12pm Newscast September, 4, 2026

0:00And in Houston, I'm Shelby Rose. Harris County commissioners will consider an eight percent property tax increase next week in order to bridge a $180 million deficit in their proposed 2027 budget. News 88 7 Sarah Grinnell reports. While some Democratic commissioners have blamed federal funding cuts for widening the county's budget gap, Commissioner Tom Ramsey said that the court spending is out of control. He called on commissioners to find immediate cost saving measures before considering a proposed $3.1 billion dollar budget next week. Tuesday is when the decision was being made. When you decide to increase your spending $325 million, then you have no choice. Then to increase the tax rate to its highest level that we've ever seen in Harris County. Ramsey plans to propose some of those measures on Tuesday. For example, he says he hopes to gain support to in the holistic assistance response team or heart. That program deploys trained medical and mental health professionals to non-violent 911 calls.

1:05I'm Sarah Grinnell News 88 7. A rest for misdemeanor marijuana possession have soared under Houston Mayor John Whitmire according to police department data obtained by Houston Public Media through a public records request. In the three years before he took office, the Houston Police Department arrested an average of 35 people a year for low-level marijuana possession. While under his leadership, officers have arrested about 440 people per year. The revelation comes two months before Houston voters could force the department to take quote, misdemeanor marijuana possession. It's lowest possible enforcement priority under a local ballot proposition. You can see that arousadada that is at Houston Public Media dot org. And we've seen a steady increase in gas prices this week. The average for a gallon of regular is coming in at $3.61 a gallon. That's seven cents over where we were just one week ago. Meanwhile, we just passed the national average for diesel fuel that now averages $5.85

2:06cents a gallon.