no convention for now

2 lawsuits filed against Mayor Turner on cancellation of Republican Party convention

Horse drawn carriage in front of George R Brown Convention Center for Super Bowl kickoff

The Republican Convention was supposed to take place at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Photo courtesy of Houston First

A Harris County judge has denied the Republican Party's request for a temporary restraining order against Mayor Sylvester Turner and the city. The Texas GOP asked the judge for a restraining order which would have forced the city to allow their state convention.

The Republican Party said they expected to lose. ""It didn't matter in which court this case landed, we expected a denial from the liberal Harris County courts," said RPT Chairman James Dickey. "We thank them for a speedy denial so we can move forward with the appeal we had prepared."

"RPT will proceed in filing its appeal directly to the Texas Supreme Court given the time sensitivity of the matter as the Convention was scheduled to begin its committee meetings on Monday at the George R. Brown Convention Center," the party said in a statement.

The Texas Republican Party and another group of Republicans filed suits against Mayor Turner and the city for canceling the Texas GOP convention that was scheduled for next week at the George Brown Convention Center.

The Republican Party sued for breach of contract and is asking for a temporary restraining order preventing the city from restricting the convention or "using the virus as a pretext to cancel the convention."

Steve Hotze and four others are suing the mayor, claiming in court documents that Turner's decision is an attempt to silence the Republican Party of Texas.

The plaintiffs argue that, despite issuing formal orders throughout the pandemic, most "ultimately went unenforced, ignored, or even circumvented."

'Kill 'em' Houston GOP powerbroker Steve Hotze left Greg Abbott a voicemail requesting National Guard "shoot to kill" rioters.

They continue on to argue that Turner only recently started enforcing such orders when it came to the Republican convention.

Turner said that although he has not read and or seen the lawsuit for himself, he believes his actions were justified.

"The reality is that they signed a contract in March that defined this as a pandemic," Turner said. "They are welcomed to go to the courthouse, but I don't know if the court is seeing people in-person."

"His choices with regard to the RPT's Convention are simply opportunistic and are in stark contrast to the treatment of other peaceful, political assemblies during this same pandemic," the court documents read.

They say the same constitutional rights Turner "advocated for" during protests and marches, he is now "quash[ing]."

"For example, for Houston's June 2 organized march to protest the death of George Floyd, Turner gave a press conference to the City of Houston supporting the marches, personally attended, and gave speeches to large crowds, stating only that people 'should wear a mask, carry hand sanitizer, and attempt to maintain social distance,'" the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order preventing the cancellation of the TRC. They hope the temporary restraining order "serves to provide emergency relief and preserve the status quo until a hearing may be had on a temporary injunction."

They are also seeking "an award of nominal and compensatory damages."

---

For more on this story, including video, visit our news partner, ABC13.

city-news-roundup

are you happy?

Houston continues sad streak as one of the 'unhappiest' U.S. cities

Photo by Damaris Martin on Unsplash

Even with a poor ranking, you still shouldn't ask us to "smile more."

A new nationwide study analyzing the happiest cities in America has determined Houston is slightly happier than it was last year, but it still appears to be one of the unhappiest U.S. cities in 2026.

Houston currently ranks as the 128th happiest U.S. city. Last year, it was No. 151.

WalletHub determined the happiest cities in America based on 29 relevant metrics based on "positive-psychology research" across three main categories: emotional and physical wellbeing, income and employment, and community and environment. As with most WalletHub studies, it compared the 182 most populous U.S. cities.

Fremont, California claimed the top spot as the happiest city nationwide for another year. Bismark, North Dakota and Scottsdale, Arizona, respectfully, rounded out the top three.

Here's how WalletHub ranked Houston across the three key dimensions:

No. 107 – Emotional and physical wellbeing
No. 148 – Income and employment
No. 158 – Community and environment

Despite its low ranking, Houstonians are working hard to improve their city's quality of life year after year, whether its through opening new restaurants, inviting Houston-born stars to perform at the rodeo, or having a strong job market. We also have some of the best museums, a diverse culinary scene, and iconic institutions like the Johnson Space Center. And considering that people keep moving here, Houston must be happier than other places.

Having a good job and a fun social life can qualify as factors that measure happiness, but WalletHub separately emphasized that making more money doesn't necessarily mean "more" happiness.

"For decades, researchers have explored the science of happiness and identified several core factors, including mental well-being, physical health, strong social ties, job satisfaction, and financial stability," the report said. "Still, income has its limits — studies show that earning more than $75,000 a year does not lead to greater happiness."

Elsewhere in Texas
The Dallas suburb Plano and its residents' happiness far outshines the rest of Texas, according to WalletHub. Plano ranked as the 16th happiest U.S. city, and the No. 1 happiest statewide. Austin was the only other Texas city to rank among the top 50, landing in the No. 39 spot.

This is how other Texas cities ranked in the report:

No. 70 – Irving
No. 92 – Garland
No. 106 – Grand Prairie
No. 111 – Dallas
No. 113 – Fort Worth
No. 119 – Arlington
No. 135 – Lubbock
No. 137 – El Paso
No. 140 – Laredo
No. 143 – Amarillo
No. 150 – Brownsville
No. 154 – San Antonio
No. 155 – Corpus Christi

reports san antonio wallethub