>> Poll shows split over Clemens, McNamee: The court of public opinion currently stands divided in Harris County regarding the Roger Clemens steroid scandal according to a poll by The Chronicle. According to the results published yesterday by David Barron, 35.5 percent said believed McNamee; 32.8 percent sided with The Rocket; and, 31.7 percent did not respond. The margin of error is listed at 4.1 percent. These numbers may prove initially encouraging for Clemens......

::Houston NetSquared Meet Up:: The Houston Chapter of NetSquared returns tonight to kick-off another year of fascinating speakers. The Houston group recently got national props from Social Change advocate, Britt Bravo. Keep up the great work, guys! We are really excited to start the 2008 year with a wonderful guest speaker!! Kelly McCann, longtime advocate and CEO of the AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc., will be speaking about her work promoting AIDS awareness, prevention education. Kelly......

Cy-Fair Community College by blackdog8200 ________________________________________________________________ If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining a whole bunch of Houston's best photographers in the Houstonist Flickr Photo Group. If Houstonist uses your photo for Photo Of The Day, submit it here and for more great Houston photography, check out the Houston Photobloggers.......

::Social Media & Web 2.0 Happy Hour:: Do you spend more time on Facebook than you do reading a book? Do your sentences end with, "I'm SO Twittering that."? Do you scour the internet begging for invites to Beta testing of new sites? You're not alone. And there is help and support for people like you. Join your kind tonight at Sonoma Wine Bar as Houston's Social Media Community celebrates the season at the Houston......

Okay, photographers, try to ignore the painfully tight jeans and embarrassingly mop-like 'do for just one moment - '80s arena rocker and power balladeer Billy Squire wrote a song just for you. You got it. Everybody wants you. Oh, you're so used to being in such high demand, aren't you? And who wants you now, pray tell, Houstonist? Well, none other than the United Way of Greater Houston. "But Houstonist," you ask, scratching your head......

Look, we're gonna make this one real easy for you. No thinking involved. Music. Art. Community. And a scientist who raps about space travel to a power point presentation. See? Simple. Houston, Our Ears Depend on You, this Saturday at Diverseworks, materializes Rice Radio's KTRU's presentation of Ashmathitic Kitty's 4th Unusual Animals party. Huh? See, we told you we were gonna make it simple. Just trust us. Or, just keep reading. DiverseWorks is excited to......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Snapstream Ships Beyond TV 4.7 Houstonist loves TV, we also love our iPods and iPhones. We just love technology. So we couldn't be more excited to bring you this bit of news from local software giants Snapstream. It's the release of Beyond TV 4.7 software with automatic iPod and iPhone syncing! What is this you ask? Let us break it down for you. It's PVR software......

Movie buff? Military buff? Either way, today's Daily-ist has gotcha covered. Hey, we're here for YOU. Head dowtown tonight (yes, on a Tuesday) for The Heritage Society's a one hour special screening and discussion of the newest documentary to come from director and producer Ken Burns: The War. This seven-part series about the Second World War highlights the perspectives of a handful of ordinary American men and women who lived during this time. But, under......

Good morning, Houston. Did you watch last night's Emmy Awards show with bated breath? Yeah, neither did we. If you want to check out the winners, the Chron has a nice cheat sheet that will bring you up to speed for today's water cooler conversation. We did get to wondering where the name "Emmy" came from though, and turned to Wikipedia to ease our minds. Turns out it's a feminization of the word "immy,"......

Good morning, Houston. At Houstonist world headquarters, our e-mail boxes are graced almost daily with offers from people who want to move millions of dollars to U.S. bank accounts and allow us to take a huge share of the money just for helping — eh, all in a day. But there's a new e-mail in the same vein floating around now: It comes from someone claiming to be Michelle Kristine Kraiser, the "the Confidential......

If Amy Winehouse has inspired you to hear more fantastic women's jazz voices (rather than go to rehab), you're in luck tonight. The 2007 version of Jazz Cross Roads presents "Women in Jazz" showcasing the work of the great Sarah Vaughan through female jazz vocalists Kamil Bonner and Mickie Moseley and saxophonist Theresa Grayson. The women will perform both in small ensemble and with the Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra. The evening is presented by the......

GHPA Walking Tour: Old Sixth Ward In perfect timing with last week's City Council designation of Old SIxth Ward as Houston's first and only Protected Historic District, the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance will hold it's monthly walking tour this afternoon in the historic neighborhood. On the second Sunday of every month, GHPA presents a docent-guided walking tour of an architecturally and/or historically significant area of Houston. $10 per person ($7 for GHPA members). Reservations are......

No, it's not a new adult film premiering at Aurora, its White Linen Night in the Heights, and it's back for it's 2nd coming. "Small town cool, in the center of the big city." This Saturday, Heights residents, and curious visitors from all across the city, descend upon one of Houston's fastest-growing art scenes for a celebration of culture and community. The annual event, now in its second year, focuses on art, galleries, retail, outdoor......

Houston rapper Lil' Flip is in some trouble, the Chronicle reports: Lil' Flip (whose real name is Wesley Eric Weston Jr.) turned himself in to police on a charge of credit card abuse this weekend, and he's due in court today. Weston, known as the "freestyle king" for his ability to improvise, is accused of buying a $671 Southwest Airlines ticket to Baltimore from Houston on June 8 with an American Express card held by......

MFA's Artful Thursday: Shakespeare's Friends, The Illustrated Version Lecture by Kate Emery Pogue Timed oh so conveniently with next week's start of the Houston Shakespeare Festival, the MFA welcomes Kate Emery Pogue, playwright, Shakespearean actress, teacher, producer, and director for a discussion and story telling based on her book, Shakespeare's Friends . Founder of the Drama Department at Houston Community College Central Campus and former Artistic Director of the Shakespeare-by-the-Book Festival, she is the author......

