AG says Katy schools can withhold police reports in cheerleader hazing case

InstantNewsKaty.com is reporting today that the state attorney general’s office has sided with the Katy Independent School District in allowing the school system to keep private police reports in the cheerleader hazing case that made national news last fall.

InstantNewsKaty had filed an open records request to review the police report and other investigative materials complied [...]

Interactive map profiles candidates for Texas House speaker

Confused by the race for House speaker? Our map lifts the veil on the candidates jostling for the job as well as other key players. We highlight one of those players — Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum — who failed to disclose salary information, according to the documents we showcase via our map.

CPS sits on report about FLDS abuse, denies Chronicle request

Remember that big fuss about that unusual church group that went by the name FLDS, where folks were alleged to be practicing polygamy and kids were getting abused, and the state went in and took like 400 kids away? Well, the state Child Protective Services agency has done an investigation into it.
But when The [...]

State worker pay follow-up: DPS officers make OT pulling long hours

Two of three state Department of Public Safety officers who made more than $100,000 last year through big overtime checks are on the governor’s security detail, and a third spent six months as a counselor at the DPS Training Academy, an agency spokeswoman said.
If you saw our story from yesterday about state workers who made [...]

Texas ranks near the top nationally in public officials’ convictions

Texans want to be No. 1. They want to be bigger, better, faster, at the very top of every list.
Well, Texas, here’s a ranking where you’re almost at the very top. In fact, you’re No. 3 in the entire nation.
It’s the number of public officials convicted of criminal charges between 1998 and 2007. The [...]

Jaworski: Allegations of favoritism on hurricane cleanup are ‘total speculation’

It was a serious charge, even though it was never substantiated: AshBritt, a debris removal company with a checkered past, claimed that Joe Jaworski, the former mayor pro tem of Galveston, used Hurricane Ike to help a client at his law practice.
In a letter sent to Jaworski and obtained by Texas Watchdog, the corporate counsel [...]

Violent offenders’ records shielded by state law to seal criminal pasts

If you ever wondered how important it is for the public to have access to government information, here’s your answer: Your own personal safety might be at risk.
From a story everyone should read in this morning’s Dallas Morning News by reporter Robert T. Garrett:
AUSTIN – More than 1,500 Texas offenders who had their records sealed [...]

Beaumont prisoners not evacuated for Hurricane Ike file civil rights suit

Prisoners in Beaumont have brought more than 130 lawsuits in the past month, claiming that their rights were violated when they were not evacuated from the LeBlanc Unit at the state prison during Hurricane Ike, the Beaumont Enterprise reports.

Do red light cameras prevent wrecks? TxDOT says so; not everyone agrees

TxDOT has come out with a new study suggesting that red light cameras have been sharply curtailing accidents at Texas intersections — but the Grits for Breakfast blog picks apart the data and finds it lacking. If you didn’t see it already, GTB has been lauded by the American Bar Association Journal as one of [...]

No criminal charges for ex-DA Rosenthal; current DA cites ‘insufficient evidence’

The former district attorney of Harris County who left office earlier this year after pornographic and racist e-mails were found on his computer will not be prosecuted criminally for those and other forms of misconduct, Harris County’s current DA announced this afternoon.
Interim DA Kenneth Magidson says there is insufficient evidence to prosecute Chuck Rosenthal.
Magidson [...]

State secrets? Names of people in death chamber, Beaumont helicopter logs, pollution informer, AG says

Here at Thanksgiving, we’re certainly thankful for Texas’ open records law. But many of the exemptions to the law are real turkeys, including one that allows records to be held if they’re deemed “intimate or embarrassing” to the people involved. Texas Watchdog takes a look at some of the public records people have asked to see in Texas lately and what the state attorney general’s office has said about whether they can see them — and we’ve plotted them on a map.

Another Harris County official caught sending offensive e-mails

When are public officials going to learn to stop sending e-mails that offend others? Better yet, when are they going to learn that racist, sexist and/or sexually suggestive jokes just aren’t funny?

Tapes made public concerning Corpus police chief’s comments

Tapes and transcripts of phone calls and conversations recorded by Corpus Christi’s police chief have been released to the public, and Chief Bryan Smith says he’ll retire Dec. 19. The Caller-Times has the transcripts and MP3s posted on its Web site.

A third of criminal records missing from public DPS database

From the Star-Telegram this morning:
More than a third of criminal records are missing from the online Department of Public Safety database available to the public, a Fort Worth company found in a study.
Even government agencies, which have access to more detailed criminal records to screen teachers, doctors, volunteers and tradespeople, use a DPS system fraught [...]

Corpus paper pushes for audio tapes of top cop’s controversial comments

Just what did Police Chief Bryan Smith say? And why won’t anyone make the tapes public, some three weeks after the Caller-Times asked for their release?

NW Harris Co MUD officials get four years for misuse of public funds

As Richard Connelly wrote today on the Houston Press’ Hair Balls blog, “Who the hell pays any attention to what MUD directors do?” In this case, local prosecutors did.

Public records show school system feels ripped off by land broker

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has used the state’s Public Information Act to show that a local school system is accusing its own former real-estate broker of buying up land for a school site and then reselling it to the school system — at a profit of $621,500.
The FBI is involved in probing the dealings of [...]

AG: Somerset ISD can withhold ‘intimate or embarrassing’ incident documents

Even the Texas Education Agency can’t get access to some records from the Somerset ISD that could tell whether a teacher should lose their state-issued teaching certificate.

Officials in Hempstead, ‘city of character,’ accused of bribery

Two city officials in Hempstead have been indicted and arrested on charges of taking bribes, several local news outlets are reporting this morning.
Mayor Pro Tem Larry Wilson and City Alderman Paris J. Kincade Jr. took $13,000 in bribes, the Chronicle story says:
The contractor was paid more than $19,000 to demolish four Hempstead buildings in 2007, [...]

UPDATE: Dems look strong in Harris, Dallas counties — are statewide victories next?

Obama may have lost here, but Valdez wins, England and Vaught hang on, Goolsby loses, and Brimer won’t concede. Is Texas turning blue?

Minor offenses to bring citations in Austin

People suspected of misdemeanor offenses such as marijuana possession, when the amount is small, and suspended licenses, would be cited instead of taken to jail under a new Austin Police Department policy, the Austin American-Statesman reported over the weekend.
Such Class A and Class B misdemeanors also include theft or criminal mischief that results in [...]

Dead voters may still be on rolls on Election Day: County

More than 4,000 people on Harris County’s voter rolls who may be deceased will still be on those rolls when voters begin casting early ballots Monday — and they still may be on the rolls on Election Day, county officials told KPRC Local 2 investigates Friday.
An investigation by Texas Watchdog earlier this month found more [...]