Concerned Citizens for Harris County is an independently published Harris County news site.
We cover county and city government, the courts, public safety, and the money: budgets, tax rates, contracts, and where it all goes. We aggregate local reporting with attribution and links, we publish original commentary that is labeled as commentary, and we check claims made by officials and candidates of both parties.
Who publishes this
This site is published and paid for by [PUBLISHER NAME]. It is not affiliated with, funded by, or coordinated with any campaign, political party, political committee, or government agency.
Where we are coming from
We are not neutral and we are not going to pretend otherwise. We write from a point of view, and you should read us knowing that. What we will not do is dress an opinion up as a fact, or a press release up as reporting.
Anything that carries our opinion is filed under Editorial and labeled. Everything else sticks to what is documented.
How we handle sources
- We link the primary document. Court records, budget documents, official statements. If we cannot show you the source, we tell you that instead of asserting it anyway.
- We attribute other outlets’ reporting to them. A headline, a link, a short summary, then our own analysis. We do not republish other people’s articles.
- We say when something is unverified. If we are reporting a claim we have not independently confirmed, we say so in the piece, not in a footnote.
- Charged is not convicted. In any criminal matter we state the current status of the case, and we do not publish home addresses, employers, or family members.
Fact checks
Our fact checks apply the same standard to both parties, and we publish the ones that go against our own side. That is the entire point. A fact check operation that only ever catches one party is opposition research with better typography.
Every check cites a primary source. Claims that cannot be sourced do not get a verdict. Opinions and predictions are marked unverifiable rather than forced into true or false.
Corrections
We will get things wrong. When we do, we correct the piece, mark clearly what changed and when, and leave the correction visible rather than quietly editing the page. If you find an error, write to us at [CORRECTIONS EMAIL] and we will look at it.
Sections
- County News — Commissioners Court, the County Judge, the county budget and tax rate, flood control
- City News — the Mayor’s office, City Council, the city budget
- Crime and Courts — bond, backlog and case data from District Clerk records
- Crime Stoppers Watch — cases where a defendant released on bond is charged with a new offense
- Fact Check — claims by officials and candidates of both parties
- What’s Your Point — weekly summary of the FOX 26 Houston political roundtable
- Editorial — opinion, labeled as such
We are not affiliated with Crime Stoppers of Houston, FOX 26 Houston, or any government agency. We cite and link their work; we do not speak for them.