IN THIS EPISODE:
- Host Khambrel Marshall sits down with former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and TSU Political Science professor Michael O. Adams, Ph.D to discuss the “winners and losers” of the 2022 midterm elections.
- Have outstanding traffic tickets? The City of Houston says now is the chance to settle them. Learn how in this episode.
- The Covenant House in Montrose is building a new campus with a goal to support Houston-area youth.
Mealer missteps and other election challenges and problems
The big midterm focus locally was on the race for Harris County Judge and an upset bid by Republican Alexandra Del Moral Mealer, who according to several polls, was on track to possibly beat Judge Lina Hidalgo.
The result was a win by Judge Hidalgo with a margin of more than 17,000 votes out of more than one million.
Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is currently a Fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. He says Mealer’s shortfall may have been because of wrong messaging.
“I think what happened was they got too wrapped up in the message of crime.,” Emmett said. “Judge Hidalgo’s weakness going in was people either liked her or didn’t like her based on covid and emergency management and none of that turned up.”
Emmett is joined by Texas Southern University’s Political Science Professor Michael O. Adams, Ph.D. and together they talk about the winners and losers locally and nationally and what went wrong with the Harris County election process.
See even more conversation on this week’s Houston Newsmakers EXTRA.
Houston delinquent traffic ticket amnesty
If you have a delinquent traffic ticket from the City of Houston, you have one week to settle up to avoid risking arrest.
Judge J. Elaine Marshall is the Director, Presiding Judge of the Houston Municipal Courts and explains the process on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.
“We want you to come in, talk to us about your delinquent cases, we have judges that are there designed to help you,” Judge Marshall said. “If you can pay part of it, some of it, all of it, you come in to talk to us without the fear of being arrested.” The deadline to ask for amnesty is Saturday, November 19th at 11:59 p.m.
Find out who qualifies and what steps to take on this week’s Houston Newsmakers.
Covenant House Texas Montrose location being torn down to make way for new campus
After almost 40 years of providing shelter and care for homeless youth, the main Covenant House of Texas location in Montrose is being torn down to make a way for a new campus that will serve more young people who find themselves.
The annual Covenant House Executive Sleepout is targeted to raise more than one million dollars for ongoing care and the new facility.
“The money that we raise through this event has, over the period of time we’ve been doing this allowed us to house about four thousand kids, to provide jobs for about 1,200, and provide 720,000 nights of shelter,” said Kurt Nondorf, who has been sleeping outside this one special night of the year for ten years.
He and Steve Biegel and also a fellow Covenant House board member are guests on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with more details on how to get involved, either to sleep out or to contribute.
For more information on this week’s Houston Newsmakers
· Ed Emmett, Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy & Former Harris County Judge
· Website: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/edward-m-emmett
· Michael O. Adams, Ph.D., Professor Political Science-Director, Master of Public Administration, Texas Southern University
· Judge J. Elaine Marshall, Director & Presiding Judge, Houston Municipal Courts
· Website: https://www.houstontx.gov/courts/presiding_judge.html
· Kurt Nondorf, Covenant House Executive Sleeper
· Website: https://www.jw.com/people/kurt-nondorf/
· Website: https://www.covenanthousetx.org/
· Steve Biegel, Covenant House Executive Sleeper
· Website: https://www.nmrk.com/people/steve-biegel
· Website: https://www.covenanthousetx.org/