Good morning, Houston. As you might have noticed, we passed the night sans Humberto — but our friends in the Beaumont area weren't so lucky. The sudden hurricane made landfall early this morning and battered Beaumont with winds up to 62 mph and Orange with gusts of up to 85 mph, the Chron's Eric Berger reports. From across Southeast Texas came reports of knee-deep water, downed power lines and damaged buildings, including an apartment......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Good morning, Houston. If you're looking forward to Earthquest, the $600 million-plus, 250-acre theme park being planned for east Montgomery County, you should be happy to know that the park plan has gotten a boost: Earlier this month, Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation to enable tax incentives for the project. The park, to be built on Caney Creek near Highway 59 and FM 1485 in New Caney, is the brainchild of paleontologist Don Lessem,......

As Spring teenager David Ritcheson's family heads to Mexico today to claim Ritcheson's body, a few details are emerging about when he jumped from a Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday morning. Witnesses said Rtcheson climbed up a tower near the bow of the Ecstasy about 6:15 a.m., and moments later, ship crew members showed up and began trying to negotiate with him. Friends joined in — "What the [expletive] are......

Looks like some changes to red-light camera citations could be on the way, thanks to legislation on Gov. Rick Perry's desk: If Perry signs the bill by Sunday (or if he doesn't), drivers with outstanding red-light citations may not be able to renew their state vehicle registrations — and cities that issue the citations would no longer be able to send unpaid fines to a collection agency. Questions do remain about the proposal, including exactly......

Senator Mario Gallegos, a Houston Democrat, can finally return home after jeopardizing his health to fight a controversial voter ID bill. Gallegos recently underwent a liver transplant and a follow-up procedure due to concerns that his body was rejecting the liver. He even had a hospital bed set up in the Senate sergeant's office, just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Senate floor. Doctors advised Gallegos to stay in Houston to recuperate, but......

Looks like The Woodlands is a step closer to being a real city: On Tuesday, the state Senate approved a piece of legislation that will give The Woodlands the ability to extend a sales and property tax district throughout the community. If it's approved by Gov. Rick Perry, the bill could lessen the property tax burden of Woodlanders Woodlandites Woodlandonians Woodlands residents. The bill, along with one Perry signed last week enabling The Woodlands to......

The 80th Texas Legislature is proving to be one of the zaniest yet. This week, Senator Glenn Hegar, a Republican from Katy, amended a bill to allow for legalized horse slaughtering in Texas. The bill, SB 911 (ha ha), along with Hegar's amendment, would allow the sale of horsemeat for human consumption, if the animals are tested by the commission. But isn't that illegal in Texas? Well, Hegar has only the most humane interests. He......

Tomorrow's special election to fill the vacant at-large city council seat has been in the local news often enough lately. But there's something else on the ballot that hasn't been given as much long-term publicity: a proposed Constitutional amendment. In the state of Texas, amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by a majority of voters - even if those voters only make up about eight percent of the total voter pool, which is the......

Rep. Ellen Cohen is all grown up and getting her legislation passed. The freshman Democrat from Houston proposed a bill that would add a $5 tax to strip club entry fees, and it passed in the Texas House yesterday in a 110-28 vote. The "sin tax" is expected to generate $87 million in revenue, $18 million of which will be used to fund women's crisis centers and sexual assault education. Strip club managers opposed the......

It's been a busy weekend for Texas Southern University, where the regents are reportedly meeting this morning to fire interim President James Timothy Boddie, whom they had picked to lead the troubled school last fall. According to KTRK, the new president will be Morris Overstreet, a law professor who earned his law degree from TSU in 1975 and was elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1990. There aren't any more details on......

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......

Good morning, Houston. If you loved the DeLorean DMC-12 — and who didn't? — you might be interested to know that what's left of the DeLorean Motor Co. (basically, the name and the logo) is now headquartered in Humble. And the company's vice president, James Espey, is hoping to collect former De Lorean employees' into a book, I Lived the Dream: Stories From Those Who Built the DeLorean Sports Car. This summer, the DeLorean......

Something we missed last week that should be of interest to those of us who don't really care for getting traffic tickets: Legislation on its way through the state Legislature would relax a state law that makes it illegal to cover any part of a license plate. The law, which the Legislature passed in 2003, outlawed covering any part of a license plate. It was a response to the problem of people breezing through automated......

Good morning, Houston. Have you ever looked at your pet gerbil and thought, "Y'know, Nibbles really looks like an ibex?" If so, you might consider seeing an eye doctor — or entering the Houston Zoo's Naturally Wild photo contest. The zoo and KTRK are looking for photos of pets that look like wild animals; if yours makes the cut, you could win a family membership to the zoo and a gift card from Petco.......

Gov. Rick Perry is apparently fed up with questions surrounding his executive order requiring Texan pre-teen girls to be vaccinated for human pappilomavirus, a variety of viruses that cause most cases of cervical cancer: On Thursday, pressed with questions about the mandate while trying to promote a plan to sell the state lottery and use the proceeds to fund cancer research, Perry snapped at reporters. "I wish you all would quit splitting hairs, frankly, and......

