With the very last of the stimulus checks being sent out to taxpayers this week, economic analysts are looking forward to viewing the full picture when it comes to how (and if) those taxpayers will use this money for its intended purpose. When the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 was passed on February 13th of this year, the idea was that low- and middle-class Americans who had made at least $3,000 in 2007 (and, more......

On Monday, we told you about the super groovy Houston: It's Worth It campaign, the brains behind it, and the accompanying photo book that will be released tonight at a special event at Lawndale. Check. So what else is happening tonight? Glad you asked. Hey, we can't do it all, we need your help in this fight to cover the mean streets of the H. Now get out there and get your event on. The......

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......

Good morning, Houston. The Chron's Eric Gerber points out something interesting: a Washington Post story that says people hold onto utterly untrue myths even when they're faced with factual information that disproves them. An example: A University of Michigan psychologist showed people a CDC flyer stating that myths about the flu vaccine aren't true — such as the story that the side effects of the vaccine are worse than the flu itself — and......

Face the Music: An Evening of Jazz Dedicated to Fighting AIDS in Africa A college student-led nonprofit organization that raises funds to eradicate AIDS in Africa will hold a fundraising benefit concert tonight at Red Cat Jazz Cafe [924 Congress St.] in Downtown Houston. The University of Texas at Austin branch of FACE AIDS is coordinating the concert featuring five local college student jazz musicians who graduated from the High School for the Performing and......

Good morning, Houston. Are you feeling particularly crunk today? Maybe you should be: Crunk is among the words added to Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary this year. Also among the 100 new words are DVR, IED, gray literature and smackdown. But we think we'll get the most use out of crunk, which M-W defines as a style of Southern rap music but which has a variety of definitions in the Urban Dictionary. Which brings us to......

It looks like there's some Texas pride lacking over at 901 Bagby. Vending machines at City Hall will soon be taken over by Dr. Pepper, which originated in Waco, and some council members are not too pleased that their precious Coke and Pepsi will be difficult to come by. They did tactfully refrain from comparing Dr. Pepper to liquid manure though. But how can they complain at all? Two years ago, the council approved a......

Good morning, Houston. Have you heard the one about the bees that took over a neighborhood? Three years ago, a family (tribe?) of bees moved into a vacant home in Ruth Gray's neighborhood. Over time, they grew in number and ferocity, and when calls to the city were fruitless, Gray contacted a pest control company which said the situation was "instant, instant death." After destroying the hive, the bees attacked and three children were......

On the heels of HB 2714, passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Governor Perry in the last session, comes a brand-new technology recycling center in Houston. The center, Round2 Technologies, is Austin-based and also has a location in Dallas. They are planning four new facilities outside of Texas. HB 2714 requires manufacturers that sell products in the state to finance free, convenient and environmentally-friendly recycling services for televisions, personal computers, laptops and monitors.......

We know we don't have to tell you what a stone-cold amazing city you live in. But, apparently, we do need to tell the folks over at Kiplinger. The publication recently ranked their best cities and Houston didn't make the list. But, you have a chance to vote for your favorite city in a reader poll now, and guess who's in third? Houstonist was tipped off to this poll by Houston Strategies. Kiplinger, from their......

The Chronicle has a few more details today about the proposed Houston Dynamo stadium downtown — but not many. What we know: It would be an open-air stadium seating somewhere around 22,000 people, and it would likely be built on Minute Maid Park's parking lot C, the six-square-block lot on the other side of Highway 59 from the baseball stadium. Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Dynamo, would pay most of the construction costs, and......

The Metro board approved a $77.3 million agreement yesterday that's a step toward construction of four new rapid transit lines — the first step in a construction project that's estimated to cost more than $1 billion. Under the contract, Washington Group Transit Management Co. will begin work on the early design and construction of four transit corridors: north, from UH-Downtown to Northline Mall; southeast, from downtown to Palm Center; East End, from downtown to......

Today's news in the story of TSU Board of Regents Chairwoman Belinda Griffin vs. Gov. Rick Perry can be summed up in five words: former Chairwoman Belinda Griffin. No, really. Griffin, who turned in her resignation on Friday — but not really — actually resigned once and for all yesterday, paving the way for Perry to appoint five new regents to lead the school, with a fast track to legislative confirmation. The plan to appoint......

The Chronicle's update on fund-raising among candidates for Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' former at-large City Council seat probably has Melissa Noriega feeling pretty good: Noriega, it seems, has raised about four times as much as her two closest competitors in the race. Noriega — the wife of state Rep. Rick Noriega (D-Houston), has raised more than $100,000 in total and still has more than half that in the bank headed toward the May 12 election. That's 10......

Good morning, Houston. It's been a long week, but fortunately, there's not much of it left. So to get things moving on toward Friday — and because we're still smarting over not knowing Texas had two Clear Lakes — we're jumping right into the news this morning. Go! >> Enron lawyers in hot water?: Two former Enron lawyers have been charged with civil violations of securities laws for — hang on to your hat......

