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U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood likes Houston’s light rail that’s up and running but warns that regional transit officials have squandered opportunities the past decade by not building greater consensus. “The region needs to get its act together,” LaHood said during a brief question and answer session after an unrelated news conference Wednesday in Houston.… Continue reading

WEST — Rather than blowing out birthday candles, the Rev. Ed Karasek sat in a T-shirt and shorts on Saturday answering the phone at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church and tending to a flock rocked by the West fertilizer plant explosion. In the next few days, he’ll gather with parishioners, some he’s known… Continue reading

WEST – Instinct kicked in after the force of the fertilizer plant explosion knocked Zachery Kocain back five feet in the cornfield where he was standing.”Me and my friend, we started to crawl,” Kocain recalled Thursday from the same field where he was recording the fire with his phone less than 20 hours earlier. “Then… Continue reading

Trouble with the Prairie View’s postal boundaries nearly got Mayor Frank Jackson shipped straight to the doghouse. “I tried to order flowers for my wife on Valentine’s Day, and it was a big problem,” Jackson told a Texas House committee last week. “A big problem.” via Prairie View asking state to stamp out ZIP code… Continue reading

Highway department officials went into the session estimating the agency needed $4 billion more per year, about as much as it currently spends on new highway construction annually. To seriously dent the congestion crisis, some have said TxDOT needs about $12 billion per year. The agency is carrying about $23 billion in debt, as estimated… Continue reading

Even with the added costs and restrictions, Houston’s program is more generous than those in other cities, officials said. “You’ll see any of the bike programs that have more than 20 stations – they are going to limit that time to 30 minutes,” said Will Rub, director of Houston’s program. The additional kiosks and bikes… Continue reading

DNA testing has played a crucial role in exonerating some notable Texas defendants, such as Michael Morton, who was freed in 2011 after 25 years in prison after another man was linked to items at the crime scene. Though Morton’s case was not a capital murder trial, Ellis said all testing should be provided by… Continue reading

More than four years after Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston, tearing down homes and damaging the citys historic trolley system, the ensuing population loss threatens to diminish bus service for island residents.Because of Ike displacements, Galveston slipped below 50,000 in the 2010 decennial census, making it ineligible for direct federal transit funds. Rather than receive… Continue reading

Census researchers also found that 10 percent of women can make it to work in 10 minutes, compared to 7.2 percent of men. “We’re all wanting to be closer to our kids,” said Melissa Bayne, organizer of the Meyerland Mothers of Young Children group. “If we can, we want to be there.” Shorter and faster… Continue reading

Nationally, the Census Bureau reported 8.1 percent of commuters travel an hour or more each way to work. Harris County fared slightly better, with 7.6 percent of commutes taking an hour or more. Workers in neighboring counties had longer commutes; in Montgomery County, 14 percent of commutes took an hour or more. The increase in… Continue reading