PRECINCT 2

Following the release of the 2020 U.S. census, Comal County commissioners approved redrawn precinct lines to balance the population among the districts.

If approved, a portion of Precinct 2 will be moved into Precinct 1 to balance the population between the four precincts.

Cyndi Hinojosa is announcing her candidacy for Cameron County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2, Place 2, where she will be on the ballot as a candidate in the March 2022 Democratic Primary, the candidate said in a press release.

The elected Constables for Precincts 2 and 4 in Galveston County are helping another county’s sheriff’s office that is overwhelmed by the border crisis.

In a hearing Tuesday before the 445th State District Court, Judge Gloria Rincones denied a motion by Cameron County to dismiss a counterclaim by Sheriff Eric Garza against the county, which sued Garza for allegedly exceeding his official capacity in Garza’s handling of a transfer of courthouse security from the Precinct 2 county constable’s office to the sheriff’s department. Rincones on April 27 dissolved the TRO and denied the commissioners court’s petition for a temporary injunction against Garza. At Tuesday’s hearing, the judge ordered mediation between the two sides for July 16 and a bench trial — as opposed to a jury trial — for July 26. Earlier on Tuesday the commissioners court tabled for the third time three agenda items for “consideration, discussion and action” on the transfer of all equipment, uniforms and material related to courthouse security, transfer of the budget and the transfer/reclassification of 15 deputies from the constable’s office to the sheriff’s department. Commissioners voted to table the items after county attorney Juan Gonzalez said a meeting of a courthouse security committee chaired by 107th State District Court Judge Benjamin Euresti Jr. determined that issues remain to be resolved between the sheriff’s department and county regarding the transfer of courthouse security from the constable’s office to the sheriff’s department.

Cameron County Sheriff Eric Garza held a press conference on Wednesday where he addressed the recent court’s ruling that dissolved a temporary restraining order petition filed against him and denied the commissioners court’s petition for a temporary injunction.

HOUSTON The most expensive single project in Harris County history is in limbo after commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to fire the designer of the $1 billion Houston Ship Channel Replacement Bridge. A vote to hire a replacement designer is scheduled for the next Harris County Commissioners Court in September. Selecting FIGG Bridge EngineersHarris County hired FIGG Bridge Engineers to design the bridge in 2013 and approved the final design in 2017, Ed Emmett said, who served as county judge at the time. The decision to hire FIGG initially by the (Harris County) Toll Road Authority was a reasonable thing to do, he said. Harris County Commissioners plan to hire a new bridge designer, likely COWI, the firm that conducted the independent review.