Good morning, Houston. If the dearth of new TV in the wake of the writer's strike has left you willing to watch anything, we've got some news for you: HTV, the municipal station, is launching a new program! Woohoo! Entertainment Houston, a 30-minute show, will focus on — wait for it — Houston's facilities, included the Wortham Center, Jones Hall, the George R. Brown Convention Center and the not-quite-finished Discovery Green. A new episode......

::World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest:: Or something like that. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's barbeque contest is happening this weekend and Houstonist thinks your tastebuds are as qualified as anyone's to make a judgement. Find yoiur favorite team or choose by the most appealing name on this listing and map of the area. Besides lots and lots of stuff from the grill, expect to find mucho live music to give you a smile for......

Hola, Houston. It's rodeo time. Everyone get happy. Throw ya hands in the air if you love Hannah Montana! Musical acts like Montana, rather the lack of Tejano acts on the rodeo bill, are just what have folks around Houston up in arms. Former State Senator Gonzalo Barrientos is calling for "friends across the whole great state of Texas not to attend the Houston livestock show, period." According to the ABC13.com story, the issue......

Good morning, Houston. When it comes to politics, we suppose there's a lot to be said for the shock factor — which is why Brian Klock, a candidate for Congressional District 22, is getting some attention. Klock, one of 10 people vying for the Republican nomination for CD 22, has put up a billboard showing downtown Houston being destroyed by a huge explosion. "The Threat Is Real," the billboard reads. "Ask Brian Klock." And......

Good morning, Houston. Remember the city's smoking ban, which went into effect in September? Well, so does KPRC. The station checked around and found something that will shock you to your very core: Houstonians are still smoking in bars and restaurants! No, really. One of the bars Channel 2 visited was Henry Hudson's Pub on the west side, where reporters found customers and the bartender smoking — and "we even bought a pack of......

Friday night funtime reminder!! Houston filmmaker Raymond Gayle's film Electric Purgatory shows at 7pm tonight at MFAH. The film is a documentary examining the lives and musical contributions of black rock musicians, such as Fish Bone, Jimi Hazel, Jimi Hendrix, ?uestlove and many more. This documentary is a lively contribution to the history of rock music, examining reasons behind the lack of commercial success experienced by many contemporary black rock musicians. Blending classic performance footage......

This week marks the debut of the new location for Super Happy Fun Land. They have moved to 3801 Polk Street, and you can join their "Grand Opening Polka Party" (get it?) Friday night. Monday night, the Van Halen returns to Houston at the Toyota Center. We're hoping that Diamond Dave and boys don't have the same tuning mishap that they had at the beginning of their tour. Did we miss something? Let us......

Good morning, Houston. Who said Barbie never did anything for anybody? She's helped make 4-year-old Phoebe Swann famous, at least for a little while: Swann recently caught a 50-pound Black Drum with a Barbie fishing rod. It happened during a family trip to Rockport; Swann was using the Barbie rod with a red plastic worm as bait when she reeled in the big fish. In case you're wondering, Swann and her dad threw the......

Good morning, Houston. If you've ever been driving around in the 'burbs and wondered who names the streets, well, it just might be someone like Susan Vreeland-Wendt, who the Chronicle's Nancy Sarnoff interviewed yesterday. Vreeland-Wendt, marketing director for The Woodlands Operating Co., has come up with more than 1,600 names for roads, parks and neighborhoods in The Woodlands in the last 20 years. Turns out she gets inspiration from all kinds of places: paint......

Good morning, Houston. We're sure you're as excited as we are to get right into this year's news, so without further ado ... >> GOP pick for Harris DA expected this evening: Harris County Republican leaders said they expect to have a candidate for district attorney by 6 p.m. today, the deadline for filing candidacy papers. The move comes in the wake of a scandal centering on DA Chuck Rosenthal, who was asked to......

Yes, we know that this column usually runs on Mondays. But on Monday, we were dodging the crowds in search of a couple of final presents, and were still reeling from the woodshed beating the Texans received at the hands of the Colts. We saw beleaguered soccer moms parking their Suburbans at the mall with better timing and depth perception than some of Sage Rosenfels' passes on Sunday. Anyway, on to the links: - Chuck......

The Rockets have come back from a loss to Dallas with an impressive win against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. The Rockets came out with a quick spurt put on by Shane Battier who came out of the gates with back-to-back three pointers. Other than that, the first quarter was uneventful with the exception of Chuck Hayes getting an elbow to the eye from Tim Duncan that required him to get stitches, forcing......

It has begun, the 2007-2008 season is here. Actually it didn't really start for the Rockets until the end of the first quarter last night against the Los Angeles Lakers. Houston started off very slow as if they didn’t realize the season had actually begun. Kobe Bryant took control of the first quarter while McGrady and company struggled to find their identity. A new coach and a few new faces on the pine will......

At Chuck E Cheese, a kid can be a kid. Not so, however, in Harris County, where we prosecute more teens as adults than do four other heavily populated Texas counties....combined. Judges and prosecutors think we can expect the number of teens in prison to increase in the coming years as well, since recent sex scandals at the Texas Youth Commission (the juvenile hall end of the law) have led to a new rule where......

Good morning, Houston. There's a new weapon in the battle to make Houston the most beautiful city in America: Beginning next week, commercial property owners will have to hide their Dumpsters behind a building, wall, fence, berm or shrub. Officials said they hope the rule — which City Council approved six months ago — will help increase property values and make properties safer (and, of course, prettier). Anyone who violates the ordinance can be......

