The 2008 NBA All Star team starting lineups were announced yesterday, and Houston’s very own Yao Ming proved to be a fan favorite. The Rockets’ big man was voted in as the starting center for the Western Conference squad, ahead of such luminaries as Amare Stoudemire (2nd leading vote-getter amongst Western Conference centers), reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year - Marcus Camby (3rd), and Pau Gasol (6th). Yao was selected to start in the......

• Whooping Cough is at its highest levels since the 1950's and local hospitals are inoculating parents and family members in an attempt to help stop the spread of this infection. • Three thieves stole $16,000 during a northwest Houston robbery at a Food Fair grocery store. • A man and a woman are both dead after an apparent murder-suicide last night. The incident occurred on Chewe Street near Hershe Street around 12:30 a.m.......

Houston, Rockets, basketball, McGrady, NBA, All Star...

As the curtain falls tonight on the 2006 Essence Music Festival, marking the end of the event's first year away from New Orleans, organizers expect other cities to start trying to make sure it never goes back. The three-day festival is a potential windfall for convention and tourism bureaus: It draws thousands of visitors and their wallets, and it could help position a city as a minority tourist destination. At least that's what Houston hopes.......

The trial of Max Soffar, who got a re-trial after 25 years on death row, is on hold until Tuesday because, thanks to the NBA All-Star Game, there aren't enough hotel rooms available to sequester jurors this weekend Power was partially restored to a section of downtown after a fire damaged electric lines this morning, but several county buildings and UH-Downtown remained without electricity this afternoon Leonard Reed Jr. of Houston was sentenced to 30......

Local media outlets are reporting today the first casualty of the NBA All-Star Game: Mikey, a 4-year-old explosives-sniffing black lab, who died at the George R. Brown Convention Center early this morning. The dog, Mikey, was part of a U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unit involved in a security sweep of the convention center in preparation for the NBA All-Star game, said Franceska Perot, spokeswoman for ATF. Perot said about 1:30 a.m. the unit......

We've all seen taxis with advertising on their trunks and roofs, but on their hubcaps? It's a little strange, but it's the latest thing in Houston, according to the Chronicle. The hubcap ads for the NBA All-Star Game started showing up on Yellow Cabs about two weeks ago. "We love them. They're a novelty. They're new," said Raymond Turner, president of Texas Taxi, parent of Yellow Cab. "We think it's an innovative way to advertise."......

The rumor is now official: Houston's own Destiny's Child is reuniting for a performance of the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star game at the Toyota Center on Feb. 19. That brings up the question: How long do you have to be disbanded before you can really call it a reunion? (They said farewell just last year.) The group also claims that it will be their last performance together,ever. They're young, Houstonist thinks they need......

Houstonist favors anything that makes Houston more of a "world-class city" — medical research, the energy industry, NASA and, of course, big-name sporting events. To prove that we really can't get enough sports extravaganzas, Houston will be hosting the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in February. It makes sense: We had the Super Bowl and baseball All-Star Game in 2004, so the NBA obviously felt like it had to get in on the action. This isn't......