4,900 Houston firefighters received long-awaited backpay as the city council approved a $1.5 billion settlement deal involving $650 million in back pay and a 34% raise over the next five years.

The Pappas family, operators of Pappas Restaurants, lost their longstanding concessions contract at Houston's Hobby Airport to Areas JV, a Miami-based company, following a contentious bidding process. But the court battle seems far from over.

Currently, payment is required from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, but the proposed changes would extend this time until 2am.

Legal records obtained by KPRC 2 Investigates show the federal sentencing date for William-Paul Thomas, the former City of Houston’s Director of City Council Relations, has been pushed back to next year.

A proposed policy to give city of Houston employees paid parental leave, which will help lesson the stress of new parents, was discussed before a vote will be made on Wednesday.

HOUSTON – After losing his son, Jason Knox, in the Houston Police Department helicopter crash earlier this month, city council member Michael Knox expressed his gratitude to the city. "I just want to thank you, all of my colleagues and the entire city for all they did during this difficult time for us," he said tearfully during a council meeting Wednesday. Family, friends and colleagues gathered for Jason's funeral Saturday at Houston's First Baptist Church in Houston. At the service, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo described Jason as “an old soul.”“It seems like God gave him a lot of wisdom,” Acevedo said. He is survived by a wife and two young children.