later commented on the arrests, saying, “They were arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail, charged with Driving While Intoxicated. They each received a $100.00 bond each. Timothy Holmes was charged with Driving While Intoxicated – 3rd Offense and received a $10,000.00 bond out of the 177th District Court.”

After 18 months of a pandemic, high jail populations, infections and deserting staff, county jailers say the pandemic is brining longtime structural issues at county detention to light.

A map proposed by Democratic Commissioner Rodney Ellis would shrink Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey's precinct, while sandwiching most of unincorporated Harris County into Republican Commissioner Jack Cagle's precinct.

A gunman opened fire at a mall Monday in Boise, Idaho, leaving four people injured and two dead. Police arrived on scene within minutes and exchanged fire with the suspect, leaving the shooter in critical condition. Carter Evans reports.

On Tuesday's show: The impact of higher oil prices, previewing another Houston World Series, and a conversation with Harris County's Elections Administrator.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 2020 lawsuit to bar drive-thru voting in Houston was rejected Monday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans.

TwitterHouston cops carrying out a welfare check on an apartment found a nightmare: three siblings abandoned and living with the skeletal remains of a fourth.“A very horrific situation out here, very tragic,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a Sunday press conference. “I’ve been in this business a long time and I had never heard of a scenario like this. It really caught me by surprise.”The surviving children were ages 15, 10, and 7, and they had been living in “deplorable conditions” fo

According to the study, almost 500,000 households with incomes below $75,000 are paying more than 30% of their incomes for their homes.

The complex will have 89 units for youth aging out of the foster care system and provide residents with wrap-around services.

Texans will vote on eight constitutional amendments. Harris County residents will also have district-specific ballot options.

Harris County, Texas – A Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Deputy is dead and two other deputies are injured after being ambushed while working an extra security job at a North Houston bar. While the deputies were trying to detain a suspect, another suspect came from behind with a rifle and opened fire. One of the injured deputies was shot in the back and is currently in surgery at Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. The second injured deputy was shot in the foot and is awaiting surgery. “I left my third deputy who is deceased here at the hospital, probably one of the toughest things I have done in my career” said Mark Herman, Constable of Harris County Precinct 4.

For Klein ISD, the new total tax rate is $1.3001 per $100 valuation, down from $1.3373 the previous fiscal year. The board meetings had a number of parallels between them as the members discussed and voted on their respective proposed tax rates. The total tax rates that were voted on are complicated by the no-new-revenue rule, and by being the sum of the maintenance and operations tax and the interest and sinking tax. The no-new-revenue rate is intended to compare the property values and tax rates of the previous year to determine a new tax rate that would yield the same amount of tax dollars. According to law, if a tax change surpasses the current no-new-revenue rate it must be described as a tax increase.

On Friday's show: employees of Harris County have filed suit against county leaders, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the week, and bidding farewell to a longtime News 88.7 reporter.

Spring, Texas – Harris County law enforcement officials are seeking assistance from the public in their search for Brandee Crawford, a Spring woman who reportedly has been missing for ten days. Crawford’s family says she has not been seen or heard from since dropping off her child at school on October 4. Deputies with Harris County Precinct 4 as well as the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit have been at Crawford’s home at the 21000 block of Cottage Stream Court since early this morning. Her family says the boyfriend she has been living with is a convicted felon and has shown violent tendencies before. Officials are asking that anyone with information regarding Brandee Crawford and her whereabouts please contact Harris County Sheriff’s Office at (713) 221-6000.

The illegal modification can essentially turn a semi-automatic handgun into a fully-automatic weapon, according to police.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday issued executive order GA-40, prohibiting any entity in Texas -- including private businesses -- from requiring vaccinations from employees or customers.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday issued executive order GA-40, prohibiting any entity in Texas -- including private businesses -- from requiring vaccinations from employees or customers.

The unidentified bounty hunter shot and killed a 24-year-old man in a vehicle with a woman and baby in the car, Gonzalez said.

A spokesman for Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who will have final say, did not respond to requests for comment.

Thirty-seven domestic homicides occurred in Harris County -- the most out of any other county in the state.

“We’re talking about three individuals who were just out here working," said Sean Teare, chief of vehicular crimes with the Harris County district attorney’s office. "They were out here doing their job.”

In Harris County, some 89% of federal flood insurance holders could see increases of up to $60 per month in the first year of the new program.

A county public heath data analysis found roughly 28,700 people getting vaccinated who otherwise wouldn't do so as of Sept. 18, the last day of available data.

The annual event, set to celebrate the organization’s 151st anniversary next year, will be held over Memorial Day weekend in May 2022.

11 (ESD 11) approved a lowered tax rate in a September 9 meeting and Klein Independent School District (Klein ISD) proposed a tax cut on September 13 that will be voted on in its October board meeting. ESD 11In a unanimous September 9 vote, ESD 11 commissioners approved a tax rate of $0.0323 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2021-2022, down approximately 3% from the previous year’s rate of $0.03333 per $100 valuation. The approval came just over a week after ESD 11 launched its new in-house ambulance service, ESD 11 Mobile Healthcare. ESD 11 General Council Regina Adams noted that the tax rate is subject to change for next year as the district gathers more information on ESD 11 Mobile Healthcare’s annual operating revenue and cost. If passed in the upcoming October board meeting, the new tax rate will be the lowest for Klein ISD in 11 years.

Rick Rhoades was convicted of killing two brothers 30 years ago, the day after he'd been released from prison on parole. His attorneys have argued that racial bias in jury selection denied him a fair trial.