Cut short by press collapse

Mayor Parker makes a mother's vow to root out police brutality

A still from the videotaped beating
Mayor Annise Parker
A copy of the video was shown to the media on a laptop at a recent newsconference attended by Quanell X, in front, and other African-American communityleaders.
Chad Holley was tried and convicted of burglary last March, and the judge wouldnot allow the video to be shown. Holley, now 16, has filed a federal civilrights lawsuit against the Houston Police Department.
Quanell X of the New Black Panther Party talks about the videotape of theincident captured by an area business surveillance camera, which Quanell viewedand turned over to the mayor and police chief.
Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland

To address the concerns of the community, Houston mayor Annise Parker announced the creation of two new police oversight boards on Friday.

The announcement follows community outrage over a video of several Houston police officers beating burglary suspect Chad Holley, then 15. The incident, which took place in March of 2010, led to the firing of seven police officers and misdemeanor charges of official oppression being filed against four of them. The video only became public when KTRK. Ch. 13 aired it earlier this month, after community activist Quanell X handed it over.

The new Independent Police Oversight Board will replace the existing Citizens' Review Committee. It will be made up of 20 members appointed by the mayor with expertise in criminal justice, including retired judges, civil rights attorneys and academic experts.

The board will review all internal affairs investigations involving the discharge of a firearm, allegations of excessive force and other major incidents. According to Mayor Parker, it will have full access to police records and data and will review and make recommendations regarding hiring, training and evaluations of officer conduct to the chief of police and the mayor.

The Police Advisory Committee will be renamed the Public Safety Advisory Committee and will meet monthly with citizens around the city, and quarterly with the police and fire chiefs and the local Homeland Security office. Additionally the Houston Office of Inspector General will expand its role to be a confidential ombudsman to aid citizens in filing complaints of misconduct against the police. Both boards will be established immediately by executive order but will not be granted subpoena power.

In a press conference that was cut short when a member of the press corps collapsed and had to be taken out on an ambulance with breathing difficulties, Parker reiterated her commitment to changing the relationship between the public and the police.

"As a mother I understand the desire of parents to know their children are safe in the hands of the Houston police department .... If a culture exists at HPD that contributes to the behavior displayed in the video, we will root it out," she said.

The changes come from a report issued Jan. 20 following a months-long initiative to take public suggestions on improving police-community relations that was led by Houston council member Melissa Noriega.

State Senator Rodney Ellis also spoke of initiatives he was taking on at the state level to make it easier for cities to establish independent review boards and to step up police training in areas of ethics, civil rights and stress management, but he was frank in assessing that such changes will be difficult to implement on a state-wide level.

Ellis also called for District Attorney Pat Lykos to reconsider filing felony assault charges against the police officers in the video based on new evidence that Holley received significant bodily injuries.

"The important thing is that the mayor of the city realizes that this is a problem," Ellis said. "There is nothing like a crisis to get us to focus on reforms."

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Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Houston than it did last year

Photo by Leo Yao on Unsplash

$100,000 stretches a little further in 2026.

A 2026 income study has good news for big earners in Houston: A six-figure salary goes further than it did last year.

A Houston resident's $100,000 salary is worth $84,840 after taxes and adjusted for the local cost of living, according to the new financial analysis from SmartAsset. That's about $1,500 more than Houstonians were bringing home last year.

The 2026 take-home pay is about eight percent higher than it was in 2024, when the same salary had an adjusted value of $78,089.

SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000 in 69 of the largest American cities. The figure was then adjusted for the local cost of living (which included average costs for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services). Cities were then ranked based on where a six-figure salary is worth the least after applicable taxes and cost of living adjustments.

Houston ranked No. 60 in the overall ranking of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the least. If the rankings were flipped and the cities were ranked based on where $100,000 goes the furthest, that places Houston in the No. 10 spot nationwide.

Manhattan, New York remains the No. 1 city where a six-figure salary is worth the least. A Manhattan resident's take-home pay is only worth $29,420 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living, which is 3.10 percent lower than it was in 2025.

SmartAsset determined Manhattan has a 29.7 percent effective tax rate on six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, the effective tax rate on a $100,000 salary in Texas (based on the eight cities examined in the report) is 21.1 percent. It's worth highlighting that New York implements a statewide graduated-rate income tax from 4-10.90 percent, whereas Texas is one of only eight states that don't tax residents' income.

Oklahoma City, No. 69, is the U.S. city in the report where a $100,000 salary stretches the furthest. A six-figure salary is worth $91,868 in 2026, up from $89,989 last year.

This is the post-tax value of a $100,000 salary in other Texas cities, and their ranking in the report:

Plano (No. 27): $72,653
Dallas (No. 47): $80,103
Austin (No. 53): $82,446
Lubbock (No. 59): $84,567
San Antonio (No. 62): $86,419
El Paso (No. 67): $90,276
Corpus Christi (No. 68): $91,110

According to the report, getting some "financial breathing room" by making six-figures really depends on where someone lives and what their lifestyle is. For residents living in the 42 states that levy some amount of income tax, their take-home pay dwindles further.

"And depending on how taxes are filed, reaching a $100,000 income may push a household from the 22 percent to 24 percent marginal tax bracket," the report's author wrote. "Meanwhile, locations with high costs across housing and everyday essentials may be less forgiving to a $100,000 income."

smartasset income finance six figures