Good morning, Houston. Looks like there's another tropical disturbance out in the Gulf of Mexico — this one is called Invest 90L, and it looks like it could be headed for the upper Texas coast. The Chron's Eric Berger is keeping an eye on the system, which is located west of Florida and is headed in a general northwesterly direction; Berger reports that it could become a tropical storm by tomorrow, but isn't likely...
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Jordy Tollett, the city's tourism bureau head, is taking an extended leave to seek professional help for some condition; Tollett has been under fire since a KPRC video showed him taking two-hour lunches at local bars
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Results tagged “chiefharoldhurtt”
It looks like the Houston Police Department is ready to get more serious about it's problem with drunk drivers. At a news conference today, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt unveiled a new van that will help catch drunk drivers.
Despite initially vowing to keep writing tickets for drivers with obscured license plates until a revised state law takes effect in September, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt announced Tuesday that his department would stop writing such tickets after all — apparently feeling the heat from Mayor Bill White, who called obscured plate tickets a "gotcha system" earlier this week. As you'll recall, the state gave police the authority to write tickets for obscured license plates with...
Just a couple of days after the Chronicle's Matt Stiles reported that HPD was still ticketing drivers for having license plate frames despite a new law meant to prevent them from doing so, Mayor Bill White said the police department should knock if off, calling the practice of writing tickets for obstructed license plates a "gotcha system." The 2003 law that technically allowed police to ticket drivers for having obscured plates was apparently intended to...
Well, here's something to be proud of: Houston's homicide rate is now the second-highest among large American cities, according to FBI figures released Monday. Keep in mind that this is the homicide rate we're talking about — Houston's was 18.2 per 100,000 residents last year, putting us second only to Philadelphia and ahead of Dallas (fifth place), which has had a higher homicide rate than Houston for each of the last 11 years. The numbers...
If there's one thing we love, it's an election. And the city has been obliging lately. Melissa Noriega and Roy Morales, the two candidates left standing after last month's special election to fill a vacant at-large city council seat, traded remarks on immigration as early voting began yesterday. Noriega, the clear favorite after garnering 47% of the vote in May, accused Morales of using "fear as a tactic to try to get people worked up."...
Good morning, Houston. 'Stros win! 'Stros win! Whooooooo! Ahem. Yes, well, as you probably know by now, the Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-2 last night to end their 10-game losing streak. The game marked the highest run total for the 'Stros in three weeks, and the team's 16 hits matched their season high — not bad. "It was a fun night for everybody," Woody Williams told the AP. "I know it's one win,...
Two HPD civilian employees have been removed from their jobs in the department's property room pending an investigation into 21 weapons that have been found missing from the facility since October — 19 of which are still unaccounted for. There are more than 18,000 guns in the property room that are either being held as evidence or are waiting to be destroyed, and HPD keeps track of them using a bar code system put in...
A chase that involved three police cars and a suspected vehicle thief led to the death of an innocent 24-year-old woman in a residential area of southeast Houston yesterday. The woman, Rikki Danielle Sanchez, was killed instantly when the car that was being chased crashed into her pickup, sending her "flying" into a brick home. Afterwards, the suspect resisted arrest until a policeman shocked him with a Taser. He was taken to Memorial Hermann with...
The gunman who caused an evacuation at Johnson Space Center's Building 44 earlier today killed a hostage before killing himself, the New York Times is reporting. The gunman somehow got a revolver past security and barricaded himself in the building, which contains communication and tracking equipment for space shuttles. The gunman has been identified as William Phillips, 60. David Beverley, the dead hostage, who was shot in the chest, was a civil servant who worked...
Looks like as long as you can keep from winning the lotto, you can also keep from getting killed. Last month, the city recorded only 24 homicides, down 20 percent from January 2006. Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said that he attributes the decline to HPD's heavy targeting of several hot spots in the city, but indicated that the cold weather might have had something to do with the decline as well. Hurtt hopes to...
Houston's 2006 crime statistics were announced yesterday, and there's some good news: The city's overall crime rate fell 5 percent last year, meaning you're less likely to be robbed, raped, assaulted or have your car stolen. But while we're patting ourselves on the back, we might want to be a little careful we don't get murdered: Houston's homicide rate increased by 5 percent last year. Around every silver lining, there's a dark cloud. According to...
HPD's plan to encourage police officers to work overtime to make up for a staffing shortage seems to be working — at least in terms of the overtime. The Chronicle reports today that the number of HPD officers earning more than $50,000 in overtime soared in 2006, totaling 70 — three times as many as earned that much in 2005. The four officers at the top of the list took home more than $100,000 in...
