County

A body was found in the grass next to the 14300 block of Beaumont Highway in northeast Harris County shortly before 6 a.m. Friday. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Vehicular Crimes Division is investigating and says the death may be connected to an auto pedestrian crash. No one has been charged.

Harris County Commissioners Court passed a motion Thursday directing departments to notify the court when major data centers apply for permits and asking the County Attorney to report on the county’s authority over them, Community Impact reported.

Harris County Commissioners Court voted Thursday to delay broad action on the county’s Flock license plate cameras and to form an oversight committee, FOX 26 Houston reported, the same day a county report found no complete inventory of the cameras.

A Harris County report released ahead of Thursday’s Commissioners Court meeting found the county has no complete verified inventory of its license plate readers and no full list of outside agencies that can reach the data. KPRC 2 reports Judge Lina Hidalgo is calling for stronger, standardized oversight.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has asked the Office of County Administration to bring Commissioners Court a full report on the county’s automated license plate reader cameras, including how many there are, where they are, what has been spent and who can search the data. The next court meeting is October 15.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a vehicle driven by an ICE agent struck a 48-year-old man during a federal enforcement operation in the Houston area on Saturday. The sheriff’s office and ICE describe how the collision happened differently. No one has been charged.

Community Impact reports the Harris County Flood Control District is beginning the next construction phase of the T.C. Jester Stormwater Detention Basin in the Cypress Creek watershed, at an estimated $9.5 million. The district is funded countywide, including by Lake Houston area taxpayers.

Commissioner Lesley Briones took Precinct 4’s Flock Safety license plate reader cameras offline on October 8, citing privacy. Commissioners Court takes up the county program October 15.

U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal on Monday denied requests by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and four Harris County criminal court-at-law judges to end the 2019 ODonnell consent decree on misdemeanor bail, ruling the requests were not filed within a reasonable time. The four judges have appealed to the Fifth Circuit.