There won't be any changes anytime soon, apparently, but a big real-estate deal just went down on Montrose Boulevard: Last week, the University of St. Thomas announced it has purchased one and a half blocks along the boulevard. The land includes the shopping center with the Black Lab, Cezanne and Kraftsmen Baking — one of Houstonist's favorite shopping strips in the world — and the office buildings at 4200 Montrose and 4203 Yoakum. It's not......

This week, City Council will consider new rules for cab drivers and the companies that employ them, including requiring cabbies to pass a test covering Houston's layout and city laws that govern the taxi industry. There used to be such a test, the Chronicle reports, but councilmembers voted it out in the 1990s. "The cab industry has grown so much that many of the drivers are not familiar with Houston, and that's the majority of......

If you're expecting to kick off the Christmas season with a big festival in Galveston, you might want to change your plans — after nearly 10 years of hosting the island's Holiday Lighting Spectacular, hospitality tycoon Tilman Fertitta has canceled this year's events. Instead, Fertitta and city officials have gotten into a rather grinch-like bout of finger pointing: Steve Greenberg, vice president of Landry’s Restaurants, said that the party was done jointly with the city......

So there's good news and bad news for Gov. Rick Perry. The good news: According to a new poll, he should easily win re-election in November if things keep going like they are. The bad news: According to the same poll, a lot of Texans think he's kind of a sucky governor. Ah, politics. The poll, conducted by The Dallas Morning News (check out the results here), found that Perry leads the pack of five......

If you have always wanted to live like Martha Stewart (pre- and post-prosecution, of course), here’s your chance. Groundbreaking begins in Katy today at a new community built by KB Homes and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Sounding more like a wine than a neighborhood, WoodCreek Reserve will feature 244 homes inspired by the personal residences (yes, that’s plural) of Martha Stewart. Most of the homes have a New England-ish exterior and range from 2,600......

Every dreamed of having your own little slice of paradise? Ever fantasized about, well, island? Feeling like you need a summer home away from Houston? If you have always wanted to own your own little private oasis, have plenty of money and mad survival skills, this is your chance. According to a recent Kiplinger Personal Finance story, you can purchase your own private island for prices starting around $150,000. You can even rent an island......

When you hear that the movie version of Dallas is probably going to be filmed in Canada, you get the vague feeling that something might be wrong with Texas' movie industry. Apparently, other people think so, too: Texas film professionals are gearing up to lure more filming to the Lone Star state through a statewide movie alliance that would work not only to lure outside projects, but also to promote in-state moviemaking. The Texas Motion......

If it's true that celebrity deaths happen in threes, look for another local political figure to keel over at any moment: The first two, Harris County Treasurer Jack Cato and former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, have paved the way. Cato, a former newsman and HPD spokesman, died yesterday of heart failure while undergoing tests on his heart at St. Luke's Hospital. Cato was born in Chicago in 1935 and came to Houston in the 1950s.......

In a bizarre circlular move, the state House approved a $1 hike in the state cigarette tax today, an increase expected to generate $680 million that will be used to offset lower property taxes in Gov. Rick Perry's retooled school finance plan — and the higher price of cigarettes is expected to cut smoking in Texas, which means tobacco companies will have to try harder to convince teens to buy cigarettes so they can stay......

What, you may be asking yourself, is going on with the City Hall bonus scandal these days? The investigation into government spending is continuing, and it keeps turning up interesting things like news about City Controller Annise Parker shutting down 11 special bank accounts set up by City Council members. Parker said she shut down the accounts, which held donations that councilmembers used to fund special events, to avoid any inadvertent violations of city law......

So here's something to keep in mind when you're out bouncing along some rural road and your car gets smashed by by a jackalope: You can call 911 from your cell phone, but that doesn't mean anybody's going to be able to find you. That's because most Texas counties — about 80 percent — don't have the requipment to allow emergency operators to pinpoint cell phone locations. And that is because the Legislature keeps pulling......

KHOU has gotten hold of a compilation of documents from the Office of Inspector General's probe into the City Hall payroll scandal, and it looks like temporarily former Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado may have a little explaining to do. Channel 11 points out the e-mail Alvarado was sent warning her about excessive bonuses her pro tem employees were taking, a detail that came out during the ex-employees' hearing on Tuesday. For the first time,......

So if you fly out of Hobby Airport often, you might want to take note of the $3 fee on each ticket you might have to start paying later this year. It's a charge City Council approved yesterday to put the burden of extreme budget overruns off on the traveling public. Yep, that's right: You, too, will have the privilege of helping finance the Hobby renovation and expansion project. Southwest Airlines, the major carrier......

Former Enron Treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. continued his testimony in the Ken Lay/Jeff Skilling trial yesterday, telling jurors about more cases in which the ex-Enron chairman and CEO misled investors and analysts about the company's faltering health in the months leading up to its collapse. Glisan's testimony could do a lot to undermine Lay and Skilling's defense, which is built on the notion that the company imploded because of a "run on the bank" after......

As the four employees in the mayor pro tem's office wait for word today on whether they'll lose their jobs (though KHOU says they already know), there are still questions about exactly how they got away with giving themselves about $200,000 in payraises and bonuses. Yesterday, the attorney for office manager Rosita Hernandez said Hernandez didn't steal taxpayers' money and alleged Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado knew about the raises and bonuses — in......