Good morning, Houston. Sure, the national economy may be going to hell in a handbasket, but look on the bright side: Houston's housing market is remaining pretty strong, so at least you homeowners have something of value! According to a new report, the median home value in Houston fell just $500 between the end of the third quarter 2007 and the end of the year, to $119,300 from $119,800 — still a gain of......

This weekend, the Chronicle took a look at the political donation patterns of different areas of Houston — and though there weren't really any surprises, it's interesting to see exactly who's giving how much to whom. The most money, as you might expect, is coming from the neighborhood with the most money: Residents of the 77019 ZIP code, in River Oaks, gave the most political donations of anyone in the Houston area in the first......

Good morning, Houston. Remember Radar, the adorable Channel 2 weather dog? If you're a Ken Hoffman reader, we can't imagine how you'd forget. It turns out someone in Tyler was a big fan of the idea: a TV station there has their own weather dog, Stormy. Stormy serves a function similar to Radar's and also wears an American flag bandana and takes ridiculous pictures. Just another reason to be glad you don't live in......

Good morning, Houston. It's Thursday — the last day of May — which means there's just a few more hours to enter the Houstonist photo exhibition. We're accepting entries until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, so be sure to send your photos before then. As always, the details and entry form are at 600sqmi.com. Good luck! >> Aw, hail: We knew there was a chance of rain yesterday, but we didn't expect a long bout of......

Senator Mario Gallegos, a Houston Democrat, can finally return home after jeopardizing his health to fight a controversial voter ID bill. Gallegos recently underwent a liver transplant and a follow-up procedure due to concerns that his body was rejecting the liver. He even had a hospital bed set up in the Senate sergeant's office, just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Senate floor. Doctors advised Gallegos to stay in Houston to recuperate, but......

Good morning, Houston. The good thing about having a lovers' spat is that there's almost always someone else out there having one that's far worse — take, for example, the story of a Conroe quarrel that led to a woman ramming her ex-boyfriend's car. Thomas Young-Davis told police that his ex got upset that he had a new girlfriend, so she followed him to a gas station yesterday afternoon, backed into his car twice......

Good morning, Houston. So how about this Internet thing, eh? Thanks to it, we now have more information at our fingertips than ever before — but how do we know we're staying on the moral and religious high ground? By looking at sites that take on the godless liberal element of the info superhighway, that's how: Take, for example, Conservapedia and GodTube (we hope we don't need to tell you what sites they're going......

Now we know what the blockbuster private-sector job is that's pulling Robert Eckels away from his post as Harris County judge: Eckels said yesterday that he will be a partner with law firm Fulbright & Jaworski. His position, according to the firm, will draw on his government contacts: At Fulbright, Eckels intends to develop an administrative, regulatory and government relations practice serving clients who seek to be heard with respect to legislation, local ordinances or......

The Chronicle reports today that Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, who has held the top elected post in the county since 1995, may be considering leaving office before his current term expires to take a job in the private sector. "In the last 90 days I've had conversations with a New York firm and international investment banking firms," Eckels said. "I have had more serious discussions than in the past. They are more concrete." Though......

There's some news today on Metro's plan to expand its rapid-transit system: Two members of Congress from Houston have said they'll push for federal funding for more light rail, not the bus rapid transit lines Metro proposed for the northside, East End, southeast side and Uptown. The announcement from U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, both Democrats, came at a Metro board meeting yesterday where the agency OK'd negotiating with a team headed......

So, just short of a month after a group of local janitors went on strike to demand higher wages and health benefits, the strike seems to be over: The striking janitors and the city's five major cleaning companies reaches a tentative agreement yesterday. Which means the strike was a success, right? Well, yes. And no. Under the agreement, Houston janitors' average pay will increase to $6.25 an hour from $5.30 an hour beginning Jan. 1,......

Post-election, there's a potentially interesting situation shaping up on the transportation funding subcommittee of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. That's the group, remember, that OKs federal transit funds — it's the one U.S. Rep. John Culberson sits on, and it is his membership in that subcommittee that allowed Culberson to deal a strong blow to Richmond light rail plans this summer. But here's what may be interesting: With Democratic control of the House, newly elected......

Houstonist stayed up half the night glued to our television just to bring you the latest election results, locally, state-wide, and nationally. Let's look at how things went down yesterday. Locally: Much to the mayor's delight, propositions A-H all passed. This means good things for Houston's libraries, parks, police force, airports, etc. Mayor White is keeping the city moving, literally and figuratively. The Chronicle offers complete election results, but we're going to look at a......

Mayor White nixed free flu shots at polling places today due to criticism that the program would give Democrats an unfair advantage in the elections. Up till today, the shots were available at four early voting locations in medically needy areas, primarily populated by black and Hispanic voters. This was part of a national "vote and vaccinate" program that is in place in 20 other US cities. The program targets voters over the age of......

Remember when we got excited about the potential of the federal minimum wage, which is the minimum wage for Texas, being increased? We were apparently a little premature with that excitement, because as it turns out, the Senate (controlled by Republicans) wasn’t exactly into the increase. Actually, according to the Chronicle, they “smothered” the issue. (By sitting on it, perhaps?) This was the Senate’s way of saying, “Silly Democrats, $5.15 an hour has been enough......

A Hightower High School student was shot in the leg with a pellet gun as he was leaving school today; police said they believe the shooting was an accident The Texas House approved a new business tax that's the basis of Gov. Rick Perry's school funding plan, but Democrats say the plan is flawed The government has proposed a $2.4 million fine against BP, saying the company failed to learn any lessons from explosions at......

As we've said before, it's not a good time to be Tom DeLay — the ethics questions, the ties to Jack Abramoff, those criminal charges that just won't go away. And now, according to a Chronicle poll, DeLay's support in his home district is crumbling. The poll found only half the people who voted for DeLay in 2004 said they'll vote for him again. Of the remainder, about half haven't decided who they'll support and......

Musician thriller writer humorist politician (?) Kinky Friedman made his bid for governor official yesterday, filing a declaration of intent to run as an independent candidate in 2006 and promising to put "a chill up the spine of every politician." Friedman's unofficial campaign has been under way since February, when he stood in front of the Alamo and announced his intention to run for governor. (By the way, Houstonist thinks the front of the Alamo......

More bad news for Tom Delay (R-Sugar Land)… it seems that if he ran for election today, he’d lose to an unknown Democrat. The question was: If Tom DeLay runs for re-election in 2006, in general, are you more likely to vote for the Republican candidate Tom DeLay or for the Democratic Party's candidate for Congress? Tom DeLay: 36% The Democrat: 49% Voters' Opinion of Tom DeLay: Favorable: 37% Unfavorable: 52% Unfamiliar: 11% Of course,......