Good morning, Houston. Have you ever wondered why our freeways have multiple names — for example, I-45 south of downtown is also called the Gulf Freeway, the section through downtown is the Pierce Elevated and the part north of downtown is the North Freeway? Yeah, we have, too — and it seems we're not alone: The Chronicle's Tex-Arcana column tackled that question this weekend. The answer? In Houston, at least, the names tell where......

We talked yesterday about the body parts that were found in northwest Harris County in the past few days — remember, homicide investigators initially thought the decomposed parts (two hands and a foot) belonged to a human, but later they discovered they were actually bear parts. So, case closed, right? Well, it still leaves the question of where the bear came from and what it was doing so close to Houston. And so far, no......

Local singer/songwriter Lee Alexander has been working the pub and wine bar scene for the last few years, and it’s paid off. His CD Out of Place was on many local critic’s “Best of 2006” list and has received several regional music nominations and awards. Alexander plays tonight at one of our favorite wine bars – The Corkscrew. They are hosting a new Monday evening acoustic set, which puts Lee Alexander right at home (and......

Good morning, Houston! Are you a fan of Texas wildflowers? Good news, then: Thanks to a rainy winter, wildflowers are blooming across Central Texas and in parts of North and East Texas. If you're planning a flower-spottin' trip, check out the latest reports of wildflower hotspots — and remember, though it's really not illegal to pick bluebonnets, TxDOT recommends that you refrain from driving into them. Dang. >> Katrina fraud galore: The AP reports......

Good morning, Houston. We initially kicked off the day with a story about warnings of tainted fish in Clear Lake, but it turns out it's not the Clear Lake around here — it's one in Panola County, East Texas. Two Clear Lakes? Who knew? (We would have, had we checked online. Oops.) So you'll be happy to know that there aren't any seafood warnings out for our area, but that doesn't mean we're not......

Good morning, Houston. If you really love being in your car, you may be in luck: According to former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, traffic in Houston is only going to get worse. His answer? Start planning now for new road construction and encourage people to take public transportation. Our advice: learn to multi-task. >> That ain't pretty: Looks like it could be the end of the line for a notorious Houston beauty school: On......

Good morning, Houston. We've heard a lot recently about how Galveston's waterfront is suddenly sprouting high-dollar apartments, condos and hotels — but when will developers begin building high-rises overlooking the lovely Houston Ship Channel? Maybe sooner than you'd think: In Alabama and South Texas, the newest bunch of development is occurring along the Intracoastal Waterway, the 1,300-mile manmade shipping channel few had previously considered pretty. But could the development interfere with shipping, the Intracoastal......

Good morning, Houston. Today's question: How cool are you? According to Ken Hoffman, the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau is trying to find the 10 coolest people in Houston to form a focus group that'll help promote the city. Hoffman saw the list of nominees and wasn't impressed — but seriously, when was the last time anyone was impressed by one of the GHCVB's marketing plans? So here's the deal: If you can......

Good morning, Houston. With everything that's changing in today's world, it's nice to know that abbreviated rock star Prince can still make headlines. Today, the world — or at least a very small, sorta interested portion of it — is trying to figure out whether a silhouette of Prince, guitar in hand, projected during the Super Bowl halftime show was naughty. See, Prince was holding the guitar at an angle that made it look......

Here's a feel-good story to send you off to lunch: A pair of penguins that survived a truck crash in East Texas in August have now hatched a penguin chick at Moody Gardens. All together now: Aaaaawwwwwwww! The baby penguin was born Nov. 12 and is the first of eight chicks expected to hatch in the coming weeks from the penguins that were involved in the crash en route to Galveston from the Indianapolis Zoo.......

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......

In a rebranding effort apparently intended to catch a ride on the Hill Country gravy train, deep East Texas — formerly known as the Piney Woods — is now calling itself the Texas Forest Country. The name change comes after months of studies, surveys and brainstorming, and it's totally a marketing thing: "We think of the (Texas) Hill Country, it comes with this aura," explained Jane Ainsworth, whose Ainsworth/Alvis marketing company developed the moniker as......

