Tribpedia: Annise Parker

Tribpedia

Annise Danette Parker, born 1956, is a Democratic politician and Houston's elected City Controller, a position she's held since 2004. Parker defeated lawyer Gene Locke in the Dec. 12th runoff for mayor.

Parker, who took office Jan. 4, will be among the most-prominent openly gay officials.

Previously, Parker served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council ...

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Campaign Chatter

Sen. Mike Jackson R-La Porte on last regular day of the 82nd legislative session May 30th, 2011
Enlarge photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
Sen. Mike Jackson R-La Porte on last regular day of the 82nd legislative session May 30th, 2011
Texas Weekly

As expected, state Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, will run for Congress next year instead of for re-election to the Texas Senate.

He's not alone: Candidates are popping up all over the state.

Dallas Mayoral candidate David Kunkle speaks during a televised debate flanked by opponents Mike Rawlings and Ron Natinsky at Southern Methodist University on April 19 2011.
Enlarge photo by: Stuart Palley
Dallas Mayoral candidate David Kunkle speaks during a televised debate flanked by opponents Mike Rawlings and Ron Natinsky at Southern Methodist University on April 19 2011.

In Texas Mayoral Races, Voters Can't Be Bothered

It would be nice if the two largest cities in Texas’ largest metropolitan area were fired up about the June 18 runoffs that will determine their next mayors. But about the only thing voters in Dallas and Fort Worth have been engaged in is a collective yawn.

Enlarge photo illustration by: Todd Wiseman

TribWeek: Top Texas News for the Week of 11/29/10

M. Smith and Butrymowicz of the Hechinger Institute on charter schools and public schools making nice in the Valley, Ramsey's interview with House Speaker candidate Ken Paxton and column on the coming budget carnage, Hu on the Legislature's disappearing white Democratic women, Grissom on the sheriff who busted Willie Nelson, Hamilton talks higher ed accountability with the chair of the Governor's Business Council, Aguilar on the arrest of a cartel kingpin, Ramshaw on the explosive growth in the number of adult Texans with diabetes, Philpott on state incentive funding under fire and Galbraith on the greening of Houston: The best of our best from November 29 to December 3, 2010.

Enlarge photo by: Wenjing Zhang

Can Houston, the Oil Capital, Really Go Green?

The sprawling capital of the oil industry — the fourth-largest city in the U.S. — has embarked on a range of green initiatives in an effort to keep up with the times and, hopefully, save money. The local-food craze is the most visible of these efforts, with the opening of a weekly farmers market and the planting of Michelle Obama-style vegetable gardens tended by city hall staff. But it is also transforming itself into an electric car hub, a national leader in wind-power investment and an advocate for energy efficiency. It even has a sustainability director hired away from, yes, San Francisco.

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TribWeek: Top Texas News for the Week of 11/15/10

Hu on the Perry-Bush rift, Ramshaw on the adult diaper wars, Ramsey's interview with conservative budget-slasher Arlene Wohlgemuth, Galbraith on the legislature's water agenda (maybe), M. Smith on Don McLeroy's last stand (maybe), Philpott on the end of earmarks (maybe), Hamilton on the merger of the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Education Agency (maybe), Aguilar on Mexicans seeking refuge from drug violence, Grissom on inadequate health care in county jails and my conversation with Houston Mayor Annise Parker: The best of our best from November 15 to 19, 2010.

'Astrodome' stadium filled with refugees from Louisiana in Houston, Texas, USA, on September 3, 2005.
Enlarge photo by: Ammar Abd Rabbo
'Astrodome' stadium filled with refugees from Louisiana in Houston, Texas, USA, on September 3, 2005.

Five Years Later, Houstonians Conflicted About Katrina

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana exiles have fundamentally changed Houston, and vice-versa. The uneasy arrangement was a shotgun marriage: Many evacuees had no choice in whether or where they went, and Houstonians had no choice, for humanity's sake, but to take them in.

Enlarge graphic by: Jacob Villanueva

John Cornyn Seeks to Ban 'Murderabilia'

Ted Bundy’s fried hair. Sperm from college campus shooter Wayne Lo. Dirt from the crawl space where John Wayne Gacy stored 26 bodies. All are collectors’ items in the macabre world of murderabilia. The more infamous the killer, the bigger the price tag — at least for now. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and a Houston city official are working to exterminate the industry they say allows murderers and rapists to make money from their crimes. Murderabilia peddlers insist they operate in good taste. “We don't push this into anyone's face,” says the owner of murderauction.com.

An estimated 25,000 demonstrators march past the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in downtown Dallas.
Enlarge photo by: Caleb Bryant Miller
An estimated 25,000 demonstrators march past the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in downtown Dallas.

Houston, State Cops Have Similar Immigrant Policy

Aides to Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign have accused his Democratic challenger, Bill White, the former mayor of Houston, of running a “sanctuary city," where officers don't inquire about immigration status during routine patrols and investigations. But Houston's policy is remarkably similar to that of Texas DPS under Perry. If Houston is a sanctuary city, why isn't Texas a sanctuary state?

Enlarge credit: Garnet Coleman

Garnet Coleman on Possible Airline Merger

Amid reports that a merger deal might soon be struck between Houston-based Continental Airlines and United Airlines, with the latter as the surviving company headquartered in Chicago, state Rep. Garnet Coleman discusses Houston's long-standing relationship with Continental.

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Houston Mayor Annise Parker talks about her job

Three months into her new job, the mayor of the state's largest city and the nation's fourth-largest city says she's working hard to combat the crippling effects of a down economy, putting partisan differences aside to join with Republican congressmen in lobbying Washington to keep NASA intact, and trying to untangle the longstanding knot that is mass transit. Oh, and she's staying as far away from the governor's race as humanly possible, though she has a stern message for political operatives who may be looking to tarnish the man she replaced: Don't mess with Houston.
Enlarge credit: gavelgrab.org

Houston Mayor's Advice for Bill White

  • by Kirk Watson

Congratulations, Mayor-Elect. Now you get to govern a great city — Houston — that’s much bigger than the electorate and much more complicated than the campaign. Perhaps you’d like some aspirin? Or a re-count?