If you know someone who works for Continental Airlines — and if you live around here, we're pretty sure you do — they might need some consoling soon. The Houston-based carrier announced this morning that it will cut 3,000 jobs and slash domestic capacity by 11 percent, a response to the rising fuel prices that are wreaking havoc throughout the airline industry: "While there have been several successful fare increases, those increases haven't been sufficient......

Good morning, Dynamo fans. Ready to see the Orange in the MLS playoffs again? Well, playoff tickets will go on sale at 10 this morning. Depending on where the Dynamo finish in the standings, the team will play in the Western Conference semifinal match at Robertson Stadium either Oct. 27 or Nov. 3; pick your tickets up at Ticketmaster or the Dynamo's website. >> The scandal effect: TSU's enrollment has fallen to its lowest......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

Rice Window Exhibit + Closing Gallery Talk by Artist Mike Stilkey While other campus spaces had some downtime this summer, Rice Gallery was busy with its summer window exhibit "When the Animals Rebel." The installation's Los Angeles-based artist, Mike Stilkey, will give a talk tomorrow, Aug 30th, at noon at the Rice Gallery. A complimentary light lunch will be served, and the event is free and open to the public. To create the installation, Stilkey......

The Astros made a decisive move today, firing manager Phil Garner and general manager Tim Purpura. Mired near the bottom of the NL Central all season, changes of some sort were necessary. Owner Drayton McLane stated that "a fresh start" was needed, and it's hard to argue with him. Bench coach Cecil Cooper will cover Garner's duties as manager, and Astros president Tal Smith will take over for Purpura. Cooper has been mentioned for the......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Apparetly, the troubles at the HPD crime lab aren't quite over yet: An analyst in the lab was suspended last week, accused of improperly handling evidences, which means that police will have to review about 200 narcotics cases. The analyst, whom the Chronicle identifies as James K. Carpenter, reportedly "was not handling evidence in compliance with lab protocols," which led investigators with the police department's Internal Affairs Division to check out the lab last week.......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness – we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. How much are you supposed to tip a pizza delivery driver? Assuming you’re ordering only one or two pizzas (and pizza is ALL you’re ordering), $3 to $5 is probably a good estimate. If you ordered out because Houston is experiencing one of its “flood events” and you didn’t want to risk floating down the street in your car, you might consider hooking......

Good morning, Houston. Remember when our fair city was trying to land the summer Olympics? Well, maybe we should be happy we didn't get them, given London's problems with its 2012 Olympics logo. The logo — a brightly colored, highly abstracted version of the numerals "2012" that cost $796,000 to design — drew fire at first for its look, and now there's word that the animated version of the logo is apparently causing epileptic......

So you've heard all the discussion about how cities must lure the so-called "creative class" if they want to be great places, right? Basically, the idea is that the creative class — knowledge workers, artists, intellectuals and creative types, a subset of workers identified by economist and author Richard Florida — spurs economic power, high-tech industry, new ideas and growth in places that court it. Sounds like something Houston should be trying to attract, right?......

So it's been nearly two years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans — and, according to the AP, about 5,500 heads of evacuee households in Houston are still unemployed. It's not that there aren't jobs available (city officials say there are 2 million job openings, 59,000 of which don't require a college education) or that the government isn't helping (the city has spent $1.9 million since the fall offering free résumé help, business clothing, job......

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......

Ah, if only Houstonist had $819,000 lying around — we'd buy 819,000 Frosties. Uh, on second thought, we'd pick up this Woodland Heights beauty instead. It's more practical, and there's a lot less chance of brain freeze. William A. Wilson, the developer of Woodland Heights, built the house in 1905 on Bayland Avenue, the neighborhood's principal street. It was restored in 2003 and still has all the charm of an early 20th century home:......

Good morning, Houston. Blah blah blah, et cetera. (Yeah, you can tell it's Friday again.) >> BP: Managers to blame for 2005 blast: An internal BP report on the deadly 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery recommends that four top managers be fired for bad judgment and failing to do their jobs. The report — completed in February but kept confidential until it was released under court order Thursday — named Pat Gower,......

Jack Valenti, the long-time head of the Motion Picture Association of America and Houston native passed away today at his home in Washington. He was 85 and still suffering the effects of a stroke he had in March. Valenti was born in Houston to Sicilian immigrants in 1921, growing up on the still unpaved streets of the 1st Ward. He traced his love of movies to a string of jobs working in downtown Houston movie......

Two HPD civilian employees have been removed from their jobs in the department's property room pending an investigation into 21 weapons that have been found missing from the facility since October — 19 of which are still unaccounted for. There are more than 18,000 guns in the property room that are either being held as evidence or are waiting to be destroyed, and HPD keeps track of them using a bar code system put in......

