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4 weeks ago | 
nytimes.com | Clare Amari |Kristian Hernandez
In Texas, nearly 400 public school districts run their own police departments. Hundreds of other districts hire security guards or contract with local law enforcement agencies to place officers on their campuses. Those numbers have been growing. Texas now requires at least one armed guard on every public school campus in the state, a response to the 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. We are reporters in Texas who have covered criminal justice across the state for years.
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4 weeks ago | 
nytimes.com | Clare Amari |Kristian Hernandez
En Texas, casi 400 distritos escolares públicos tienen sus propios departamentos de policía. Otros cientos de distritos contratan guardias de seguridad o establecen contratos con las autoridades locales para mantener agentes en sus escuelas. Esas cifras han ido en aumento. Texas exige ahora al menos un guardia armado en todos los campus de las escuelas públicas del estado, como respuesta al tiroteo ocurrido en 2022 en la escuela primaria Robb, en Uvalde.
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Feb 27, 2025 | 
houstonlanding.org | Clare Amari |José Luis Martínez |Jose Martinez |José Martinez |Jose Martínez
Deputies in Harris County Constable Precinct 4 initiated dozens of high-speed chases every year over nonviolent, low-level offenses, a Houston Landing investigation has found, resulting in at least nine fatalities since 2021 — a death toll far exceeding that of Harris County’s seven other constable precincts.
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Feb 7, 2025 | 
houstonlanding.org | Clare Amari |Michael Zhang
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the statewide regulatory body that oversees county jails, will request that the Texas Attorney General intervene in its longstanding efforts to force the Harris County Jail into compliance with minimum jail standards, according to a motion raised and approved at a commission meeting Thursday.
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Feb 5, 2025 | 
houstonlanding.org | Clare Amari
Mary McFaden, a longtime prosecutor and now chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, was not always intent on working in criminal law. While in law school, she expected to practice family law, which includes civil matters like divorces and child custody cases. But then, during an internship, she found herself representing a victim of domestic violence. That experience, McFaden said, changed everything.
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Jan 17, 2025 | 
houstonlanding.org | Clare Amari
Read this story in English. Entre los muchos cambios que el presidente electo Donald Trump ha prometido introducir cuando inicie su segundo mandato el 20 de enero está la continuación de las políticas de inmigración de línea dura que aplicó durante su primer periodo. Esas políticas podrían tener un impacto dramático en la región de Houston, donde casi el 30 por ciento de la población ha nacido en el extranjero.
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Jan 17, 2025 | 
houstonlanding.org | Clare Amari
Among the many changes President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring to the Oval Office when he begins his second term on Jan. 20 is a continuation of the hardline immigration policies he implemented during his first term. Those policies could have a dramatic impact on the Houston region, where nearly 30 percent of the population is foreign-born. Yet even though it is the federal government that adjudicates and enforces immigration law, local law enforcement agencies will also play a role.
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Jan 6, 2025 | 
houstonlanding.org | Clare Amari
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare saw his Texas law license retroactively reinstated last week after a brief administrative suspension rendered the county’s chief prosecutor temporarily ineligible to practice law, Houston Landing has confirmed. The suspension, which took effect Dec. 31, 2024, because Teare had not paid a fee associated with the State Bar of Texas’ minimum continuing legal education requirements, was lifted on Jan.
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Dec 13, 2024 | 
houstonlanding.org | Anna-Catherine Brigida |Clare Amari
The mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray told the Houston Landing Friday that she wanted to seek the “worst punishment” for her daughter’s killers, but ultimately allowed the Harris County District Attorney to make the decision on pursuing the death penalty. “I want the most justice that is possible. I want both. I want them to live forever miserably in prison and I also want them to be killed,” Alexis Nungaray said.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
houstonlanding.org | Clare Amari
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has ordered prosecutors to make a plea recommendation of life without the possibility of parole in every pending capital murder case that’s more than a year old, the Houston Landing has learned.
