By Cat DeLaura

☀️ High of 99; low of 79. | 📰 Click here to view today's e-Edition

Good morning, Houston. It's Wednesday.

🍦 We're down to eight participants in the frozen treat bracket. Connie's Custard and Hank's Ice Cream are leading the pack so far. Vote for your favorite here.

📬 Before the news: We're working on something special to take you behind the scenes of how The 713 comes together. What questions do you have about The 713 or working in a newsroom? Reply and let me know.

Cat DeLaura
Audience Engagement Producer
cat.delaura@houstonchronicle.com

Best of the Bayou

Today we're talking about Houston's mayoral race...

If you read one thing: Several candidates vying to become Houston's next mayor said they are returning campaign contributions that exceeded legal limits during the latest fundraising period, including U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who intends to refund nearly $64,000.

What are the campaign contribution limits?

Houston law caps individual donations at $5,000 and political action committee contributions at $10,000.

Whose campaigns went over the limits?

Jackson Lee's report included at least 10 donations surpassing these limits, most notably a $25,000 donation from Border Health PAC.

Meanwhile, state Sen. John Whitmire received $5,000 beyond the permissible limit from the Houston Police Officer's Union. Attorney Lee Kaplan reported a donation slightly above the cap at $5,162.70.

Where do the campaigns stand on fundraising?

Whitmire reported $9.9 million cash on hand, former Metro Chair Gilbert Garcia had $2.9 million and attorney Lee Kaplan had $1.4 million. Subtracting the limit-exceeding contributions, Jackson Lee had about $970,200.

Read the full story here.

More news from city council:

Alcohol-free zone: A Heights preschool's bid to become Houston's first alcohol-free zone of its kind is sparking wide debate.
- If approved, the zone would prevent businesses from opening within 300 feet of Heights Preschool on Oxford Street.

Stay in the Loop

Susan Barber / Houston Chronicle

📰 Need to Know:

Impeachment: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick raises $3 million from pro-Paxton group ahead of impeachment trial.
Air: As smoke from Canadian wildfires reaches the South, Houston faces multiple air quality threats.
White House: Lina Hidalgo and a delegation of Harris County officials will meet with members of the Biden administration Wednesday to discuss the county's projects fueled by federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Film: "Barbie" movie screening events in Houston were already sold out early this week.
Health: Texas Children's reveals it separated conjoined twin boys 10 months before separating twin girls.
Art: An artist's work on housing insecurity gives 100 percent of the proceeds to Houston tenants in need.

🚨 News from the Border:

Eagle Pass: Operation Lone Star has frequently targeted Eagle Pass, which sits along the Rio Grande and is again at the center of the national immigration debate. Here's what you should know about the city.
Private property: Texas Department of Public Safety installed razor wire on private property along the border despite the landowner's protest.
- The property owner, Hugo Urbina, said a DPS director "looked (him) right in the eyes and said, 'I'm going to do what I'm going to do,'" claiming he had authority to use private property without the owner's permission under a 2021 governor disaster declaration.
Feds: Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas DPS have ignored the federal government's requests for information about the floating buoy wall the state has put in the Rio Grande, according to federal officials.
Email: Read the DPS medic's full email to superiors detailing the "inhumane" treatment of people crossing the Rio Grande here.

💼 Business:

Tomlinson's take: CNBC's Texas ranking is a Rorschach test for wealth, suffering and the government's role in both.
Housing: Even though the homebuying market has slowed, "instant" online home buying is still alive in Houston as iBuyer Opendoor expands to the Inner Loop and Galleria.
Map: Are there orphan oil and gas wells near your home? Use our searchable map to see where documented orphan wells exist in the Houston area.

🚗 Outside the Loop:

Cannabis: Montgomery County's first medical cannabis pickup location opens in The Woodlands.
Hotel: Conroe is working to fix the trees at its new hotel and convention center after violating its own ordinance.
Beer: Breweries abound in the communities northwest of Houston. We want to know where readers prefer to get their local brews.

Click here to play the Houston Chronicle's puzzles.

Point of View

Quote from The Editorial Board: ''The crisis at our border is a humanitarian one and it requires humans to handle it with compassion and consideration, not a merciless barrier of deterrents.''

John Branch / Houston Chronicle

🗣️ Editorial Board: Abbott's razor wire is maiming migrants. Cruelty is the point.

🗪 Other points of view:

Letters to the Editor: Readers weigh in on Texas A&M's treatment of Kathleen McElroy.

Houston vs. All Y'all

A triptych showing a sketch of a basketball in a hoop, a baseball in a glove, and a football.

Ken Ellis / Houston Chronicle

SEC Media Days: Georgia will try to become the first team to win three consecutive national titles since Minnesota from 1934-36.

Astros' Injuries: Yordan Alvarez's recovery "still progressing"; José Urquidy will resume his rehab assignment Wednesday in Sugar Land; Framber Valdez's next turn in the starting rotation is still in doubt.

Rockets: The Rockets fell short of claiming the summer league championship rings, but it was still an impressive showing.

The scoreboard:

⚾ Astros 3, Colorado Rockies 4.

Find more of our sports coverage here.

Get Out

Susan Barber / Houston Chronicle

Yes, chef: Meet Devown Hines, the gridiron chef helping prolong NFL careers. Here's what a day in his life as a professional athlete's personal cook looks like.

View Through the Lens

Today staff photographer Elizabeth Conley is taking over this section of The 713 to explain her process while working with Amanda Drane on her investigation into Texas' zombie wells.

Rancher Schuyler Wright stands with his back to the camera looking out over a sinkhole on his property.

Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle

Conley: With its warm light and expansive skies, it doesn't take much effort to get great photos in West Texas, except for the fact you have to actually get to West Texas. My first time working on a story there was in 2020. Due to the pandemic, I drove with my gear and locked myself in a hotel room with pre-made meals when I wasn't taking photos. I fell in love with the big sky and the people that I met along the way.

But it's one thing to get pretty photos, it's another to have a strong story. Despite the pumpjacks and windmills, it can be easy to overlook the impact the legacy of oil has had on the area in places off the main highways. That's why it was so great to travel and work with Amanda Drane, who had the contacts of those who have been dealing with orphan and zombie wells on their properties.

Rancher Schuyler (pronounced Skyler) Wight, was a great subject, as his property had several leaking wells, some not listed with the Railroad Commission. We spent the day driving around his property looking at wells of various states. He later took us to a huge sinkhole that happened after a well was plugged improperly. The sinkhole was affecting a local highway, as it started to slope towards the new lake.

Following photojournalistic ethics can be a challenge. I knew the image I wanted to get, but I didn't want it to be a portrait, or tell him where to stand. So as he talked about the sinkhole I put myself in a position where I could capture a good foreground/background and waited for him to turn away from us and look at the sinkhole. I feel like it's an added bonus the land in the background mimics the bend of his hat.

Read the full investigation and see more of Conley's photos here.

We're half way through the week, folks! What are y'all looking forward to this weekend?

Cat DeLaura

cat.delaura@houstonchronicle.com

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