Past Articles by Laurie Johnson
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NOAA Warns Above Average Hurricane Season Is Likely It's going to be an above normal to extremely active hurricane season. That's the news from NOAA — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Agency scientists predict as many as 20 named storms this year. |
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Opposing Groups Emerge In Presbyterian Church Discernment Process Several months ago we first reported that one of the nation's largest churches in the Presbyterian USA denomination is considering breaking away from that affiliation. The discernment process at First Presbyterian Church Houston is underway and is already stirring up debate. |
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Houston Public Media Remembrance Of ACB Chairman John MacFarlane John MacFarlane — chairman of the Association for Community Broadcasting — died this morning after a year-long battle with cancer. |
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Harris County Sues Houston Motel Known For Prostitution A Houston motel nationally known for prostitution activity is the subject of a new lawsuit. Harris County alleges the motel is a criminal nuisance to the neighborhood. |
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Houston Places More Chronically Homeless Into Permanent Housing Houston leaders are working to get the city's more than 2,000 chronically homeless citizens into permanent housing. |
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Houston's FY 2014 Budget Includes Employee Raises, Expanded Services Houston Mayor Annise Parker released her proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 this week. The $4.9 billion budget includes pay raises for city employees — restored services and expanded recycling. |
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What You Can Expect From The Houston Mayoral Race Houston Mayor Annise Parker officially kicks off her campaign for re-election this weekend. The mayoral campaign could be an aggressive one. |
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Houston Increases Opportunity For Minority Firms To Win City Contracts Minority-owned businesses will have more chances to win city contracts thanks to a new rule enacted by Houston Council. |
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Houston Gets New Rules For Sharing Roads with Runners And Bikers Tomorrow morning Houston council members will consider an ordinance to protect pedestrians and cyclists on Houston streets. The Safe Passage Ordinance would require drivers to give wide berth to people walking or riding in the right of way. |
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Election Day Is This Saturday, No Really Tomorrow is the last day of early voting. That may sound odd — but Texas holds a uniform election in the month of May and Election Day is this Saturday. More than half of Harris County voters are eligible to cast ballots. |
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What Will Memorial Park Look Like In 20 Years? Tomorrow morning Houston council members will hear about a significant overhaul to Memorial Park. The Memorial Park Master Plan proposes to spend $150 million over the next 20 years to preserve and protect the park. |
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Houston's First "Hackathon" Invites Techies to Develop Apps for the City Houston officials say the 24-hour event will open up data to developers and allow them to create new websites and apps for Houston users. |
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Will Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Run For Governor? There's a lot of talk in the political world that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is positioning himself to run for governor in 2014. But is it all just talk? |
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University of Houston Bans Smoking On Campus The University of Houston is the most recent campus to enact a complete ban on smoking and tobacco use. |
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Houston Neighborhoods Are Unique Study Case For Air Pollution An air pollution mobile lab will soon roam the streets of Houston — looking for concentrations of particulate matter. |
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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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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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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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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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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 Planners Change Rules To Draw Residential Density And Growth Neighborhoods within Houston city limits will soon have new rules on density and housing development. The City of Houston wants to attract more residential density in areas outside the 610 loop. |
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Remembering Margaret Thatcher And Her Houston Connection Upon the passing of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — former President George Bush issued a statement calling her one of the 20th century's fiercest advocates of freedom. |
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Littering In Houston Is A Million-Pound Problem Tomorrow thousands of volunteers will fan across Houston to pick up trash and debris. |
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Homeland Security Chief Visits Houston For Immigration Talks Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is in Houston meeting with local officials and businesses about immigration reform. The secretary's visit comes as Congress prepares to debate the issue later this month. |
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New Method For Houston Water Users To Dispute High Bills Houston residents may soon have a new tool to dispute unusually high water bills. |
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Why Congress Is Turning To The Houston Energy Sector For Tax Reform Advice One of the top legislative priorities in the House of Representatives this year is comprehensive tax reform. Houston energy companies weighed in today with the changes they'd like to see in the tax code. |
