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......

::Land Use in Houston: Two Different Approaches:: As demand for more residential and commercial building in Houston continues, the question of how to develop (and how to preserve) becomes more and more important. Houstonians for Responsible Growth is sponsoring a free public forum tonight about land use decisions under consideration of City Hall. Houstonians for Responsible Growth appear to support market- and consumer-driven growth of the city, as opposed to land use regulations and......

Good morning, Houston. We freely admit that we don't like bugs, so we've tried quite a few home extermination methods — but we've never blown the roof off our house while doing it like Patricia Espiricueta of Galveston did. It seems Espiricueta was fed up with her home's roach problem, so she set off five bug bombs and left the house. While she was gone, the fumes hit a pilot light and exploded, lifting......

Good morning, Houston. One thing about the holiday season: You hear Christmas music everywhere you go (and if you haven't been hearing it, just tune in to Sunny 99.1 — you'll catch up quickly). With that in mind, we were interested to check out ASCAP's list of the most-played holiday songs this year. It was released on Dec. 4, but by that time, the group reported that 1,562 different holiday songs had already been......

Beginning today and running through Sunday - the party is ON in Galveston! It is time for the Lone Star Rally, one of the largest AMA sanctioned events anywhere. Where to start? There will be a humongous amount of activities going on, and stuff. We'll highlight a few and let you bang the link to the website for the full list. First, there will be the Leather and Lace Ball and Halloween Costume Party at......

The Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo publicly stated opposition to the proposed redevelopment of the Astrodome into a hotel and convention center. Giving the reason that it would have negative effects on the Texans and the HLSR, spokesfolks didn't actually release details yet to back it up. Since the Astros' abandonment of the Astrodome, it has been tough to try to agree and finance good uses for it year-round. The hotel and......

Oni-Con is Houston's original anime convention and it's held once a year. If you are not familiar with anime, please allow us to bring you up to speed. Anime is a drawing and animation style that originated in Japan and has been popular in America for quite some time with shows such as Pokemon, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z. Maybe you've seen these animated shows on Cartoon Network late at night while channel......

This afternoon and tomorrow, several Houston hotels are holding the ultimate garage sale at the GRB Convention Center, so now's your chance to make your living room a miniature replica of the Hilton Americas lobby. Finally! Participating hotels include the Four Seasons, the Hilton Americas, and the Hyatt, and they're selling absolutely everything. You'll find furniture, electronics, linens, dishes, etc. and good bargains have been promised (that remains to be seen though). That includes......

Bridal Extravaganza + Ticket Giveaway Getting married soon? (Yikes.) If you are ready to dive into the world of florists, photographers, DJ's, and bridal gowns, you are in luck! This weekend, the 23rd Bi-Annual Bridal Extravaganza walks down the aisle at the GRB, July 14 & 15. The nation’s largest bridal show will take place on Saturday, at the George R. Brown Convention Center this Saturday and Sunday. This year’s event features over 300,000......

Discovery Green, the unfortunately named park under construction in downtown Houston, has gained its first high-profile piece of artwork: Jean Dubuffet's Monument au Fantôme, which has stood in front of 1100 Louisiana for 25 years. Dan Duncan, the pipeline tycoon who owns the skyscraper, has donated the sculpture to the park, where it will sit along Avenida de las Americas across from the George R. Brown Convention Center. "It's a fantastic piece of art," park......

Good morning, Houston. So, did you hear about the guy who accidentally shot himself during a gun show at the George R. Brown Convention Center? Nope, not a joke: The guy was apparently trying to disassemble his Glock .40-caliber handgun while shopping for a part for the gun when he shot himself Saturday afternoon — but the real kicker is that it looks like he was carrying the gun illegally. "We have signs posted......

With the official beginning of the 2007 hurricane season a little more than a week away, Harris County officials have released a new evacuation plan based on ZIP codes. Residents of coastal and low-lying areas can determine whether they're in evacuation zones using a map of the area that groups ZIP codes into four zones based on threat, from the coast up through Brazoria and Galveston counties to Houston's East End, Channelview, Baytown and......

The Friends of the Houston Public Library invite you to peruse the more than 80,000 books of all genres that will be on sale at bargain prices this weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The sale, held annually, benefits the Houston Public Library - and you, of course. Who doesn't love cheap books? Friday is preview day for members of the Friends, but you can join at the door for $20. On Sunday,......

Urban Corridor Planning is a City of Houston initiative that "will change how the City regulates development and designs its streets and other infrastructure in order to create a high quality urban environment in areas along METRO’s light rail and guided rapid transit corridors." The results of UCP's Phase I can be seen here. Now it's time to begin the next phase, and the city is all but begging for your input. The kick-off workshop......

Sadists known as distance runners are expected to crowd the streets near George R. Brown Convention Center this Sunday morning to take part in the Chevron Houston Marathon, Aramco Half-Marathon and Houston Press/Smart Financial 5K. The race has grown-up quite a bit since the initial event in 1972 when the first race was run by 113 runners on a five mile loop. 2007's 35th incarnation of the event will feature 15,000 registered runners between......

