dominique bids farewell

Houston's most popular TV anchor Dominique Sachse announces retirement after illustrious 28-year career

Sachse is retiring after nearly three decades at Channel 2.

Photo courtesy of Dominique Sachse

Since 1993, Dominique Sachse has been a familiar, welcoming face to Channel 2 viewers — starting as a traffic personality and quickly becoming the most recognized, beloved television presence in Houston.

Now, the Emmy-award winning journalist, anchor, and Youtube sensation will sign off for the last time during the 6 pm newscast on Friday, October 29, Channel 2 announced.

“Saying goodbye to a 28-year career in the TV news business is bittersweet,” Sachse tells CultureMap. “I have been blessed to work with such an esteemed group of colleagues and so fortunate to have been welcomed into the viewer’s home for as long as I have.”

“But sometimes it’s necessary for one chapter to end and another to begin. I am ready and eager for this next chapter in the form of more content creation and the soon-to-be release of my first book, Life Makeover - Embrace The Bold, Beautiful and Blessed You. I sincerely can’t thank the Houston community enough for their support.”

The Houston community has indeed supported Sachse, who skyrocketed to local fame after launching her career as a Metro Traffic reporter for a variety of stations, then a disc jockey at Mix 96.5, and later as a morning traffic reporter. After a successful anchor fill-in stint, Sachse was promoted to her anchor position.

She has been a fixture on the evening newscasts since the ’90s.

Notably, Sachse covered President George W. Bush’s inauguration in January 2001 and Pope John Paul II’s visit to Mexico City canonizing Juan Diego in 2002. In 2006, she presented a compelling series on inflammatory breast cancer, along with a phone bank to answer viewers’ questions and traveled to London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 to cover the Olympics.

A true Houston success story, Sachse attended Memorial High School, and earned a radio/television journalism degree from the University of Houston. She received the “Outstanding Young Communications Alumna” and “Distinguished Alumni” awards from UH and was named 2002 and 2007′s “Best Television Personality” by the Houston Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, per her bio. Readers of the Houston Press and Houston Chronicle often named her their favorite or best newscaster/local personality.

Sachse is currently penning a book, Life Makeover: Embrace the Bold, Beautiful, and Blessed You, set to be released on April 5, 2022. Her wildly popular YouTube channel boasts 1.53 million subscribers.

Fans (and there are many) can keep up with the star at her site dominiquesachse.tv.

celebrities media tv

Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates swipe nearly $2B in packages from Texas homes this year

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

Getty Images

The Grinch isn't the only one stealing Christmas these days.

’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

holidays porch pirates crime