Past Articles by David Pitman
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What's Wrong With The Latest Survey On How Safe Houstonians Feel? A new Gallup survey finds Houston is near the top of a list of cities where people do not feel safe walking alone in their neighborhoods at night. Houston is in company with riverside, California, New Orleans, and Memphis — where people feel the least secure. But one local expert in social behavior says surveys like this one usually miss one important point. |
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Something President Obama and Gov. Perry Agree On: Creating More Tech Jobs President Obama is in Austin today to talk about jobs. Specifically, a new federal program designed to create even more high-tech, well-paying jobs for which Austin is already well known. |
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'Sex Superbug' Makes It To The US Health officials in Houston and elsewhere are renewing the call for people to protect themselves against gonorrhea. A drug-resistant strain of the sexually transmitted disease has made its way into the United States. |
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TX Gay Rights Group Not Upset By The AG's Opinion On Domestic Partner Benefits State Attorney General Greg Abbott has says it's a violation of the state constitution for local governments and school districts to offer marriage-like benefits to same-sex partners. One of the state's leading gay rights groups says it's neither surprised, nor disappointed, by Abbott's opinion. |
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Houston Bucks National Trend On Law School Grad Employment The latest report from the American Bar Association finds, on average, just over half of new law school graduates are have found full-time work in law within a year of earning their degrees. But the picture appears brighter for students at the two law schools Houston. |
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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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Why We Should Prepare For An Unsually Busy Hurricane Season It looks like this year's hurricane season will be busier than usual. That's according the hurricane forecast from Colorado State University. |
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Texas House Bill To Cut Early Voting Days Introduced, Opposed And Likely To Be Shelved Early voting can draw as much as half the turnout in some elections in the Houston area. The state House Election Committee considered a bill that would shorten early voting from 12 to 7. After receiving strong opposition from committee Democrats, the bill did not make it to a committee vote. |
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UST Marks 30 Years Offering Free Income Tax Filing Help There are just two weekends left until the deadline to file a 2012 federal tax return. The University of St. Thomas is marking thirty years of providing free help to file a simple return. |
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As More Folks Cut Their Landlines, Harris County Launches 911 Education Campaign Harris County is launching a new campaign to make sure people know how to properly use 911. This campaign is needed, in part, because more people are discontinuing their landlines, and moving exclusively to cell phones. |
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After Four Decades, Galveston Realizes There's An Obvious Song To Promote Tourism Galveston is planting an earworm in the brains of tourists. The island's tourism bureau has re-worked an old song in hopes of bringing new visitors to the island. |
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SCOTUS Declines To Hear Challenge To TX Open Meetings Law The state's Open Meetings Act will not get a hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court. The court has decided not to review an appeals court ruling that upheld the law. This marks the end of a battle over whether elected officials can talk business outside of actual meetings. |
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Could The Gay Marriage Cases At SCOTUS Affect Texas? The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week in two cases related to same-sex marriage. One case deals with Proposition 8 – the constitutional ban on gay marriage in California. The other tackles one part of the federal defense of marriage act. |
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It's Time For Tour de Houston Again The eighth annual Tour de Houston is on hand this weekend. Thousands of cyclists will line up at City Hall Sunday morning for a fundraiser to benefit Houston parks. |
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In Settlement, Darque Tan Agrees To Stop Linking Health Benefits To Tanning Beds A tanning salon company, based in Houston, has settled with the state over the company's claims that tanning beds have health benefits. |
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Close Results Expected In Multi-Million-Dollar State Senate Race Early voting turnout for Saturday's runoff election was up slightly — compared to early voting in last month's special election. The two candidates for District 6 have poured seven-figure sums of money into the race |
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KUHF Conversations: State Sen. District 6 Candidate Carol Alvarado In the second of our conversations with the two candidates for state Senate District 6, KUHF Morning Edition Host David Pitman sits down with state Rep. Carol Alvarado. She has represented southeast Harris County in the Texas House since 2009. Here she explains why she wants to make the move to the state Senate, and how she would try to expand healthcare and bring down — or at least freeze — the cost of getting a college education in Texas. |