Houstonist grew up in this city (for the most part), and we think we turned out fine. Right? Well, our shortcomings and hangups aside, it's dangerous to be a kid in Houston these days, according to Children at Risk President Robert Sanborn. Sanborn spoke to a group of child advocates at a summit at the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast yesterday. This is what he had to say about the state of affairs......

Now we know what the blockbuster private-sector job is that's pulling Robert Eckels away from his post as Harris County judge: Eckels said yesterday that he will be a partner with law firm Fulbright & Jaworski. His position, according to the firm, will draw on his government contacts: At Fulbright, Eckels intends to develop an administrative, regulatory and government relations practice serving clients who seek to be heard with respect to legislation, local ordinances or......

Governor Rick Perry revealed Thursday that his call to vaccinate school aged girls against HPV is more personal than political. In a Perry scheduled interview with five reporters, the Texas Governor revealed that prostate cancer runs in his family, and some personal information about his family member's experiences with cancer. "Every generation of Perry's, back to the 1850s, has died of prostate cancer. I'm going to get it," said Perry. The HPV-vaccination order is just......

Hey smokers: If you're thinking you'll live with Houston's pending smoking ban by leaving the city limits to light up, think again: If state has his way with legislation he'll announce today, the entire state of Texas will one day be smoke-free. How do you like them apples? "A broad array of cities in Texas have stepped up and shown leadership on this issue," said Ellis, D-Houston. "In my judgment you have to make this......

Ted Nugent wasn’t the only musician to visit the state capitol last week. Former Supremes member Mary Wilson also played the Gov.’s inaugural ball, but initially came to the state for a more serious purpose — to push the “Truth in Music” bill. The “Truth in Music” bill is aimed to stop cover bands from taking a name of a classic band, unless at least one member of the original group is part of the......

The Dallas Morning News reports today that some state legislators are taking steps to make sure abortions become illegal in Texas if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns Roe v. Wade. State Sen. Dan Patrick, who was sworn in as a senator Tuesday, has filed a so-called "trigger bill" that would take effect if the Supreme Court should reverse its position on abortion. It's a change Patrick said is coming: "Many of us on the......

Remember back in August, when the HISD board voted to close three underperforming schools if they didn't shape up? The schools in question — Kashmere High, Sam Houston High and McReynolds Middle School — are three of the lowest-performing in the state: Kashmere and Sam Houston have earned "academically unacceptable" ratings for four consecutive years, while McReynolds has been ranked one of Texas' bottom five schools three years in a row. Supporters of the schools......

Set Tasers to stun, Officer! The move by Houston Police Cheif Harold Hurtt to avoid a moratorium on the use of these stunning weapons is really none to shocking. Even in light of recent, and highly controversial events at Walter's on Washington. Mayor Bill White has asked for a statistical analyis of how officers use Taser stun guns along with a "cease fire", if you will, until the results are in. On the heels of......

Looks like we can stop wondering whether The Woodlands will end up being part of Houston — what, didn't you stay up nights thinking about it? Yesterday, Mayor Bill White and state Sen. Tommy Williams announced a deal that Houston will never annex The Woodlands in exchange for The Woodlands' commitment to mutually beneficial financial partnerships. "Most of us believe that those decisions should ultimately being the hands of the people most affected and......

In the wake of a pit bull attack that left a 4-year-old boy dead in northeast Harris County a couple of weeks ago, county officials have given the green light to a study of how best to prevent dog attacks in the future. The county's pit bull task force, formed after last month's attack, will look at whether local regulations, state laws or more animal control officers would help the most when it comes to......

Incumbent candidate Rick Perry, in a last-ditch effort to boost his already immense popularity, decreed that morality is something that should be included in legislation. The Chronicle reported that Perry announced this not to the general public, but in a closed meeting at the Houston Grand Plaza hotel on Kirby across from Reliant Park. The majority of attendees were African American ministers. From the Chronicle:Gov. Rick Perry in a closed meeting Thursday told African-American......

So now that Houston has passed its smoking ban, a lot of bar owners in the city are concerned that they'll lose customers to bars just outside Houston, where smoking is permitted. But they may not need to worry: If state Sen. Rodney Ellis has his way, the entire state of Texas will one day be a no-smoking zone ... so we won't die. “I mean look, there are a lot of things that will......

Some estimates say that up to 20,000 children appear in pornographic images on the internet every day, on one or more of the over 100,000 child pornography sites. Though obviously legislation makes child porn illegal, policing the internet is hard (especially with the advent of technologies that can "de-age" legal actors to look like children). A current petition aims to draw attention to this horrific industry by lighting a million (online) candles by December 2006.......

So former Enron Chairman Ken Lay's criminal record is now clean, thanks to a ruling yesterday from U.S. District Judge Sim Lake that erased Lay's convictions on 10 counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with Enron's collapse. Too bad Lay's not around to enjoy the freedom. In his ruling, Lake agreed with lawyers for Lay's estate who argued that the conviction should be erased and indictments against Lay dropped because of his death from......