Free Republic

The Texas Supreme Court gave Friday the Houston city council 30 days either to repeal a civil-rights ordinance allowing opposite-sex bathroom use or place it before the voters on the November ballot. The 12-page decision says that the council ran afoul of the city charter when it refused to act after the city secretary certified a year ago the signatures submitted by a pastor-led coalition, which had moved to force a vote on the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). Houston Mayor Annise Parker came under fire last year after the city moved to subpoena sermons and other documents from five...

“This is a group of people that are generally homosexual activists,” said Liz Theiss, an opponent of the ordinance. “And they have obviously found someone in power in Mayor Parker to forward this bill and force it on the traditionalists in this city.”

It's being reported on KXAN.com noon news that multiple people shot at on Lone Star College in Houston, TX. It's a tech school.

Run>Hide>Fight. Your guide to surviving an active shooter event. This is a video the city of Houston put together on what to do should you (a citizen) run across an active shooter, such as the guy in the movie theater. They were just finishing it when the Colorado shootings occurred. If you haven’t seen it……it is well worth the watch and worth sharing with your family and friends as well. DHS sponsored video, worth watching. They sorta gloss over the gun free zone sign on the door. I'd be somewhat inclined to spray the fire extinguisher in the shooter's face,...

Full Headline: 'Run, hide, fight': Homeland Security releases public service video on how to get to safety and survive a mass shooting Following last Friday's mass casualty shooting in Aurora, Colorado, the City of Houston has released an instructional video on what to do in case of a similar emergency. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, the city hopes that the video can help people prepare people for the worst. Entitled Run.Hide.Fight. Surviving an Active Shooter Event, it depicts a fictional shooting incident in a crowded office building. In the six-minute video, a narrator warns that all shooter events...

Houstonians should be prepared to pay more to fix their cars, make minor home repairs and renew neighborhood association dues now that the City Council has voted to raise more than 150 fees by an average of 25 percent, according to a handful of contractors and business associations. Johnny Gibbs, owner of Lighthouse Electric, predicted Houstonians will balk at paying the higher fees for simple jobs like changing out a ceiling fan or replacing a light fixture. He usually charges only $50 to $75 for that kind of work, but now the minimum permit fee for the contractor, which went...

Federal Judge Blocks Red Light Camera Removal in Houston, Texas Houston, Texas city attorneys attempt to preserve red light camera program by throwing lawsuit filed with vendor. A federal judge issued an order last Friday blocking the immediate removal of red light cameras from Houston, Texas intersections. On November 2, voters adopted an amendment to the city charter making photo tickets unenforceable, against the wishes of the Houston city council and the private vendor that operates the cameras, American Traffic Solutions (ATS). Over the Thanksgiving holiday, US District Court for the Southern District of Texas Judge Lynn N. Hughes worked...

The city is poised to sell the former Compaq Center to Lakewood Church for $7.5 million, one of a string of real estate sales city officials hope to realize to help close a lingering budget shortfall. City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed sale Wednesday, which would end a 30-year lease signed in 2001 by the megachurch's leader and television paster Joel Osteen. Lakewood... made a lump sum $11.8 million pre-payment for the lease to use the 606,000-square-foot building — former home to the Houston Rockets — which sits on seven acres in Greenway Plaza area along the...

"When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when you number them." -- Exodus 30:12. No one talked about plagues or ransoms during a news conference today at St. John's United Methodist Church downtown.... These local leaders gathered to promote "Census Sabbath" (PDF) March 5-7. They encouraged pastors, rabbis, priests and other spiritual leaders to dedicate sermons and other messages to the value of returning 2010 Census forms that will arrive in mailboxes...

The landmark election Saturday of America's first big-city lesbian mayor in Houston represents more than just a milestone in identity politics. It also signals an unmistakable evolutionary step in national politics, one that provides further evidence of a trend that helped make Barack Obama president: growth-oriented communities like the Texas metropolis, rather than aging big cities or nostalgia-inducing small towns, are setting the course of the country's political direction. Houston is one of a set of fast-growing cities and expanding suburbs whose changing face and increasingly post-racial politics helped make Barack Obama president. Their politics are defined by some of...

<p>Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker after a hotly contested runoff.</p> <p>Parker defeated former city attorney Gene Locke with 53.6 percent of the vote Saturday in a race that had a turnout of only 16.5 percent.</p>