Results tagged “hurricanerita”

Houstonist defends our fair city to naysayers all the time. They say, "Houston sucks. I was stuck at the airport and then at my relatives' place in Pearland." "That's Pearland, jackass. Not Houston," we reply. "You should hang out with us instead. We'll show you our Houston." The Greater Houston Convention & Visitor's Bureau has formalized this approach in the form of the "My Houston" publicity campaign that will involve local celebrities (HELLO! Where's our invite?) telling the world about how great their Houston is. Season Two Project Runway winner Chloe Dao is onboard. That's fierce. Thanks, Miya Shay, for feeding this story to our RSS reader. You show us your Houston. We'll show you ours.

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. Since hurricane season begins Friday, Dilettante thought it might be time to share the tips that have seen her through various weather “events” over the years. Print this up and tape it to the inside of your bathroom cabinet in case of emergency. - If you are faced with an imminent flood, tornado, hurricane or other natural disaster, the first thing you must...

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...

Good morning, Houston. Can Texas gas prices get any higher? Well, sure — they increased for the 15th straight week last week, and now they're edging toward the previous record high. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Texas last week was $2.952, just 1.2 cents short of the previous record, $2.964, which we hit after Hurricane Rita in September 2005. Houston's average price is $2.92, still lower than most major...

There's a bizarre angle developing in the story of a man shot to death during a home invasion in south Houston early yesterday morning: The man's daughter says the bullet that killed him was really meant for her. The dead man is Lee O'Neal, a 55-year-old traveling preacher from New Orleans who relocated to Houston after his home in Beaumont was destroyed by Hurricane Rita. According to O'Neal's sister-in-law, Jean Lewis, two masked men entered...

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...

There's been no peace of mind for our friends in Texas City lately: First they had to deal with exploding apartments, then Jesse Jackson came back, and now there's word that the city's levee system might not stand up to a powerful hurricane, which could affect nearly 5 percent of the nation's oil refining capacity and thousands of homes. And we thought the Jesse Jackson thing was bad! The Chronicle looked at the Texas...

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...

A day after FEMA rejected the city of Houson's request for $2.7 million to pay for debris pick-up from Hurricane Rita, he agency said yesterday it will give the Houston area $14.5 million in hurricane-related grants.

Welcome to hurricane season! The AP is reporting that HISD trustees will vote next week on a $600,000 emergency notification system that would call the parents of the district's more than 200,000 students in case a hurricane heads toward Houston. The system, which would be paid for with state technology funds, would let parents know about school closings or early releases — something most people have to find out from TV or radio stations now.

We here at Houstonist are a sucker for animals, especially strong willed cute ones that have lived through hell and survived. Perhaps you remember Harley; a black lab mix who was found wandering the streets after Hurricane Rita with his back badly burned from a fire. The kind people at the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took the poor guy in and got him back to good health. He became a...

This will make you laugh: FEMA is asking 625 people in Texas to pay back $1.26 million in Hurricane Rita aid that the government accidentally gave them. So the government is all, "Sorry, we overpaid you. Can we have it back now?" and East Texans are like, "Uh, sure, let me give you some extra money while I'm at it." Ha! That's rich!

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...

A state task force recommended today that the governor should be in charge of ordering evacuations and ensuring supplies are available in the event of a natural disaster in Texas, a move designed to avoid the chaos surrounding the Hurricane Rita evacuation. The task force heard testimony and gathered information in six cities and made recommendations in five areas: command, control and communication; evacuation of people with special needs; fuel availability; flow of traffic; and public awareness.

The family of a Houston teen who died of alcohol poisoning during a party at a UT fraternity house sued the fraternity and its members today Mayor Bill White is expected to urge local business to offer flexible work arrangements to help ease rush-hour traffic Arthur Mumphrey, who was cleared of rape charges by a DNA test, was released from prison today after serving 18 years for a crime he didn't commit A Pasadena police...

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...

A large grass fire is burning near Rosharon, but there's no word yet on whether structures are in danger Charles Victor Thompson didn't get the handcuff key that helped him escape from jail from inside, authorities say FEMA will give a $1.5 million grant to help repair the Lake Conroe Dam, which was damaged during Hurricane Rita Police are looking for a man in a U-Haul truck who is suspected of stabbing his former roommate...

HPD is considering a plan to hire out-of-work police officers from other cities to help ease the officer shortage in Houston Andrea Yates, accused of drowning her five children, will be headed back to Houston in the spring under a transfer from state prison to county jail as she awaits a second trial A city panel upheld the dismissals of eight Houston 911 operators who didn't show up for work when they thought Hurricane Rita...