By now, you've probably heard that former Gov. Ann Richards died last night of cancer at age 73. Richards is remembered for many things: being the first woman to win the Texas governorship outright, opening government positions up to women and minorities, vetoing a bill giving Texans the right to carry concealed weapons — but she may be most remembered for her wit, which contributed to the Texas-sized persona that made her a recognizable figure......

Police surrounded a house in the Heights this afternoon after a woman said her boyfriend shot her but it turns out she made a false report because she was mad at the guy A Fort Bend County judge has set Sean Brown's bail at $1 million; the teen is one of two accused of killing Ashton Glover Police are still looking for 13-year-old Marlena Carmen Esquivel, who was last seen early yesterday and is in......

More on the penguins injured Tuesday when the truck carrying them to Galveston overturned on an East Texas highway: According to reports, the 21 penguins that survived the crash are a little the worse for wear, but are generally doing very well. One of the birds suffered a broken wing and three others had sutures to close lacerations; as for the rest, they're resting up from the trip and are expected to be just fine.......

And now for something completely different: A truck full of penguins, tropical fish, birds and an octopus overturned on an East Texas highway Tuesday morning, killing a few of the penguins and some of the fish. The truck was on its way to Moody Gardens in Galveston from the Indianapolis Zoo loaded with 25 penguins, the fish and the birds, all of which Moody Gardens had agreed to keep while part of the Indy Zoo......

Tom DeLay said today he will withdraw from the congressional race to allow Republicans to run a write-in candidate in November Federal officials are looking into the bus fire that claimed the lives of 23 nursing home residents during last year's Rita evacuation determine whether buses are safe for people with special needs Four penguins and a load of exotic fish died today when the truck carrying them to Moody Gardens overturned on an East......

If you evacuated through East Texas during Hurricane Rita, you may be happy to hear that the last two-lane sretch of U.S. Highway 96 will be widened as part of the state evacuation route. Highway 96 runs from Port Arhthur north to Tenaha, where it joins U.S. 59. The last two-lane section, about four miles in Jasper County, will be expanded to four lanes to prevent bottlenecks in the area not only during evacuations, but......

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......

East Texas and the Spring school district will get $26 million in hurricane recovery funds from FEMA, the state announced today. The bulk of the money — $19 million — will go toward repairing East Texas electric lines, but the Spring ISD will get $1.4 million to help cover the cost of educating 1,225 students displaced by Hurricane Rita. The remainder of the funding will be used for debris removal in Tyler County. The state......

If you're planning a trip to the Hill Country to see wildflowers this spring, you might want to think about alternate plans: It doesn't look like it's going to be a good year for bluebonnets and other flowers, thanks to fall and winter droughts — and that has some towns that rely on wildflower tourism worried. In Washington County, lower than usual numbers of flowers are reported, though they're not scheduled to reach their......

Gov. Rick Perry made a surprise trip to visit Texas troops in Iraq, urging Americans to remain patient through the difficult rebuilding process there Police found more than $500,000 worth of stolen construction equipment in the back yard of a northeast Houston home, including bulldozers and other heavy machinery; neighbors said they had no idea it was there Enron's dynamic duo, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, have appealed a judge's decision not to move their......

Residents near Dallas started noticing a major change in the water color in a section of the Trinity River -- burnt orange. Since the river flows to the east of Houston as it empties into the Gulf, should we be worried? Not necessarily: Officials with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said more tests will be done, but potential dangers appear to be minimal. Also, authorities said people in North Texas should not expect burnt......

We focus on the local scene this time – mainly because the national acts are staying away from Houston this week. That’s not necessarily a bad thing : Wednesday Jason Allen’s tale is not much different from other Texas country artists: born in a small East Texas town, grew up listening to Hank Williams, wrote songs in Nashville – got fed-up, moved back to Texas, toured constantly, and is now a Gruene Hall favorite.......

We were disappointed to learn today that the sign from Gilley's, the famous Pasadena honky-tonk, didn't sell on eBay. By the time the auction ended, 48 people had bid on the 16-by-30-foot sign, but the top bid of $10,600 didn't meet the seller's reserve. Promises of media coverage and the potential of $500,000 a year in tourist revenue weren't even enough to entice a deep-pocketed buyer. Houstonist knows as well as anyone that money doesn't......