Antonio WIlliams, a man police call "a new breed of killer," will appear in court today for his alleged role in at least seven murders in three months. Williams, 26, is charged or suspected in the string of killings that police say are rooted in a war between Houston drug dealers and rivals from New Orleans. Police say Williams' string of murders started June 16, 23 days after he got out of jail, where he...
Juan Leonardo Quintero, the man accused of killing HPD Officer Rodney Johnson during a traffic stop last week, is scheduled to appear in court today — but Quintero's case may have farther-reaching effects than his own fate as it again brings up discussion of Houston's immigration policy.
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt announced yesterday that 10 more red-light cameras are being installed around town, some of them on state-owned roads thanks to a ruling from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Hurtt said the cameras will begin operating in about a month at the East Freeway at Uvalde on the east side, FM 1960 at Tomball Parkway in northwest Houston and eight locations on the southwest side: the West Loop at Westheimer, the Southwest...
Three months after the investigation into serious problems at HPD's crime lab was put on hold for lack of funding, not a lot has changed: The probe still isn't funded, and it looks like the city might not be willing to turn loose of the $1.5 million needed to complete it.
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt made an appearance before a City Council committee yesterday to explain his proposed new chase policy, which concerned city leaders because it would bar officers from chasing suspects who refuse to stop for minor violations. But the policy is really nothing to worry about, Hurtt told councilmembers — the problem is, it's just misunderstood.
A police union has put up billboards critical of HPD to let people know "Houston is not a safe city" And today, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt defended the department's revised chase policy before City Council In the gubernatorial race, religion a common theme among the candidates — though everyone seems to have different views Looks like there's a common thread among the gubernatorial candidates ... and it's God Now in the baby world: ultrasound images...
A year after Houston welcomed more than a quarter million Katrina refugees, more than 100,000 are still here, and Houstonians aren't happy. West Houston residents who gathered Wednesday at Grace Presbyterian Church to talk about the increased violent crime rate in their part of town blamed evacuees for the problem, reports the Chronicle. Police Chief Harold Hurtt came to the church to discuss a new patrol division aimed at bringing the violence to an end,...
Police have arrested Stevdrick Jackson in connection with the murder of a southeast Houston convenience store clerk Monday Roderick Fountain, a suspect in the disappearance of 3-year-old Kendrick Jackson, tried to get his wife to lie about who owned a gun in a jail phone call he didn't know was being recorded Jordy Tollett is back in charge of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau after a temporary leave of absence A judge granted...
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt is starting to respond to the complaints leveled against him in the police officers' union survey, saying officers were mistaken in calling him an overly strict disciplinarian. As a matter of fact, KHOU reports, he's practically a lovable old teddy bear in a uniform:
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt avoided a crash yesterday, and a group of his supporters are trying to help him avoid another one — the one that could be headed his way when the results of a police union survey come down. The survey, you'll remember, found that 75 percent of respondents said they had little or no confidence in Hurtt's ability to lead HPD. About 2,300 officers responded to the Houston Police Officers' Union survey,...
So it looks like police officers aren't the only ones after HPD Chief Harold Hurtt: Now, 18-wheelers may be out to get him, too.
It looks like the gloves are coming off with regard to the Houston Police Officers' Union survey: Mark Clark, the union's executive director, tells KPRC he wants HPD Chief Harold Hurtt fired if he doesn't change. About 2,300 officers — roughly half of those on the force — responded to the 13-question survey, which dealt with conditions in the police department and Hurtt's ability to lead it. And the results weren't good for the chief: Seventy-five percent of respondents said they don't feel confident in Hurtt's ability to lead.
The responses to a police union survey of HPD management are in, and though the final results won't be announced for a few days, a preliminary look from KHOU showed little love for Chief Harold Hurtt.
The defense in the Andrea Yates trial rested this afternoon; the state will now begin rebuttal and the case could go to the jury sometime next week Fort Bend detectives say they've made progress in their investigation of the death of Ashton Glover, the 16-year-old Sugar Land girl whose body was found in a field yesterday In Houston, the police officers' union is gathering the last responses to a survey it issued about HPD Chief...
The Chronicle reports this monring that five surveillance cameras will be installed on and near Main Street this fall — a move that could be the beginning of a citywide camera program, if HPD has its way. The initial five cameras, which will go online in October, will be paid for by the Houston Downtown Management District, a group that uses downtown tax money for downtown development, so they don't need the City Council's OK....
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt reported yesterday that hurricane evacuees have been either the suspects or victims in about 21 percent of murders in Houston so far this year, and the city is on track to have the most murders in nearly 15 years. Hurtt could not immediately provide a break-down of how many of the 43 cases involved evacuee victims, and how many involved suspects that were evacuees. He says he's only pointing out the...