Lisa Falkenberg

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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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...

HISD Milby High student killed by train near school Houston police were responding to the scene where a pedestrian was fatally struck by a train Monday.

This didn’t have to happen. When will Houston leaders demand Union Pacific curb train traffic when kids are trying to get to school?

Student killed crossing tracks near Milby High

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Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter Biden will justify Trump's authoritarian impulses | Editorial

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Whitmire must save Houston from a California-style homeless crisis. Give us shelter | Editorial

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