Whoooaaawhoaaooohoooh! It's not unusual to dig Tom Jones! We digress. Cat people of Houston, aficionados, fanciers, breeders and cat lovers in general, there is a cat show here, on the green, green astroturf grass of home. Now, we don't think you will actually see Tom Jones (rats! Maybe this handsome orange devil on the right will perform?), but, actual cats will abound and will be judged by breed and for best overall. The 55th Annual......

If you're hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs "so are you nakie" to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor......

Houstonist will be taking Thanksgiving off, but that doesn't mean you should. There are plenty of places all over the city that need volunteers to do everything from deliver meals to carry balloons this week. Here are just a few: TXU Energy is sponsoring a 5K Fun Run that benefits Sheltering Arms, an agency that provides a wide array of services for the elderly. Volunteers are needed to help with registration, set-up, water stations, etc.......

Good news for one of our favorite works of art in Houston: Jay Baker's "Light Spikes," the collection of eight 24-foot-high flag pillars created for the 1990 Economic Summit. The pillars originally stood in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center, but were moved to Intercontinental Airport when the summit ended — and they've remained there ever since, sitting alongside the airport's main drive. Problem is, the work was never intended to be permanent,......

More on Houston's newly expanded smoking ban: Everyone knows the ordinance prohibits smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, but what's still sort of unclear is where people will be able to smoke under the new law. That's because of potential vagueness in the exceptions to the ordinance, which include outdoor patios, private rooms in nursing homes, tobacco shops, cigar bars and designated rooms in meeting facilities during private functions. The patios and nursing-home......

Well, the soon-to-be downtown park has been christened — and the best name they could come up with the name chosen from about 6,200 entries was Discovery Green. That's apparently the name that best reflected "the spirit and uniqueness of the new downtown park and, among other qualities, Houston's diverse history, and communities and distinctiveness from a regional standpoint." Is it just us, or does "Discovery Green" accomplish none of those goals? Instead, it sounds......

So if you're interested in what the new downtown park will be named, but the rain kept you away from the big name unveiling party yesterday, don't worry: No one else showed up, either, and the groundbreaking/naming was rescheduled for today. Seriously, can you feel the excitement? If you've forgotten, we're talking about the $81 million, 12-acre park that'll be built in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown. The park design, by......

Harris County Commissioners Court gave the go-ahead for a private firm's proposal to redevelop the Astrodome as a mega-hotel, saying the 41-year-old stadium will no longer be a part of the county's disaster shelter plans. During future emergencies, other facilities, including the George R. Brown Convention Center and Reliant Center, will be the region's primary shelters, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said. The Dome "is too expensive to maintain as a potential shelter space that......

So this is pretty cool, but has the potential for a really unfortunate result: The Houston Downtown Park Conservancy, the folks in charge of building the new downtown park in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center, is inviting the public to name the park. "Tapping the public to name the downtown park was a natural decision by the Conservancy," said Nancy G. Kinder, Chair, Houston Downtown Park Conservancy. "The interest and excitement......

Nearly a year after they were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, thousands of evacuees in the Houston area are still jobless and relying on government handouts to live — but the handouts are going to stop sometime (no, really, they might), and Mayor Bill White says evacuees need to get ready for that day by finding jobs. "For those who are capable of working, then the job search needs to be time-consuming and aggressive......

The Astrodome has been home to many things. It bore witness to the highs and lows of the Oilers and Astros. It has been credited with helping to change the face of men's college basketball and March Madness. People roped dogies, jumped over cars on motorcycles, cheered on Ronald Reagan and promised to kick things in on the floor of the Eighth Wonder of the World. More recently, it has sheltered evacuees during Hurricane Katrina......

A little over a year before we get our own House of Blues downtown, word comes that the famed music venue and restaurant has been acquired by Live Nation, the Clear Channel Communications entertainment company. It was a $350 million transaction. Live Nation claims that the acquisition will not affect the opening of Houston’s House of Blues, which is set for the fall of 2007 in a new entertainment district near the convention center downtown.......

That building going up next to Bayou Place — Phase II — is that going to be more Bayou Place-like things (restaurants, clubs, destinations)? For some reason, I get a non-fun vibe off that building. You're right about the non-fun vibe: Bayou Place II, which was actually built out in the part of the former Albert Thomas Convention Center west of Bagby Street, will house "loft office space" (which, we assume, means large windows, exposed......

So if you've ever wondered what would happen if a hot dog touched a live power line — yeah, you know you have — do we have a deal for you: a demonstration from CenterPoint Energy showing exactly that. It was part of a safety demonstration at the George R. Brown Convention Center, and CenterPoint's Alicia Dixon said the hot dog was meant to simulate a human finger. "The hot dog simulates a human finger,......

We attended the Houston/Galveston Hurricane Workshop yesterday at the George R. Brown Convention Center and learned a lot. Most importantly, the evacuation planning is light years ahead. Also, remember that period over the last 50 years where we only had a handful of hurricanes? Yeah, those were the good old days. According to National Hurricane Center forecaster Stacy Stewart, we're at the start of a 15 to 20 year cycle of more frequent and......