Texas
Protests after Houston cop cleared of beating black teen
The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest. Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by a jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged [...]
Fort Worth school board selects its first black president
In a move that stunned and angered some school trustees Tuesday night, longtime Trustee T.A. Sims was elected board president, ousting Juan Rangel, whom trustees had elected to the post in February. The vote was 5-4 for Sims, who became the Fort Worth school district’s first African-American board president. Christene Moss, also black, was elected [...]
Teen claims Houston police beat him, he passed out
A teenager testified Thursday that he was trying to surrender to Houston police officers when they repeatedly kicked and hit him, causing him to briefly lose consciousness, during his 2010 arrest on suspicion of burglary. An attorney for Andrew Blomberg, one of the four since-fired officers accused of participating in the beating, countered his client [...]
Low-Income Housing Effort Compels Building in Poor Areas
Plans to build a low-income apartment complex for seniors in one of San Antonio’s most fashionable neighborhoods had been posted for barely a week in January when the fury began. Residents feared that the 68 rental apartments, which were competing for federal tax credit subsidies, would spoil the affluent Stone Oak neighborhood. In a storm [...]
Hart: Mystery email tries to divide Houston’s blacks, gays
A political whodunit, in the most unlikely of races, is creating chaos and divisiveness in the Harris County Democratic Party. Or perhaps I should say it is creating more than the usual chaos and divisiveness that exists like a constant low-grade fever (on a good day) throughout Democratic Party operations everywhere in Texas these days. [...]
