“A federal judge has ordered Houston ISD to pay nearly $300,000 in legal fees for violating the First Amendment rights of a community activist who was banned from district premises.

Gerry Monroe, who recently ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the district’s board, sued the district in 2019 after administrators banned him for purportedly violating policies about proper decorum in district buildings and threatening employees’ safety. The ban expired at the end of 2019, court records show, and Monroe has attended board meetings this school year…”

“Former Furr High School principal Bertie Simmons, who was removed from her job last year amid an investigation into grade and records manipulation during her tenure, will receive $100,000 and resign from Houston ISD under terms of a settlement approved by district trustees earlier this month, according to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle…”

“Few in Texas speak more persuasively about reforming our state’s flagrantly partisan method of picking judges than Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht.

Like his fellow Republican predecessor Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson and Democratic Texas Chief Justice John Hill in the 1980s, Hecht has repeatedly pushed for change, urging the Texas Legislature to wring the politics, partisanship and moneyed influence out of a judiciary that’s supposed to be fair and impartial...”

“Last fall, it seemed that Apache Corp., the giant Houston oil company, had hit a dead end in a long-running legal battle.

A paralegal named Cathryn Davis claimed the company fired her in 2013 for complaining about age and gender discrimination. A jury agreed, awarding $900,000 to her and her attorneys; an appeals court upheld the judgment. The company asked the Texas Supreme Court to review the case; but on Oct. 2, it declined…”

“HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- An HISD principal accused of inappropriate conduct tied to the district's decision to relax student dress code has filed a federal complaint against the district.

Dr. Bertie Simmons' attorney, Scott Newar, filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Texas Education Agency on behalf of the 83-year-old school administrator…”

“After a long legal battle against Apache Corp, which was apparently going to end on October 2nd, 2020 when the Texas Supreme Court declined the group’s petition to review the case, justice seems to have changed sides upon receiving a $250,000 donation from Apache…”

“An Indian-American Sikh woman has sued the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for allegedly violating her religious freedom by prohibiting her from wearing kirpan to her job as a revenue agent. Kawaljeet Kaur Tagore, who worked as a revenue agent at the Mickey Leland Federal Building in downtown Houston, sued her employer IRS in Houston federal court on Tuesday with the aid of Sikh coalition and the DC-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Houston civil rights attorney Scott Newar…”