Good morning, Houston. We've always wondered about our lady friends' uncanny ability to find food — particularly food they claim they shouldn't be eating — and now there's scientific evidence that women may actually have a built-in talent for locating grub. The news comes from The Daily Telegraph in the UK, which reports that women at a farmers' market were much better at finding a stall where they had bought a certain food than......

No, it's not a new adult film premiering at Aurora, its White Linen Night in the Heights, and it's back for it's 2nd coming. "Small town cool, in the center of the big city." This Saturday, Heights residents, and curious visitors from all across the city, descend upon one of Houston's fastest-growing art scenes for a celebration of culture and community. The annual event, now in its second year, focuses on art, galleries, retail, outdoor......

Good morning, Houston. Sure, we've had a lot of rain, but there haven't been any hurricane scares yet — so it's pretty easy to overlook the fact that we're headed into the peak of the 2007 hurricane season. Not that easy, though: The Chronicle's Eric Berger reminds us that there's still some storm activity in the Atlantic, including a system 650 miles east about 650 miles east of the southern Windward Islands that could......

Houstonist remembers the point when gas went over $2 a gallon and oilman T. Boone Pickens said that was no big deal — what we should really worry about is when a gallon gets up to $3. And guess what? We're getting there. This week's AAA Texas gas-price survey reports that the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Texas is now $2.79 — an increase of 6.8 cents over last week. So......

An interesting note on Metro's proposed downtown intermodal terminal: Yesterday, the transit authority's board apparently voted to buy land on which the terminal will sit, but Metro officials are refusing to tell anyone exactly where the land is. The proposed terminal, which has been discussed for months, would connect the Main Street rail line, the northside GRT line, some Metro bus routes and, eventually, a northwest commuter rail line. And though we know it'll......

Some weekends just seem to be made for relaxing, lazy mornings. Houstonist recently had a similar type weekend and decided to try out Spanish Flowers Mexican restaurant for breakfast. Spanish Flower is located on North Main at Airline Dr. in the Heights area. Although we went in the late morning, the restaurant is open (and breakfast is served) 24 hours a day (except Tuesday night through Wednesday morning). The restaurant is popular among the......

Universal Happy Hour Day Houstonist loves happy hour, and we especially love it on Thursdays, when it seems that everyone in the world loves happy hour. It is our early evening celebration of the approaching weekend. In honor of what we like to call "Happy Hour Day", here is a list of Thursday Happy Hours in and around the Houston area... enjoy! Amazon Grill 5114 Kirby Drive Houston, TX 77098 4pm-7pm $1 off wine Various......

We've heard a lot about opposition to Metro's planned University light rail line, but it's not the only one that's generating controversy: Yesterday, a group of northside residents marched on City Hall, following the route of the proposed northside GRT line, to oppose what they say is Metro deviating from ballot language and condemning property like crazy. Sound familiar? "They misled the community by having North Hardy on the ballot," protester Mario Umanzo told......

Via Off the Kuff, Christof at Intermodality offers an overview of information from Metro's Environmental Assessment of the proposed new intermodal terminal near North Main and Burnett on the north edge of downtown. We've been watching this unfold since early this year, and Christof points out some interesting things about what the finished product may be like. • The terminal won't be as busy as transfer hub as you might imagine. The north side BRT......

Metro's board has chosen an alignment for its North Corridor rapid transit route: a bus rapid transit line that will head north along North Main from the future downtown intermodal center to Boundary Street, where it will turn east, then north on Fulton to Northline Mall. By picking that route, Metro rejected an alternative that would have veered north on Irvington at Moody Park, then returned to Fulton via Cavalcade, allowing the line to......

With all the controversy over the University light rail line, it's easy to forget about all the controversy over the rapid transit line planned for the north side — unless, of course, you happen to live near it. But ">we could have word on a North Corridor alignment as early as this afternoon. Maybe. The North Corridor route would involve, at its southern end, a northward extension of the existing Red Line to the......