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Texas Lawmakers Duel Over Medicaid Expansion Top elected officials in Texas joined in Austin today to reinforce their stance against Medicaid expansion. The governor and lieutenant governor, along with senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz spoke at the state capitol about their concerns over the Medicaid program. |
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Renovations Underway At Historic Lancaster Hotel One of Houston's historic hotels is getting a $10 million dollar makeover. The Lancaster Hotel has been in the same family since it was built in 1926. |
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OMG! Adult Drivers Now Out-Text Teen Drivers A new survey of drivers indicates more people than ever admit to texting while driving. Adult drivers now exceed teens when it comes to using their phones while on the road. |
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Houston Zoo's Baby Giraffe Yao Has Life-Threatening Infection A baby giraffe at the Houston zoo has a life-threatening bone infection. The zoo's newest giraffe has a small chance of survival. |
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Kinder Foundation Donates $1 Million to Feed Hungry Kids The donation will provide weekend meals for kids who don't have enough to eat at home. |
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Houston, Harris County Continue Negotiations Over Jail System The city and county are getting closer to a joint processing center for jail inmates. City councilmembers will soon vote on a financial stake in the plans for a new intake facility. |
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Future of Water in Texas Remains Hopeful As summer approaches and Texas prepares for another possible drought season — one environmental group says the state could save billions of gallons of water. |
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Looking Into Greyhound Racing In Texas As state lawmakers consider ways to prop up dog racing in Texas — the ASPCA has a report out about how greyhounds are treated in the sport. |
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Houston Wins Million-Dollar Bloomberg Challenge The City of Houston is the winner of a $1 million prize for its idea to collect garbage and recyclable materials in one bin. |
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Hull Repairs Bring Battleship Texas One Step Closer To Dry Berth Nearly $20 million of repairs are soon to begin on the Battleship Texas. The repairs are necessary to keep the aging ship from caving in on itself. |
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Houston Cancer Researcher Discovers Flaw And Possible Solution In Cancer Vaccines A new study suggests cancer-fighting vaccines could be made more effective by changing a few basic ingredients. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center scientists found the mineral oil used in many vaccines may not be the best formula. |
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Houston Paves Way for Special Parking Districts The rules are aimed at creating density in the inner loop and addressing the problem of retail and restaurant patrons parking on neighborhood streets. |
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Senate District 6 Has Representation, Finally Now that former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia has been elected to the Texas Senate , she'll have just a few days to get up to speed on the current legislative session. |
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Run-Off Race to Decide Future Of Senate District 6 Tomorrow will decide the future of Senate District 6 as voters head to the polls for the third time to pick who should lead the district. |
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Houston To Launch Major Medical Conference Houston will host a major new medical conference next year. The organization that produces the world's largest medical tradeshow will open a North America version of its expo at the George R. Brown Convention Center. |
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Houston Council Tackles Decades-Long Problem Of Untested Rape Kits The City of Houston will pay $4.4 million to test all of the city's back log of rape kits. Thousands of untested kits will be completed by the end of the year. |
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Houston: Where Opera Meets Rodeo The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo officially kicks off today. The rodeo is known for bringing some of the biggest country music acts to town — but this year they're teaming up with an unusual partner — the Houston Grand Opera. Several classically trained musicians were commissioned to write country songs for rodeo events. |
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Rice University To Open Center For The Arts Rice University plans to open a new Center for the Arts thanks to a $20 million grant from the Moody Foundation. |
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Galveston-Bound Cruise Passengers Stuck At Sea A Carnival cruise ship that set sail from Galveston last week is stranded in the Caribbean after a fire on-board. The incident likely won't have any ripple effect on the cruise industry. |
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Cutting Red Tape Between Agencies To Fight Wildfires The wildfires of the last couple years brought attention to a problem for the Texas Forest Service when it came to fighting fires on military bases. Miles of red tape have now been cleared up to make the process more simple. |
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Mayor Restores Funding For Houston Libraries Houston Public Library hours are being restored as a result of what city officials call a sign of improving economic times. The city will hire 109 full and part time positions to restore library services. |
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Houston Council Considers Restrictions On Payday Lenders Houston councilmembers want public input on a proposed ordinance to regulate the payday lending industry. They're asking people to submit comments during a committee hearing tomorrow morning at City Hall. |
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Mardi Gras Takes Over Galveston Island Mardi Gras festivities start tomorrow and more than 300,000 people are expected to celebrate on Galveston Island over a two week period. |
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Houston To Crack Down On Gold And Jewelry Buyers With gold and precious metals getting high prices — jewelry theft is becoming more common. City officials want to add more regulations to the gold buying industry. |
