Members of Congress urge state to approve flood prevention funding for Houston, Harris County
The General Land Office added Harris County to its list Wednesday but local leaders say it s not enough money and why is Houston still left out in the cold? Author: KHOU 11 Staff Updated: 3:47 PM CDT May 27, 2021
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush says he s asking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Harris County to get $750 million for flood mitigation efforts. This comes after criticism from local leaders for Houston and most of Harris County being initially left out.
“I have heard the overwhelming concerns of Harris County regarding the mitigation funding competition,” Bush said in a release.
The Texas House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution on Monday urging the federal government to step in and approve changes to offensive names of places in the state.
At least 25 places in Texas have the word “Negro” in their names, according to U.S. Board on Geographic Names . This excludes the use of the term when it refers to the Spanish word for the color Black.
“The word Negro is derivative of [the N word], which is a very offensive word to people of color,” said Democratic Sen. Borris Miles, who wrote the resolution.
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Concurrent resolution 29, which was passed in the House by a vote of 146-0 on May 24, expresses “commitment to eliminating racially offensive place names,” and urges the board to approve name changes.
Texas bail reform one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities for this legislative session appears likely to pass in the state Legislature, with both the Texas Senate and House of Representatives poised to reach an agreement on what the legislation will look like.
The Damon Allen Act, which would make it more difficult for people to get out of jail pretrial, has passed both chambers of the Legislature, but in significantly different forms. Lawmakers now have less than a week to reconcile their competing versions before the session ends.
Both advocates and opponents believe some version of bail reform will become law.
Harris Co. Commissioners lash out at Bush, GLO over flood funding
Harris Co. Commissioners urge Bush to reconsider denial of flood aid
FOX 26 Reporter Greg Groogan has more on the call of Harris County Commissioners to reconsider denial of flood aid.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - A united front of outrage at Harris County Commissioner s Court over the denial of $1 Billion federal flood control dollars set by distribution by the state.
Congress approved the huge allotment back in 2018 after the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. Three years later and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has determined Harris County is entitled to almost none of it, even though the Houston area sustained more than $120 billion in flood damage before and after the storm.
State lawmakers urge federal government to remove the term “Negro” from Texas place names
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The state Capitol on Jan. 12, 2021.
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Texas lawmakers are asking the federal government to remove the term “Negro” from dozens of places across the state where the word appears in the location’s name.
The move by the Legislature comes three decades after Texas passed a law that was supposed to rename the places after Black Americans
who made a significant contribution to Texas. But the U.S. Board for Geographic Names, the federal entity with the final say over any natural place name in the country, blocked the changes, saying there was a lack of demonstrated local support for the proposed new names or opposition to current ones.