Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

If you've noticed a particularly environmentally aware billboard along I-10 between Washington and TC Jester, you're probably not alone. This traffic-y area is a perfect place for the Watershed Public Art Project's anti-smog message, which comes in a particularly aesthetically pleasing form. This billboard is aptly named "Not All Clouds Are" and was created by artist J. Antonio Farfan. Originally from Mexico, Farfan is a University of Houston graduate and has expressed his concern about......

Houston is having one hell of an Arbor Day and you too can be a part of it (you just have to get your hands a little on the dirty side). Arbor Day was established in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska City, Nebraska. It seems that the Nebraska Territory was not readily settled, due to the lack of trees on the tallgrass prairie (the better to build and heat cabins - log cabins,......

If we have to evacuate from a hurricane again — and, for the record, we really hope we don't — things may be a little easier thanks to a contraflow plan now in place on some area freeways. The contraflow, meaning both sides of the freeway would be used to move traffic out of Houston, would begin at Brookshire along I-10, at FM 1960 on Highway 290, at Conroe along I-45 and near Kingwood on......

Houston's red-light camera system has gotten a boost thanks to a ruling by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott that clears the way for cities to install cameras at intersections controlled by the Texas Department of Transportation. The ruling means the city will probably toss the list of intersections it announced for the first 10 cameras earlier this month, since it will now be able to factor TxDOT intersections into its plans. "Now we can truly......

Houston's getting some help from small towns in its hurricane evacuation plan by linking regional traffic cameras to the TranStar traffic management system. Feeds from the little towns will factor into the regional evacuation plan in case we have to leave town again — allowing evacuees to see where traffic backups are and letting officials keep an eye on contraflow lanes, recommended detours and other plans. "Depending on how much traffic we're trying to move,......

So here's another reason to plan ahead — way ahead — if you need to use the Bolivar Ferry: Starting tomorrow, motorists using the ferry will be subject to random searches. rolling on deck. Starting Tuesday, motorists, passengers and their vehicles will be subject to random searches before they board the ferry between Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula. The security contractor SeaWolf Marine Patrol will perform the searches under Texas Department of Transportation direction. TxDOT......

If you live near the train tracks that run through Memorial Park south through West University and Bellaire to Braeswood Boulevard, you’re going to have to keep those ear plugs in while you sleep a little bit longer. A plan to ban train whistles when trains go through the residential areas inside the Loop at night has been postponed, and it may be as late as March before those whistles are silenced. After growing......