Lisa Falkenberg

ICE detention gets colder for beloved HISD soccer captain: 'I'm more afraid' Mauro Yosueth Henriquez is one of the thousands of students in the U.S. illegally who disappeared from American classrooms in President Trump’s ICE crackdown.

Beloved HISD soccer captain thought ICE detention couldn’t get any worse. Then it did. … What happened to deporting criminals? www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Worms in the porridge, despair in their eyes: Why are we still detaining kids at Dilley? www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

This ousted judge is asking voters for another chance after mounting criticism For years, Judge Ramona Franklin had a reputation in Houston's legal circles for letting cases lag in court and defendants languish in jail.

Democratic Harris County voters: please read. Ramona Franklin is on your ballot. She has no business near a courtroom.
After mounting criticism and mysterious calls, this ousted judge is asking voters for second chance www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/hou...

With brutal tactics and one six-letter word, ICE and Border Patrol have undermined local policing www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Exclusive: Mike Miles helped broker nearly $1M charter school consulting deal HISD Superintendent Mike Miles helped broker a nearly $1M contract for HISD-style reform at a Texas charter network. Experts say it raises concerns.

“And experts said that they never heard of a public school district giving away its curriculum, developed with district experts and tax-payer resources, for free to another school system.” Great reporting by @nusaiba.bsky.social

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Mike Miles’ HISD takeover has major wins — and 1 fatal flaw Where's the leadership, asks columnist Lisa Falkenberg? HISD superintendent Mike Miles' changes to curriculum, teacher evaluations and pay won't last if teachers and parents don’t believe in them.

“Anyone can impose mandates, especially with practically a free hand by the state. Only leaders can get others to follow and sustain changes long after the change agent is gone.”

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HISD’s Mike Miles says his curriculum is ‘high quality.’ It's not even vetted. For the first time, Texas is vetting curricula for quality and paying districts extra to use approved materials. But HISD won't submit Mike Miles' controversial NES curriculum for review.

HISD’s takeover superintendent Mike Miles is using an unfinished, unvetted curriculum in virtually all of the district’s 274 campuses. www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

HISD's Mike Miles invokes ‘science of reading’ to limit books. Experts disagree The Science of Reading emphasizes phonics but does it support Mike Miles' sidelining libraries and books in HISD schools? I asked literacy experts Maryanne Wolf, Emily Hanford and...

Mike Miles says the 'science of reading' justifies limiting books in HISD. Experts say no.

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Wonderful to join my former Houston Chronicle team last night to accept the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing! Congrats Sharon Steinmann, Raj Mankad and Leah Binkovitz!

‘I feel like a spy.’ In Mike Miles’ HISD, teachers and students say reading books is a secret plot

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Arnold Schwarzenegger told me we’re getting the redistricting battles in Texas and California all wrong

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Exclusive: Hidalgo staffer says he was ‘blindsided’ by the use of children in chaotic meeting www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Texas Democrats fleeing Trump’s redistricting didn’t abandon us. Gov. Greg Abbott did.

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Falkenberg: Even Trump knows Gaza is starving. He's seen the pictures. Photos of starving children captured in Gaza persuaded President Trump that real starvation is happening — despite Netanyahu's lies. How much longer can starving journalists do their jobs?

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Trump’s Texas redistricting power grab makes Tom DeLay’s look tame

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Falkenberg: So many didn't have to die. Texas must act after Hill Country flood Texas officials and Hill Country leaders knew the risks of flooding along the Guadalupe. Warnings went unheeded, flood warnings, river gauges and sirens unfunded — and more than 130 Texans died.

Column: So many didn’t have to die. Texas must fix the failures the Hill Country floods exposed

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Falkenberg: Camp Mystic families hit by a deadly flood now face a wave of lies Texas Hill Country's Camp Mystic was a refuge until the floods came – one made of water, the other made of lies. Grieving parents face social media rumors, Internet hoaxes and political...

Thank you @lisafalkenberg.bsky.social for this much-needed piece.

Camp Mystic families are hurting enough. Stop the hate, hoaxes and rumors

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Thank you. I’ll flag it.

Thanks Ken. I’m glad it resonated with you.

Such a hopeful image! I love it.

Thanks for sharing!

“The real America, especially these days with our discord and distrust, our families divided by politics, our universities under siege, our peaceful protests attended by the National Guard, our Home Depots the targets of ICE raids, is more like the national anthem performed by Jimi Hendrix.”

Falkenberg: An anthem for Trump's America sounds like Jimi Hendrix's guitar Whitney Houston's dazzling "Star-Spangled Banner" gives America hope and Jimi Hendrix's rendition at Woodstock gives us a warning.

This July 4th, I’m honoring two national anthems — one hopeful, one haunting www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Falkenberg: John Sharp's legacy shows Texas' loss was A&M's gain Texas A&M soared under Chancellor John Sharp. Texans should ask: what could the moderate Democrat have done as governor?

It’s a bittersweet tale. John Sharp would have made a great Texas governor but our political system wouldn’t let him because he was a Democrat. So he became a great chancellor instead.

Chancellor John Sharp's legacy shows Texas' loss was A&M's gain

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Not exactly. The piece explains how Texas has moved away from FEMA for immediate disaster response. We have state resources that other states may not have. We’ll still need FEMA for recovery and I think that even if the agency is reinvented, grants to states and individuals will still be there.

Could FEMA chaos lead to another Katrina this hurricane season? Amid firings, departures and deficit warnings, Trump's FEMA isn't ready for hurricane season. Nim Kid, head of Texas Emergency Management Division, explains what that means for Texas.

New column. Could FEMA’s chaos trigger another Hurricane Katrina? ‘Ain’t happenin’ in Texas,’ says top official

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Falkenberg: Hot dog vendor saw another side of America at No Kings protest An undocumented hot dog vendor came to Houston's No Kings protest to make money to pay the rent. She made a discovery about America that gave her hope.

My column: Houston's No Kings protesters gave Trump hell, not help

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Falkenberg: Why did RFK Jr. oust a respected Houston doctor from vaccine panel? Health Secretary Kennedy cited conflicts of interest in gutting the CDC's advisory panel. Houston's Dr. Julie Boom didn't have conflicts. Only vaccine expertise and a passion for protecting kids.

New column. Exclusive: RFK Jr. ousts a respected Houston doctor from CDC vaccine advisory committee

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Falkenberg: To veto or not? Abbott faces an impossible choice on Texas THC ban Gov. Greg Abbott's veto of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's THC ban would enable Texas' chaotic cannabis market; his signature could enable a hemp black market.

Banning THC in Texas? The issue isnt as simple as you’d think. www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...