HOUSTON (AP) — City officials say Mayor Sylvester Turner in the coming weeks intends to lay off up to 400 firefighters so that he can then implement a pay-parity measure.

HOUSTON (AP) — A legal battle over pay raises for Houston firefighters shows no signs of being resolved anytime soon.

Lawyers for the city of Houston on Friday asked a judge to declare invalid a ballot measure approved in November that would give firefighters pay parity with city police officers.

This comes as Mayor Sylvester Turner and the firefighters' union had met to discuss ways to implement the measure.

HOUSTON (AP) — Federal workers in Houston who are without pay during the partial government shutdown can now seek financial assistance through a city partnership with local nonprofits.

HOUSTON (AP) — Thousands of people lined the streets in Houston as two competing parades were held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

HOUSTON (AP) — For more than two decades, Houston has had competing parades on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with organizers lobbing allegations of favoritism and conspiracy at each other and at city officials as the groups battled over permits and preferred starting times.

HOUSTON (AP) — A contentious battle between Houston and its firefighters over pay raises remains unresolved.

But the two sides say they're open to figuring out how to implement a measure that would give firefighters pay parity with city police officers.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and the firefighters' union met Wednesday to discuss the measure, approved in November by voters.

HOUSTON (AP) — A relief fund established after heavy rain from Hurricane Harvey swamped parts of Houston has provided its final grants in an overall nearly $114 million charitable effort.

Leaders of the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund on Wednesday announced $3 million will be shared by 17 nonprofit groups in the fifth and last round of grants.

Harvey stormed ashore in South Texas in August 2017. Ensuing rain flooded thousands of homes in the Houston area.

HOUSTON (AP) — Communities across Texas are hosting parades and appreciation ceremonies for Veterans Day.

Houston held a celebration Sunday outside City Hall that included a health fair. A patriotic-theme parade was also part of Veterans Day activities in Houston.

Mayor Sylvester Turner used a Facebook posting to urge people to thank veterans. Turner says Houston is home to more than 200,000 veterans and their families.

HOUSTON (AP) — An ex-press aide to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has reached a plea deal to settle a charge alleging she misused city resources to promote personal projects including a proposed reality TV show.

Darian Ward on Tuesday agreed to pretrial diversion, a form of probation, to resolve a misdemeanor charge of abuse of official capacity. The charge could be removed from her record if she successfully completes one year of probation.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston firefighters who have been in a bitter battle with the city for higher wages are taking their case to voters.

Firefighters in the nation's fourth-largest city are asking for pay parity with local police in a proposal that Houston's mayor insists would be "a financial disaster for the city."

Houston residents will vote on the plan for the city's 4,000 firefighters on Nov. 6.

HOUSTON (AP) — A so-called robot brothel a Canadian company said it wants to open in Houston is getting pushback from local officials and community groups, with the mayor saying the city is reviewing its ordinances to determine if they address public safety and health issues raised by the business.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said he's not trying to be the "moral police" but this is not the type of business he wants opening in the city.

HOUSTON (AP) — A nonprofit sued the city of Houston on Friday, alleging officials are obstructing its efforts to open a facility in the city to house unaccompanied immigrant children as part of an "improper political exercise" that's "motivated by hostility" toward federal immigration law.

Austin-based Southwest Key Programs claimed the city improperly invalidated previously issued permits that would have allowed it to open the facility, which was set to house more than 200 unaccompanied minors.

HOUSTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials have arrested about a dozen alleged members of MS-13 in multiple Houston-area slayings of people associated with the notoriously violent gang.

Local, state and federal agencies gathered with prosecutors Tuesday to announce the arrests. The gang has been involved in five Houston deaths since June, including the killing of a confidential informant with a machete, according to officials. Only one victim had no connection to the gang, authorities said.

HOUSTON (AP) — Amid its ongoing recovery from Hurricane Harvey, the city of Houston announced Wednesday it's been accepted to become a member of a global initiative designed to help cities become more resilient to events like natural disasters, as well as to socio-economic challenges faced by urban areas.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said Houston has been accepted into the New York-based Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities program.

HOUSTON (AP) — An appeals court has temporarily blocked an order that forced the city of Houston to remove a video from its website, legal action that's tied to a lawsuit by the Houston firefighters union.

The lawsuit is part of a public spat between firefighters and the city over efforts to place a "pay parity" ballot initiative before voters in November.

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by thousands of women and minors against current and former Houston officials over delays in testing of rape kits.