Good morning, Houston. If anyone out there's looking for a show idea to pitch to MTV, may we suggest The Real World: Monsatery? Based on the statements of Hugh Brian Fallon, a monk from Blanco, The Christ of the Hills monastery would fit right in with the Real World drama: Fallon told authorities that fellow monk Samuel Greene encouraged sex among the monks, offered people marijuana when they were having problems and faked tears......

If The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation does end up losing its West Dallas Avenue land, it's clear it won't happen quietly: Yesterday, about 200 of The Center's residents, board members and supporters made the scene at City Hall, holding banners outside the building and packing the City Council chamber to make their side of the story heard. The Center, you'll remember, is concerned over news that the city wants to seize the land......

Good morning, Houston. Are you a smoker? Are you home from work today? According to a new report, smokers take an average of 11 more sick days each year than their nonsmoking colleagues — that's a 43 percent difference. Of course, the research was done in Sweden, which has some of the highest sick-leave rates in the world, and much of the time off could be traced to factors other than smoking-related illness —......

A mere three weeks away from the Houston Dynamo's season opener vs. the L.A. Galaxy, and in the midst of CONCACAF Champion's Cup play (the next match is tomorrow at Robertson Stadium), Houstonist sat down with Houston's First Son of Soccer and picked his brain on all things fútbol. OK, so it's the question on everyone's mind, so let's just get on with it. Beckham in the MLS: How will it affect the MLS and......

As expected, transportation consultant and former state representative Ed Emmett took over as Harris County judge yesterday, replacing outgoing judge Robert Eckels. Emmett won the post on a 4-1 vote of the county Commssioners Court: The only "no" vote came from Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, who said she was voting against Emmett because she preferred to appoint someone who wouldn't seek to be elected to the office next year. Garcia later changed her vote to make......

So the $14 million performance-based bonuses handed out this week to HISD teachers and staff aren't going over so well, apparently — some teachers are hinting that they'll call in sick next week to protest what they say are inequalities in the bonus system, and Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra had to apologize yesterday for calling teachers who got big bonuses "the cream of the crop." It's not that the teachers who got megabonuses aren't good —......

Good morning, Houston. Did you feel particularly down in the dumps yesterday? There's a good reason for it, according to Dr. Cliff Arnal, a psychologist at Cardiff University: Arnal has named Jan. 22 the most depressing day of the year, what with the gloomy weather, post-holiday bills and failed new year's resolutions. But here's a reason to cheer back up: Today is National Pie Day! If anyone needs us, you know where we'll be......

In the late 90's, one of the most popular regular live acts to catch around town were The Suspects. Their brand of ska got many parties started throughout the 90's, whether they were playing a private party, Fitzgerald's, Continental Club, or the Buzzfest. They broke up five years ago, but have gotten back together for a reunion show tomorrow night at the Continental Club. It's a one time thing – you don't want to miss......

HPD's plan to encourage police officers to work overtime to make up for a staffing shortage seems to be working — at least in terms of the overtime. The Chronicle reports today that the number of HPD officers earning more than $50,000 in overtime soared in 2006, totaling 70 — three times as many as earned that much in 2005. The four officers at the top of the list took home more than $100,000 in......

Halloween is Tuesday, which means this weekend is really the time for all of the –ists to celebrate. And whether they’re designing super-spooky costumes or talking about the super-spooky upcoming elections, we’d say that they’re doing a fine job of it. Austinist knows that few things in life are scarier than zombies, people with way too much money, and politicians who try too hard to be funny. Slightly less scary, depending on whom you......

Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson delivered his state of Metro address at the Hilton Americas yesterday afternoon. Wilson touched on several projects that loom in Metro's future, including the controversial $1 billion+ light rail expansion. It looks like Mr. Wilson isn't tipping his pitches concerning the University line debate (which is all we were really listening for anyways). In fact, eager rail enthusiasts and detractors received no new information. All Wilson had to say......

In Montgomery County, police are on the lookout for an inmate who escaped from a Conroe hospital overnight. Adam Williams, the guy in question, was arrested for outstanding warrants in Liberty County and for possession of a firearm by a felon; he was in leg restraints and under guard at Conroe Regional Hospital, but managed to get out of the restraints and slip past the guard. (Which means neither the restraints nor the guard were......

We'll bet you were sitting around just now saying to yourself, "Hmm, I wonder what happened to Jim Pruett of the madcap 1990s radio duo Stevens & Pruett?" (Go ahead, admit it: You talk to yourself that way.) Turns out Pruett, who now owns a gun shop, is stirring up a bit of controversy with a new radio ad that essentially urges Houstonians to arm themselves against Katrina evacuees. In the ad, Pruett refers......