A new study coming out of the Baylor College of Medicine suggests that the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy has led to real improvements in the way that the state’s middle school students eat. The findings, published in this month’s American Journal of Public Health, analyzed lunch records in south Texas middle schools before and after both district- and state-wide changes took place. The research team found that school lunches after the 2004 policy was......

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......

There's an interesting legislative battle brewing in Austin over the appropriateness of a tax that would go toward funding sexual assault prevention, response and counseling. No one would oppose a measure supporting that work, would they? Ah, you'd be surprised: There's opposition when the funding is tied to the adult entertainment industry. At issue here is a $5 fee that would be added to price of admission to adult entertainment clubs, which was proposed in......

Remember when schools across the area were closing in anticipation of the Great Ice Storm of 2007? We told you then about a fake report from the Humble ISD regarding school closings — seems someone posing as district spokeswoman Karen Collier e-mailed a variety of media outlets to say that Humble schools would be closed for two days, resulting in a sharp attendance drop. Well, now we know who police say was responsible: Scott Franklin......

With the corporate naming wave having swept over professional sports and now taking firm hold on college campuses, we knew it was only a matter of time before the folks in charge of corporate marketing turned their attention to the remaining untapped resource: public school systems. One of the early cases is happening right now in Conroe, where school district officials are weighing a $1 million offer to name their high school football stadium after......

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into......

To Samuel White, it must have seemed like the perfect setup: Deface your house with racial slurs, burn it down and claim you had been the victim of a hate crime — then collect the insurance money and live happily ever after. And sure, it might have worked if White had just been a little more sneaky. As it was, though, he made just about every mistake you can imagine in carrying out the crime,......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

Students displaced by Hurricane Katrina who ended up in HISD are finding the transition hard: one in four failed to meet standards to be promoted to the next grade. In a district where normally around 5 percent, of elementary and middle school students are held back, this year it was 18.5%, not to mention the high schoolers (41 percent of high school sophomores affected by Katrina and 51 percent of juniors). Surrounding districts, including......