The lawsuit alleged the officials allowed the delays, meaning suspects remained free and justice was denied to the victims.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston officials on Wednesday pushed back on claims that a detention facility being proposed in the city to house unaccompanied immigrant children is close to opening.

The facility would house about 200 unaccompanied minors at a building that had previously been used as a homeless shelter and a temporary shelter for Hurricane Harvey evacuees.

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston firefighters union is suing city officials, accusing them of misusing public resources to oppose a ballot measure that would give firefighters pay similar to what Houston police officers receive.

HOUSTON (AP) — A former press aide for Houston's mayor has been indicted for allegedly refusing to provide records that had been requested by a reporter.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office said Thursday that a grand jury had indicted Darian Ward on one count of failure of a public information officer to provide access to public information.

If convicted of the misdemeanor, she faces up to six months in jail. Court records didn't list her attorney.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is leading a South American trade and investment mission with stops in Peru, Chile and Argentina.

Turner's office announced the mayor and members of the Greater Houston Partnership would participate in the trip that began Saturday and runs through July 20.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston's mayor is hoping the city's ongoing feud between dueling parades honoring Martin Luther King Jr. will soon be over.

The Houston Chronicle reports Mayor Sylvester Turner has backed a 40-year-old parade by the Black Heritage Society as the city's official event honoring the slain civil rights leader.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says Houston, Milwaukee and the Miami area are the finalists to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

The mayor says Denver also made the party's short list but has withdrawn its bid.

A Denver city spokeswoman, Amber Miller, tells the Houston Chronicle that scheduling conflicts forced Denver to bow out.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston has joined at least seven other cities seeking the 2020 Democratic National Convention with the City Council overwhelmingly backing a resolution that offers logistic services like office space and parking to the Democrats if the city is selected for the event.

Toyota Center, home to pro basketball's Houston Rockets, would be the main convention site.

BOSTON (AP) — American mayors are heading to Boston to address the most pressing issues facing their communities.

More than 250 city executives are taking part in the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual meeting that runs Friday through Monday. The gathering is focused on infrastructure, cybersecurity, school safety, immigration, automation and other issues affecting cities.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston on Wednesday approved new rules outlining additional community benefits companies seeking tax breaks for development projects will need to provide in order to get financial incentives from the city.

The new benefits — including improved training and affordable housing for the local workforce — are geared in part toward helping development in economically challenged communities.

HOUSTON (AP) — Tensions between many Texas cities and counties and Gov. Greg Abbott over the use of the state's $11 billion rainy day fund to pay for costs associated with Hurricane Harvey resurfaced Wednesday after a group of local officials sent a letter to the governor asking for money.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston officials have approved a plan to build about 900 homes in a flood plain despite concerns about developing in flood-prone areas after Hurricane Harvey.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston has launched an adopt-a-drain program to help residents keep water flowing and avoid backups especially as flood recovery continues following Hurricane Harvey.

HOUSTON (AP) — The memorials to former first lady Barbara Bush have begun with a celebration of her life in front of Houston's City Hall.

Mayor Sylvester Turner and several of Houston's leading clergy members from different faiths offered tributes to Bush. She died at her Houston home Tuesday at age 92.

HOUSTON (AP) — Autopsy results show that a Houston city councilman who was found dead at his home earlier this month died from an accidental drug overdose.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences reported Friday that Larry Green died from an overdose of methamphetamine and chloroethane, a solvent used as an inhalant.

The 52-year-old Green took office in January 2012 and represented a district in southwest Houston.

HOUSTON (AP) — Large-scale projects long considered essential to easing Houston's flooding woes went to the top of the area's to-do list after Hurricane Harvey inundated large swaths of the nation's fourth-largest city.

Seven months later, local officials are still looking for funding to undertake plans that include a new reservoir, deeper and wider bayous and a coastal barrier system — all of which have fallen victim to a lack of money or political will in the past.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told several thousand people demonstrating for stricter gun control that adults have a responsibility to stand up and protect all children.

Turner spoke Saturday morning at a rally at Tranquillity Park as part of the nationwide "March for Our Lives" following deadly gunfire last month at a school in Parkland, Florida.

HOUSTON (AP) — While the number of evacuees seeking refuge in Houston's emergency shelters dwindled 10 days after Harvey struck, many people who had left by Monday still faced dire housing needs.

Some returned to public housing complexes inundated with sewage and mud. More than 50,000 went to government-paid hotels, some far away from homes and schools. Others moved in with family and friends.