When we were very young, there was a pizza joint called Showbiz Pizza (which became Chuck E. Cheese), which featured the usual: cardboard pizza, games, and singing animals. Well, those singing animals (known as Rockafire Explosion) that scared the bejesus out of us back in those days are back -- singing Bubba Sparxxx's hip-hop tune "Ms. New Booty." It seems that someone who calls themselves Christhrash on YouTube, bought these mechanical animals and decide......

Milk. It's one of those things we rarely give much thought to — but then we read about how rising milk prices are driving the cost of all dairy-based products up. In fact, according to an expert at the Department of Agriculture, the price of milk-based ingredients used in cheese, ice cream and pizza has gone up by as much as 60 percent in the past year, which means those products end up costing consumers......

This week's crop of Missed Connections seemed harmless enough, even sweet. But if you're Barnie's wife: 1. you may not want to read this & 2. how did you ever get used to spooning a large, purple polyester dinosaur? Pirate Monkey Dinosaur Parrot - m4w - 30 You and your friend were discussing the message board at Empire. I was the guy who confirmed your designation of the "thing" as a dinosaur on the......

Good morning, Houston. The bad news: You've missed your chance to see the International Space Station this morning as it orbits above Texas. (We suppose it's only bad news if you're interested in seeing the space station — if you're not, hey, you won't be disappointed!) The good news: You'll have three more opportunities before the end of the week. The ISS will be visible at 4:08 a.m. Thursday (for nearly four minutes, beginning......

Good morning, Houston. Do you love trees? Well, you're in luck: Today happens to be Love a Tree Day. Houstonist has something of a soft spot for trees ourselves — we've often enjoyed their shade, climbed their branches and even skied into one or two — and so we wholeheartedly endorse showing a little tree love today. Don't have a tree to lavish your attention on? No problem: Join Trees for Houston and help......

The latest development in the murder of Texas A&M student Tynesha Stewart: Yesterday, Harris County sheriff's officials announced that they will not search area landfills for her body, saying that finding the body would be "virtually impossible." Meanwhile, sheriff's investigators did finally get a confession from Stewart's ex boyfriend, Timothy Wayne Shepherd, who on Wednesday had led police to a Dumpster where he told activist Quanell X he disposed of Stewart's body after killing her.......

The Houston Rockets dismantled the Philadelphia 76ers Sunday night in a 124-74 shellacking at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Led by all-stars Tracy McGrady (21 points) and Yao Ming (24 points), the Rockets dominated in every facet of the game shooting 53.3% from the field compared to the 76ers 33.8%. Leading by 17 after the first quarter, the Rockets never looked back; relentlessly pounding the 76ers in the paint who had no answer for......

The Rockets faced a surging Celtics squad in Boston on Wednesday night and beat the crap out of them (technical sports term) 111-80. The Celts entered last night's action having won four of the last five games. Conversely (no, not the shoes), the Rockets had dropped four of the last five thanks in part to the absence of Yao. Yao Ming was relatively quiet in his second game back following the leg fracture finishing with......

Gilbert Amezquita, a man who spent eight years in prison on what might have been a false rape arrest, has begun the process of getting $200,000 in state compensation for his jail time. Amezquita was arrested in connection with the 1998 rape and beating of Kathy Bingham at her father's publishing company, which left Bingham in a coma for 10 days. When she woke up, she told police that "Gilbert" had attacked her; based primarily......

On Sundays, Houstonist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in Houston. The opinions expressed below are entirely those of the author. Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. What was the deal with that woman who was busted driving solo down the HOV lane claiming she wasn’t alone because she was pregnant? If she wants that kid to count, put him in a car seat. Look, the lady was in......

Back when Houstonist was in junior high, the worst thing kids did was sneaking a cigarette behind the gym (or occasionally sniffing formaldehyde). But today's youth are much more stupid daring — case in point, the 11 students at Spring Woods Middle School who were taken to the hospital yesterday after popping pills a classmate was handing out. Ah, youth. "Somebody showed up with some, a lot, and just started handing them out like candy,"......

Next time you're enjoying pizza and Skee-ball with the family, you'd better take care who you piss off. The suspect, Brandon Glover, allegedly shot acquaintance Troy Reed in the parking lot of a Sugarland Chuck E. Cheese. Police are still seeking Glover who's bond has been set at $200,000 on an aggravated assault charge. Motive for the shooting is not yet clear, but Houstonist would not be surprised if the fight was a a spillover......

In an unusual move yesterday, the judge presiding over a hearing for Juan Quintero, the man accused of shooting HPD Officer Rodney Johnson to death during a Sept. 21 traffic stop, cleared the courtroom and let Quintero choose who his court-appointed lawyer will be. There was a disagreement between the judge and the Mexican consulate about the attorney assignment: The judge had originally appointed Jim Leitner to represent Quintero, but the consulate wanted Danalynn Recer......

Wow, it sure rained a lot overnight. We mean a lot — more than seven inches fell downtown, more than six in southern Brazoria County, just as much in east Harris County and part of Liberty County. The good news is that most of the heavy rain has moved north of the Beltway, but the bad news is that it's now sitting over Katy, northwest Harris County, Montgomery County, Bryan-College Station, Huntsville ... yeah, you......

The legal situation regarding Juan Leonardo Quintero, an illegal immigrant accused of shooting a Houston police officer to death after a traffic stop last week, is shaping up: According to the Chronicle, Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal will put on his prosecutor's hat to lead the case against Quintero. Rosenthal hasn't helped prosecute a case in years, but he said he was moved by a meeting with Officer Rodney Johnson's family. Quintero, meanwhile, remains in......