Ken Fountain

I have some bad news to report. After nearly a half-century, the Fort Bend Star is closing. The move is not entirely unexpected. You probably know that the media industry, particularly the newspaper business, has been in dire straits for many years, and that has been accelerating recently. A while back, I read a story in which it was reported that two newspapers on average close every week in the United States.

A federal judge last week ruled that a Fort Bend County Sheriff's deputy wrongfully arrested a self-styled "citizen journalist" for allegedly interfering during a welfare check while videotaping the incident for distribution on his social media channels. In a three-day bench trial in July 2025, federal District Judge George C. Hanks, Jr. hears about two 2021incidents involving interactions Justin Pulliam and members of the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.