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KUHF Conversations: State Sen. District 6 Candidate Sylvia Garcia A longtime name in Harris County politics wants a job in Austin. Democrat Sylvia Garcia served as Harris County Commissioner for nearly a decade, before her unexpected defeat in 2010. Now, she's one of two in a runoff election for state Senate District 6. That's the seat left open following the death of state Sen. Mario Gallegos. Garcia is facing off against another Democrat, state Rep. Carol Alvarado. This week, KUHF is speaking with both candidates. We start with Garcia, who talks to Morning Edition Host David Pitman about her top legislative priority, and her latest campaign ad tying Alvarado to supporters of Governor Rick Perry. |
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Could Rep. Toth's 'Firearms Protection Act' Pass Constitutional Muster? A Houston-area state representative wants to keep Texas from being subject to any new federal gun regulations. Republican Steve Toth of The Woodlands has filed the "Firearms Protection Act". House Bill 1076 would essentially prohibit the enforcement of rules on guns, gun magazines, or background checks that didn't exist at the start of the year. |
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Going Once ... Going Twice ... Sold! A Piney Point Mansion Hits The Auction Block The Houston real estate market had one of its best years ever in 2012. The biggest gain in sales came from homes priced at half-a-million dollars or more. But some people trying to sell those truly spectacular, one-of-a-kind mega-mansions find the market is still a bit challenging. |
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Will Gov. Perry's Job-Poaching Tour Of California Result In Many New Jobs In TX? This weekend, Governor Rick Perry is going on a tour of California. On Sunday, he'll start a four-day swing through Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and Orange County. His goal is to lure business away from the Golden State to the Lone Star State. The governor shouldn't expect to peel away too many jobs. |
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How Culture Can Hinder Fighting HIV Among Houston's African-Americans Despite recent strides made in HIV prevention and treatment, Houston's black community is still disproportionately affected by the virus. The people on the front lines of the battle against HIV say they're still trying to overcome cultural barriers that can make it difficult to get people tested and treated. |
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HISD Working On New Ways To Track Bullying During Anti-Bullying Week The fight against bullying is the focus this week for Houston schools. The Houston ISD this morning began its second-annual anti-bullying week. The district is still trying to get a handle on exactly how widespread bullying is, and why certain kids are targeted. |
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New Poll Finds Gov. Perry Has Worn Out His Welcome With TX Voters On the day Governor Rick Perry delivers his State of the State address, a new poll shows that voters aren't thrilled about the idea of him serving a fourth full term. That's even true among many Republicans. |
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Houston Earns A C+ For How Easy It Is To Find Out Where The Money Goes The City of Houston earns a passing grade for spending transparency — that's according to the Texas Public Interest Research Group. |
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KUHF Conversations: Wyatt Wainwright On The Houston Auto Show The Houston Auto Show opens this morning. Nearly half-a-million people are expected to show up at Reliant Center through the weekend to check out 500 new cars and trucks. Morning Edition Host David Pitman stopped by the show as it was preparing to open to talk with Wyatt Wainwright, the president of the Houston Auto Dealers Association. |
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Traffic Alert: Here's One Freeway To Avoid This Weekend A portion of one of the freeways heading into downtown Houston will be closed this weekend to fix a bridge. |
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Drought Eases In The Houston Area, But It's Not Yet Over The steady, soaking rain we saw last week and earlier this week is helping Harris and surrounding counties slowly emerge from the drought. But not everything is back to where it should be, yet. |
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A New Session, A New Push For LGBT-Friendly Laws In Austin Texas lawmakers in Austin will make decisions this legislative session on big picture items like the budget, education, and healthcare. They'll also consider social issues — specifically, measures that would benefit the lives of gays and lesbians in Texas. But what are the challenges in bringing those bills to a vote — and will they gain more traction this time around. |
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KUHF Conversations: State Rep. Garnet Coleman (D) It's been two years since state lawmakers were in session. Back then, they had to slash more than $5 billion from education to make the books balance. When the 83rd legislative session gets underway on Tuesday, lawmakers will not only have to grapple once again with education funding, but also how to expand Medicaid, as called for in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. State Representative Garnet Coleman sat down with Morning Edition Host David Pitman to talk about those issues, and how this session will be different, since Republicans no longer hold a super majority of both the House and Senate. |
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Mayor Parker's New Push For Downtown Retail, As Macy's Announces Closure Macy's announced today that it’s closing its store in downtown Houston. After more than 65 years as a department store, the building at the corner of Main and Dallas will be converted to office space. The news of Macy's closure coincides with the mayor's office announcing a new task force to find ways to create, and keep, more retail downtown. |
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Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison Bids Farewell The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate said goodbye today. |
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Would Expanding Conceal-And-Carry Cut Gun Violence? Governor Rick Perry has weighed in on the renewed debate over gun control, following the school shooting in Connecticut. Last night, he told a gathering in a Fort Worth suburb that concealed-handgun permit holders should be able to carry their weapons in any public place. But is the idea of arming more people in more places the right course of action? |
