Many of the NBA’s so called pundits have dismissed the Houston Rockets’ accomplishments in achieving a 10-game winning streak, by exclaiming that until the squad beat a team of true substance, they were simply taking advantage of an undemanding schedule. Talking heads around the nation have stated that Houston’s road match-up against the Western Conference leading New Orleans Hornets would be the true test to determine if the Rockets were legitimate playoff threats. Wonder......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • Recent Katy Freeway closures are sure to cause a few headaches. As of 10 p.m., Friday night, the Katy Freeway eastbound ramp to Beltway 8 northbound will be closed until April 2008. The westbound ramp to Beltway 8 northbound will be closed until August 2008. • Three Houston area residents have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for breach of contract because they......

Better late than nevah - here's our roundup of feasting and imbibing in the very near future. See the bottom of the post for some Thanksgiving food ideas, we'll be continuing to update that, and no, we won't add Grandma Kroger to the list, or any other supermarket, for that matter. Well, maybe Central Market or perhaps Whole Foods, maybe. Great American Bake Sale -Dessert Gallery, Sugar Land Friday, November 16th – 6:00 p.m. until......

Good morning, Houston. It's November now, and you know what that means: We're at the beginning of nearly two straight months of Christmas. Retailers put their holiday decorations up early in hopes that shoppers will see them and get in the buying mood — but will it work? Not necessarily, if most shoppers are like Sharon Baker, who the Chron found at Macy's downtown. "I do like Christmas, but I need time to celebrate......

Houston! We’re going to be rounding up current food and wine events once a week, so you don’t have to. Previously, we posted these gastronomic opportunities, along with festivals and the like – having let that slip was criminal! Once again, Culinary Adventures comes your way!!! Tour de Donut – “The Sweetest Bike Ride in Texas”Sunday, November 4th – beginning at 8:00 a.m. Sun & Ski Sports @ Katy Mills Mall $25/participant in advance $35/participant......

Finally, Google Street View has come to Houston. Now we can see all those far-flung parts of town we've always wanted to check out — without having to leave Houstonist World Headquarters! Kind of, anyway: Most of the street view streets are on the southwest side, and almost all of 'em are inside the Beltway. No virtual tours of Alief for us, we guess. If you haven't used Google Street View, here's an introductory......

Steve Francis is happy to be back with the Rockets after a turbulent split with the team three seasons ago. Houstonist remembers that it was around the time of Superbowl XXXVIII that he first butted heads with former coach Jeff Van Gundy. It wasn't long after that he was traded to Orlando along with Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato for Tracy McGrady. He spent some time in Orlando and New York only to end......

The road to 3,000 continued Tuesday night in Los Angeles as Craig Biggio recorded two hits to move closer to baseball history. While facing Bartolo Colon in the top of the fourth inning, Biggio punched a single over the glove of Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick for career hit 2,991. In the top of the sixth inning while facing an 0-2 count from Colon, Biggio smacked an infield single to shortstop Orlando Cabrera for hit......

We hate to ruin the suspense, but what the heck: the rum? Still gone, people. That's indicative of the general tenor of Pirates of the Caribbean III: At World's End. There's still Orlando Bloom being kind of a tool for the most part, still Keira Knightly being plucky, and still Johnny Depp being Keith Richards. Of course, this time there's also Keith Richards being Keith Richards, which may explain Depp's seeming drop in quality from......

A former golf pro in Kingwood and Clear Lake was stabbed to death while on a business assignment in Florida on Thursday — and his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend have been charged in the murder. It happened at an apartment complex in South Lakeland, Fla., where 31-year-old Colin Zieler had been living for a month; the former girlfriend, 26-year-old Heizel Beatriz Gonzalez-Martinez, is charged with being an accessory to murder and her boyfriend, 25-year-old......

Good morning, Houston. Thanks to everyone who joined us at Kay's last night for the happy hour — and those of you who missed it, we expect to see you next time. Now, go read some news, Our head hurts. >> Turns out it wasn't a foolproof plan after all: Police are on the lookout for Continental Express flight attendant Vivian Fragoza and her husband after Fragoza allegedly used Continental "buddy miles" to fly......

Hey, hey! How about those Astros? With the game winding down with two outs in the eighth inning, the Houston team punched in five runs to give Chris Sampson (2-0) a much deserved victory. With Orlando Palmeiro on second with two outs, Lance Berkman single him in to knot the game up at 2-2. Carlos Lee then reached base on a walk which prompted the Reds to a pitching change and the Astros summoned Mark......

Good morning, Houston. Are you registered to vote in the May 12 special election? If not, you'd better get on it: Harris County residents must deliver their registration applications to a county tax office by 4:45 p.m. today or have them postmarked before midnight tonight. Remember, if you don't vote, you give up your right to complain. And we will enforce that. >> New organs, a new life: Maria Mendez, a 14-year-old girl, is......

Recently, Houstonist had been thinking about how it seems a long time since we had any Lisa Nowak-related news. And then, voila! — a Florida judge agreed to unseal certain documents related to the case of the lovelorn astronaut, and now we know some of the stuff she was carrying in her car when she made her infamous cross-country trip to intercept a romantic rival at the Orlando airport. Among the items in her possession:......

Good morning, Houston. If the thought of teeing off atop a downtown skyscraper gets you going, here's some excellent news: For the next week, you'll have the chance! It's part of The Glenlivet City Links, a 9-hole golf course and clubhouse that's touring seven U.S. cities. In Houston, the City Links — which includes a free course, a virtual driving range and a lounge — is set up on the 50th floor of Three......

