In Third Ward, Houston's Cooling Law Comes Due After the Heat Leaves
When the Houston TV station KPRC visited Cheryl Henderson's Third Ward apartment in July, it counted eight machines working against the heat, among them a window unit held in place with tape and an air conditioner that no longer cooled. Henderson, who has the lung disease COPD, spoke publicly in favor of Houston's new right-to-air-conditioning law. Landlords now have until December 17 to comply, a date when the normal high is 65 degrees. Enforcement starts only when a tenant calls 311 about her own landlord, and what a winter inspector writes down can later be used against her in court.
In Third Ward, Houston's Cooling Law Comes Due After the Heat Leaves
When the Houston TV station KPRC visited Cheryl Henderson's Third Ward apartment in July, it counted eight machines working against the heat, among them a window unit held in place with tape and an air conditioner that no longer cooled. Henderson, who has the lung disease COPD, spoke publicly in favor of Houston's new right-to-air-conditioning law. Landlords now have until December 17 to comply, a date when the normal high is 65 degrees. Enforcement starts only when a tenant calls 311 about her own landlord, and what a winter inspector writes down can later be used against her in court.
An Imagined Interview With the Woman Who Took the Helene Buyout and Still Plays Pinochle With the Neighbor Who Fought It
CONTINUE READINGShort Report
Plenty of rural Maine houses draw water from their own well, a hole drilled deep into the ground. By October 15, 156 households had told the state theirs went dry this year, through a voluntary online survey. The state's emergency agency says the survey isn't a request for help. The real number is likely higher. Nobody counts folks who never found the survey and started hauling laundry to town.
Those who answered wash clothes at the laundromat and shower at the gym. Some are waiting till December or spring for a driller. Many have had well trouble more than a year running.
A state group tracking the drought expects it to run into 2027. Once the ground freezes, rain can't get down to the wells. So a family gets in line for a driller or waits on weather that may not fix it.
Paired Feature Stories
When the Sewers Overflow, Dale Leavitt Stops Selling Oysters
"When you're closed 50% of the year to being able to sell oysters, it sort of impacts your cash flow," Dale Leavitt told a reporter in September. His farm on Massachusetts' South Coast closes whenever heavy rain overloads New Bedford's old sewers. Between September 25 and October 20, it could sell for just under five days. A state sampler and a dye study are testing where the closure line belongs, with results due in 2027 and no promise of more days.
Seventy-Two More Days on Plum Island Sound, Maybe
On Massachusetts' North Shore, the state has loosened the rain-closure rule for Plum Island Sound and projects it could add up to 72 harvest days a year. Brenden Doyle grows oysters where the Rowley River meets the Sound, and he knows what a lost day costs: "Those orders are going to other providers." Whether the new days reach him depends first on which side of the state's line his farm sits. After that, it comes down to the tide, the oysters and the buyers.
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