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Expected Weekend Rains Will Help Ease The Drought, But Not By Much Showers and occasional thunderstorms are expected across the Houston area through the weekend. The ongoing drought appears to be easing up in some parts of the metro area, while remaining more-or-less the same in others. It's unlikely that the moderate-to-severe drought in Houston will come to a complete end anytime soon. |
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Today's The Day Television Commercials Must Officially CALM Down Obnoxiously loud television commercials are now, supposedly, a thing of the past. A new law kicked in today requiring broadcasters to air commercials at the same loudness level as programming. Advertisers and television stations have had some time to prepare for this. |
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You Still Have Time To Prepare For The First Area-Wide Freeze Of The Season After a weekend warm enough to run around in shorts, the first area-wide freeze of the season is coming to Houston tonight. But forecasters say it won't last long enough to be considered a hard freeze. |
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St. Joseph Cuts Ribbon This Morning On An Old Hospital Brought Back To Life After nearly twenty years, the Houston Heights neighborhood has a fully-functioning hospital. Today is the grand opening of St. Joseph Medical Center in the Heights. It's on the site of one of the oldest hospitals in the city. But why the heights — and why now? |
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Who Will Feel The Most Pain From The EPA's Suspension Of New BP Contracts? The federal government is suspending BP from new contracts. Today's decision by the EPA is the latest consequence to come from the 2010 gulf oil spill. |
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New Jobless Numbers Find TX Unemployment At 3.5-year Low; Houston Leading Job Growth Unemployment in Texas is at its lowest level in more than three-and-a-half years. Today's report from the workforce commission shows the state added nearly 280,000 jobs over the last year. A lot of that job growth happened right here in Houston. |
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Let's Put Today's Texas Secession Talk Into Historical Context, Shall We? The White House says it will review the petition that seeks permission for Texas to break away from the United States. More than 70,000 people — and counting — have added their names to the petition on the White House's website. This latest call for secession is a bit of history repeating itself. |
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Drought Conditions Making A Comeback To Houston It wasn't all that long ago when Houston emerged from an extended drought. But it now looks like this area is on the verge of another one. |
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What Cruz's Senate Victory Means For Texas, The Senate, And The Tea Party Most of the U.S House and Senate candidates who lined up with the Tea Party did not win their races last night. Two notable exceptions were Michele Bachmann in Minnesota — and Ted Cruz here in Texas. So what does Cruz's victory means for the state, the Senate, and for the Tea Party. |
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Early Voting Popularity Rises With New Record In Harris County Early voting set a new record in Harris County. More than three-quarters-of-a-million voters cast ballots either in person or by mail by Friday night's deadline. It appears the increasing popularity of early voting is here to stay. |
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What Does It Mean To Be An Independent Voter In Texas? Independent voters outnumber those who call themselves Democrats or Republicans. But what, exactly, is an independent voter? And what sort of influence, if any, do independents really have in Texas? |
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Houston Feels Sandy's Wrath — Through Flight Cancellations Hurricane Sandy has forced the cancellation of thousands of flights in the northeast. And that's had a ripple effect here in Houston. |
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What Does It Take To Be A Poll Watcher? Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says if international election observers get too close to the polls on Election Day, they could end up in jail. So just what are the qualifications to be a poll watcher? |
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KUHF Conversations: US Senate Candidate Ted Cruz (R) In the second of a two-part series of conversations with the candidates for U.S. Senate, Republican Ted Cruz explains to Morning Edition host David Pitman his ideas to reduce federal spending and the size of government — and whether Cruz sees President Obama as more of an opponent than the other candidate in the Senate race, Democrat Paul Sadler. |
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KUHF Conversations: US Senate Candidate Paul Sadler (D) We're talking with the two men who hope to be the next U.S. Senator from Texas. Democrat Paul Sadler served in the Texas House of Representatives. He's hoping to pull off a come-from-behind win against Republican Ted Cruz. In this conversation, Sadler explains to Morning Edition Host David Pitman how he's trying to win over the 26 percent of voters who say they haven't thought enough about the race to pick a candidate. |
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What Makes A Voter An 'Undecided' Voter? Tonight's town-hall-style presidential debate will feature an audience of "undecided" voters. But, how, exactly, can a voter still be "undecided" near the end of a presidential campaign that has lasted two years? |
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An institution synonymous with Houston — Rice University — is marking its 100th anniversary. Rice started off with just seventy students in four buildings. It's now one of the top research schools in the nation. |