The Rockets faced a surging Celtics squad in Boston on Wednesday night and beat the crap out of them (technical sports term) 111-80. The Celts entered last night's action having won four of the last five games. Conversely (no, not the shoes), the Rockets had dropped four of the last five thanks in part to the absence of Yao. Yao Ming was relatively quiet in his second game back following the leg fracture finishing with......

More on Lisa Nowak, everyone's favorite lovelorn astronaut: According to the AP, a series of steamy e-mails another woman sent to her boyfriend might have triggered her bizarre cross-country trip in early February. It seems Nowak had intercepted more that a dozen messages Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman had sent to astronaut Bill Oefelein, including one sent to him while he was aboard the space shuttle Discovery in December: "First urge will be to rip......

Astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak, who's a household name today after news broke about her plan to confront — or, police say, to kill — another woman, is back in Houston this morning as details emerge about what might have driven her to make a cross-country trip armed with a knife, rubber tubing and a BB gun. According to the AP, Nowak's marriage ended weeks ago when she and her husband of 19 years separated. Before......

An update to this morning's story about Lisa Marie Nowak, the astronaut who was arrested yesterday after a bizarre cross-country drive to confront a woman she believed was after the fellow astronaut she had a crush on: Police in Florida are charging Nowak with attempted first-degree murder. The charge was announced after Nowak appeared in court this morning on charges of attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery. Orange County,......

From Baytown, where nothing odd ever happens, comes a completely serious missing-person report: It seems someone has kidnapped Ronald McDonald from a local restaurant. McDonald, who has been the face of McDonald's since the early 1960s and its Chief Happiness Officer (no kidding) since 2003, was last seen in the playground of the McDonald's restaurant at 7000 Garth Road on Sunday wearing his trademark yellow jumpsuit and freakishly large red shoes. He's about 6 feet......

Sure, the space shuttle is going to be retired soon, but that doesn't mean NASA's astronauts won't keep us entertained — assuming, that is, that they keep giving us news like Lisa Marie Nowak. Nowak, you might know, is the Johnson Space Center-based astronaut who was arrested yesterday in Orlando, accused of attacking an Air Force captain in one of those bizarre love triangles we've heard about. Here's the skinny: Nowak apparently had a thing......

>>World: After about a month of repairs, London icon Big Ben keeps on ticking. >>Nation: In an Ohio village, you might just wake up with an outhouse on your lawn, and guess what? You have to pay to have it hauled off. >>Texas: Cindy Sheehan not only wants to protest at President Bush's Crawford ranch, she wants free parking too. >>Offbeat:A North Carolina ice cream shop is asking customers to sign a liability waiver......

Between Houstonist and our friends, we've probably managed to rack up enough speeding tickets in the last year to keep city government financially solvent. And no wonder: According to the National Motorists Association, Houston is among the 10 worst cities in the U.S. for speed traps. We rank No. 5 on the list behind the Detroit suburbs, D.C., Orlando and Colorado Springs. Austin comes in 7th. Really, this is just another arbitrary ranking, kind of......

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned part of Texas' redistricting map today, saying some of the new divisions didn't protect minority voting rights Sheriff's officers are searching for Hector Caranza, a 5-year-old boy discovered to be missing from his northeast Harris County home this morning Orlando Sanchez, the newly named Republican candidate for Harris County treasurer, is suggesting that talk about eliminating the office of county treasurer is discriminatory against him Webster Smith, a Coast Guard......

Timothy Randle, one of five people charged in connection with a crime spree that left four people dead, said he is innocent today in an interview with KPRC from his jail cell During the second day of her retrial for drowning her five children, Andrea Yates sobbed this morning as she watched a police video showing her kids' bodies Harris County Republicans nominated Orlando Sanchez, a former city councilman and mayoral candidate, as their candidate......

>> Texas: A Dallas man who was attacked by a Bengal tiger that escaped from an animal sanctuary last week is expected to make a full recovery. >> Nation: In Atlanta, defense attorneys for a scorned grandmother accused of killing her 89-year-old ex-boyfriend are claiming she won't get a fair trial because the legal age for jury exemption in Georgia is 70. >> World: New York, of all places, was ranked one of the......

Need proof that throwing a ball really fast and really well can get you anything you darn well please (even from countries where baseball matters not at all)? The KHOU newsblog is reporting the planned presence in our fair city of Real Live Royalty: the Earl of Sandwich is coming to town at Clemens' request to christen a new sandwich shop. The restaurant, at 1930 Highway 6 South, is the first Houston location of the......

Houstonist loves fried chicken and breakfast — but we've never really thought about combining the two, outside the occasional order of chicken and waffles at The Breakfast Klub. We suspect we're not alone, and apparently Chick-fil-A feels the same way: The company is rolling out an unusual set of new billboards to encourage people to have chicken for breakfast. The billboards are designed in conjunction with Chick-fil-A's "advertising partners" and depict the chain's "Eat......

More on the expanding DA probe into City Hall expenses: It seems the investigation will look at travel, particiuarly that of former City Council member and mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez. KHOU reports Sanchez traveled extensively as an at-large councilmember between 1996 and 2001, taking his creepy eyes to D.C., San Francisco, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, London, Budapest and Ploesti, Romania, and his travel expenses were routed through the mayor pro tem's office.......

The Houston area can expect a hard freeze tonight, with temperatures in the 20s in the city and in the teens in northern counties The Astros signed outfielder Orlando Palmeiro to a two-year, $1.9 million contract A jury deadlock resulted in a mistrial in the case of Timothy Kramer, a Duke Energy trading executive accused of falsifying trades to increase profits A pack of wild dogs brought traffic to a halt when they ran onto......