The Chron's Rad Sallee takes a look today at the question of right of way in the Richmond rail debate, focusing on comments from Metro Chairman David Wolff about some property owners along Richmond Avenue "stealing" the public right of way. What Wolff meant was that some people have put things — lawns, parking spaces, driveways — on the right of way, which usually isn't a problem until the land needs to be used for......

So this long weekend is chock full of holidays: National Build a Scarecrow Day tomorrow, Visitation of the Virgin Mary Day on Sunday, Stay Out of the Sun Day on Monday and National Tom Sawyer Fence-Painting Day on Tuesday — not to mention that July is National Baked Beans Month. We know everyone is anxious to hit the road and celebrate scarecrows/virgins/the sun/fences/beans, but when you do, you can expect to pay more for gas.......

So there was some excitement — but thankfully, not too much — yesterday afternoon when police discovered a grenade in a duffel bag at 61 Reisner, the former HPD headquarters building, which now houses the downtown patrol and accident divisions. The grenade was found when police were doing an invenory of the bag, which belonged to a man who had been arrested for outstanding warrants in a traffic stop on North Main. Initially, television news......

So everything might not be so sweet at Shipley Do-Nuts after all: A group of employees has filed an EEOC suit against the company alleging that they're forced to work in awful conditions, and one of the complainants claims Shipley's retaliated against him after he complained, even to the point of spying on him as he made his delivery rounds. Fifteen Shipley's employees claim in the group lawsuit that they've experienced racial slurs, beatings, sexual......

Today's Chronicle has some details of Metro's proposed intermodal terminal, including basics of the complex's design. According to design sketches presented at a public meeting last week, the centerpiece of the terminal — which will connect bus, light rail and commuter rail lines just north of downtown — will be a 400-foot-wide circular plaza called "the Great Space," featuring "greenery, an open-air market and other amenities." Sort of an outdoor lobby, we suppose. Jim Gast,......

Interested in Metro's proposed intermodal transit station downtown? Then you might want to block off a little time this evening for a public meeting on the project, where Metro officials will discuss designs and location of the terminal. The station is proposed for nine acres of the old Hardy Rail Yard along North Main Street about a half-mile north of UH-Downtown. The Chronicle hints at a couple of possible designs, one of which shows......

After eight straight weeks of incrases, gas prices in Texas finally fell a little this week — though the decrease in Houston wasn't all that great. The AAA Texas Gas Watch found the average price for a gallon of gas in Texas is $2.862, down 3 cents from last week. In Houston, the average price is $2.913, a drop of 1.4 cents from last week. Houston is just a half-cent behind this week's national average.......

It seems that every day, some local company is losing its identity — think Foley's. So it's nice to find a company that never changes, especially when it makes something as close to Houstonist's heart as doughnuts — like Shipley Do-nuts, which is celebrating its 70th birthday this year. The company has grown to a chain of 200 stores spread through six southern states — and it's done it all without fancy coffees or Hot......

Charles Ray Mumphrey, the brother of a man recently cleared of rape charges by DNA testing, confessed to the crime for which his brother served 18 years in prison Police kicked dozens of homeless people out of encampments downtown today as part of an ongoing program to address complaints from residents and businesses A new county juvenile justice center is set to open downtown in April, but officials say it'll be overcrowded from day one......

Metro held safety meetings for its drivers this morning after a woman was killed after being hit and dragged by a Metro bus over the weekend. The woman, Domitila Leon, was crossing North Main at Hogan on Friday evening when the bus turned onto Main and hit her, then dragged her 20 feet before running over her legs. Doctors amputated Leon's legs; she died after the surgery. Bus driver Romain Alexandre said Leon was in......

Metro's been talking for a while about a downtown transit hub that would tie a bunch of bus lines, the MetroRail network and future bus rapid transit and commuter rail lines together, much like South Station in Boston, Union Station in D.C. and Grand Central Terminal in NYC. And now the idea is a step closer to reality, maybe — the Metro board has asked for a preliminary design for a huge transit station on......