Good morning, Houston. You might want to grab a drink before you get started on this morning's news: According to KHOU, a shift toward growing corn in Mexico could lead to a spike in the price of tequila. It seems a lot of Mexican farmers are getting rid of their blue agave fields to make way for corn, which is in demand thanks to the growing popularity of ethanol — and as the amount......

Good morning, Houston. If you ever stop to think about all the ordinances in effect in the city — admit it, you do — you probably wonder just how much space all those laws would take up if they were written down. Well, now we know: around 5,000 pages. That tidbit comes from the Chronicle's Matt Stiles, who recently reported that the city approved a new three-year contract with the Municipal Code Corp. of......

Good morning, Houston. Did you happen to be in the West U. area last night? If so, maybe you noticed the train derailment in the area, which prompted the evacuation of a handful of houses and the closure of a section of Bissonnet Street. The derailment, which involved seven cars, happened on the Union Pacific line near the corner of Community and Judson; four of the cars were carrying wheat and lumber, and another......

Yep, you read that correctly. Sunday morning an inflatable blue elephant visited Bridge Community church in Galveston. The elephant is part of National Porn Sunday campaign which is trying to beat out battle the multibillion dollar Porn industry. All bad puns aside, the 25ft inflatable blue elephant is a symbol of the “elephant in the pew,” said J.R. Mahon, pastor of XXXChurch.com, which spearheads the National Porn Sunday movement. Although their website name seems......

Well, here's something to be proud of: Houston's homicide rate is now the second-highest among large American cities, according to FBI figures released Monday. Keep in mind that this is the homicide rate we're talking about — Houston's was 18.2 per 100,000 residents last year, putting us second only to Philadelphia and ahead of Dallas (fifth place), which has had a higher homicide rate than Houston for each of the last 11 years. The numbers......

So it's been nearly two years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans — and, according to the AP, about 5,500 heads of evacuee households in Houston are still unemployed. It's not that there aren't jobs available (city officials say there are 2 million job openings, 59,000 of which don't require a college education) or that the government isn't helping (the city has spent $1.9 million since the fall offering free résumé help, business clothing, job......

Looking for something to do with all that spare time? We know, we don't exactly have much spare time, either. However, there are some great volunteer opportunities available for those of you who are so inclined. First, we'd like to tell you about a long term, or ongoing commitment where there is a need to fill that serves the community by assisting those less privileged. The Christian Community Service Center's Emergency Services Program needs some......

This is the third in a series of posts on upcoming City Council races. Check out last week's post about District I and District E and keep reading Houstonist for campaign coverage. There's no shortage of interest in the city council seat that Ada Edwards, District D's representative, will vacate due to term limits after this election. District D includes Neartown/Montrose, Midtown, and part of the Third Ward, as well as other neighborhoods. Local businessman......

The Mayor’s Youth Council (MYC) is launching its 2nd Annual Youth Survey to identify the most important issues to Houston’s youth. Young people who reside or attend school in the City of Houston can have their opinions heard by completing the survey online. The survey asks questions about 37 issues in six major categories: Community Out-of-School Opportunities; Crime/Safety; Prejudice/Discrimination; Health Education & Outreach; Traffic/Transportation; and Environment. These issues were identified by the MYC in their......

Last Thursday, city officials including Mayor White and Housing Director Richard Celli along with the Ibn Sina Foundation celebrated the opening of a new medical center at 11226 Wilcrest. The center houses a number of specialty medical clinics for low-income families as well as a pharmacy and dental clinic. The clinic, which takes up 5000 square feet, was funded by contributions from the city of Houston, Houston's Philanthropic Community, and Community Development Block Grant. At......

Citing repeated safety violations at a north Houston apartment complex, the city took an unusual step Tuesday: It revoked the complex's certificate of occupancy, meaning residents will have to find other places to live within the net few days. The complex in question is Carter's Grove, the same place where two kids were nearly electrocuted in February while playing around an unlocked electrical transformer. But the transformer incident was far from the only problem at......

We are excited and giddy (ok, maybe just some of us are giddy) about the recent attention and preservation efforts to Houston's Historic Wards. Heck, they even have their own Wikipedia listing! (but then again so does your momma). And a continued step in the right direction, last week's City Council approval a six-month ban on demolition of historic buildings in the Old Sixth Ward area , the city's oldest intact 19th century neighborhood —......

The Jewish Community Center and the Museum of Fine Arts are teaming up for a third year to bring a series of thirteen new Jewish films to Houston over the next ten days. The festival include documentaries, dramas, and comedies that exhibit the variety and complexity of Jewish life. Tonight the festival begins at 8pm with From Shtetl to Swing. Written and directed by Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir, it tells the story of the cross-pollination of Jewish......

Texas City is taking a different approach to curbing vicious dog attacks: Starting May 6, tying dogs to stationary objects will be against the law. According to officials, restraining dogs makes them aggressive, which in turn can lead to attacks: [Community development director George] Fuller, who authored the ordinance that city commissioners approved Wednesday, said he’s always thought tying up dogs was humane. But it wasn’t until he saw a recent study that linked confined......

Saturday: Empty Bowls Houston For a minimum $25 donation, diners will receive a simple lunch of soup freshly prepared by the Houston Food Bank Community Kitchen, along with bread and water, and then have the pleasure of selecting a bowl from hundreds of one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted bowls donated by Houston area ceramists and craft artists. The empty bowls will serve as a reminder of all the empty bowls in our community and around the world. All......