St. Patrick's Day celebrations often include festive gatherings, parades, and—famously—green beverages. While the holiday is associated with celebration and community, it also offers an opportunity to highlight an important legal topic: driving while intoxicated (DWI) and the legal consequences that can follow. Click to learn more about available research tools for understanding the legal consequences of DWI along with self-help resources for obtaining an Occupational Driver’s License (ODL) or nondisclosure.
Read moreSpring Break and Child Visitation in Texas: Avoiding Family Conflicts
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Spring Break is an exciting time for families—but for parents with court-ordered visitation schedules, it can also create confusion. Understanding how Spring Break possession works under a Texas Standard Possession Order (SPO) can help prevent last-minute conflicts and ensure a smooth holiday for everyone involved.
Read moreTech Tuesday: Justice Tech and the “In-Between” Gap: Why Libraries Matter
For this Tech Tuesday, our director, Andre Davison, highlights the growing role of justice tech tools. These innovations—especially legal aid AI assistants—offer scalable, responsible support, and law libraries are becoming essential guides helping communities find and use trustworthy resources.
Read moreMarch Is Wills & Probate Law Resources Month: A Spring Season for Planning Ahead
Image source: MS365 Copilot
March marks Wills & Probate Law Resources Month at the Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library—a time to focus on organizing, planning, and preparing for the future. As we move into a new season, the Law Library invites you to treat estate planning as part of your spring reset—an investment in organization, preparedness, and care for those who matter most.
Read moreIt's a Groundhog, it's an Alligator...it's Bigfoot?
While Punxsutawney Phil may have said six more weeks of winter and Big Al went for an early spring, one thing is certain—the FBI released the Bigfoot file!
As Texans remain cautiously hopeful that we might be through the coldest part of the season, there’s one creature out there that doesn’t need to bundle up. Whether we call them Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or Skunk Ape, there is a general consensus that this cryptid is huge and has the kind of fur that probably provides better insulation than the winter jacket the average Houstonian digs out twice a year. Bigfoot is said to live in the forests of North America, and apparently, the FBI has a file on them, which was released late 2025.
The file focuses on a request the FBI received back in 1976, to test a possible Bigfoot hair and tissue sample. Although this kind of testing was not in the FBI’s wheelhouse, they accepted the request and processed the sample. It turned out to be from the deer family. You can read about it yourself here.
How did the public get access to this file? And why was everyone so excited by the existence of it?
Well, the public’s access is owed to the public! This file is in the FBI’s Vault, their FOIA Library. FOIA, refers to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows anyone to request access to records from any federal agency. The Vault is a collection of all the FOIA requests the FBI has received, which you can access here, no login required!
As to why people were so excited, well, finding out a government agency, such as the FBI, has an actual file on Bigfoot seems to lend credence to the idea that they’re real. Add to that, the fact that FOIA requests are generally only released to the public after the people of interest have passed—some took it to mean, not only did Bigfoot exist, they passed away.
However, the file only confirmed that tests of supposed Bigfoot samples had lackluster results. Meanwhile, Bigfoot enthusiasts remain hopeful and FOIA requests remain a right for us all.
For more information on FOIA and on the Texas Public Information Act, check out these links:
How to File a Freedom of Information Request
FOIA - Frequently Asked Questions