Houston Landing

2 days ago | houstonlanding.org | José Luis Martínez |Jose Martinez |José Martinez |Jose Martínez

In late 2013, applause echoed through Houston’s City Council chamber following the unanimous approval of a wage-theft ordinance that would enable the city to investigate, track and penalize city contractors that failed to pay employees overtime, minimum wage or any other compensation owed to them. Nearly 12 years later, the ordinance has delivered mixed results at best.

3 days ago | houstonlanding.org | Eileen Grench |Adriana Rezal |Anna-Catherine Brigida

U.S. citizens were more than twice as likely to be charged with a crime in Harris County in 2023 than adults who don’t hold U.S. citizenship, according to an exclusive data analysis by the Houston Landing. The analysis, based on the most recent data on the county’s adult population and criminal charges, shows that U.S. citizens have been more likely to be charged with a crime in Harris County since at least 2015, the earliest data collected by the Landing through public records law.

6 days ago | houstonlanding.org | Brooke Kushwaha

Seven years ago, a Ford F-150 truck barreled into then-12-year-old Tamia Tolliver as she crossed a busy street walking to school, shattering her legs. The truck driver apparently hadn’t seen Tolliver as she navigated an intersection with no crosswalk or guard outside Spring ISD’s Claughton Middle School. “She looked like she was dead, the way she was,” said Tolliver’s grandfather, Marvin Jenkins, who found her crumpled in the intersection after rushing to the scene.

6 days ago | houstonlanding.org | José Luis Martínez |Jose Martinez |José Martinez |Jose Martínez

The City of Galena Park boasts on its website that “it has had efficient government administration through the years.”In reality, it’s unlikely the town’s 10,000-plus residents know how their tax dollars are being spent. That’s because the city has not posted any documents or details of its current $15.8 million budget on its website.

1 week ago | houstonlanding.org | Elena Bruess

It’s been several years since the stench permeated through Shadow Creek Ranch, but Berto Lozano still remembers it like it was yesterday. The smell, from the nearby Blue Ridge Landfill in Fort Bend County, seeped into homes at night, causing respiratory issues and headaches, waking children and alarming families. These days, it’s not nearly as frequent or intense, but some mornings, Lozano still smells that telltale mix of trash and rotten eggs.