From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • The Feds are in town and they are investigating the Harris County jail. Did you know over 100 inmates have died in the Harris County jail between 2001-2006? • 103 year old musician, Huey Long, is no longer depressed after his prized guitar has been returned to him. • Quanell X is questioning all the attention given to two kidnappings in River......

Good morning, Houston. We've run into some, uh, active parents of student athletes in our day, but we can't remember remember hearing about one who was actually banned from his kid's sporting events — until now, that is. Meet Joe Dalton, who has been barred from his son's Stafford High home football games because school district officials allege he assaulted a student. It happened at the last home game Dalton attended, where he said......

Good morning, Houston. As we prepare for the rain chance to increase again — yeah, sorry, we hate to be the bearers of bad news — we're stopping for a second to realize just how much it's rained so far this month. Officially, we've had 8.34 inches of rain so far in July, smashing the 2.34-inch average for the month and making this the eighth-wettest July on record. And there's still a week left......

Houston rapper Lil' Flip is in some trouble, the Chronicle reports: Lil' Flip (whose real name is Wesley Eric Weston Jr.) turned himself in to police on a charge of credit card abuse this weekend, and he's due in court today. Weston, known as the "freestyle king" for his ability to improvise, is accused of buying a $671 Southwest Airlines ticket to Baltimore from Houston on June 8 with an American Express card held by......

More on Garrett William Mallot, the man who shot a fellow passenger to death aboard a Metro bus back in March: A grand jury decided Friday not to indict Mallot for the shooting because jurors determined it was done in self defense. Details were in short supply when the shooting took place — all that was reported was that Mallot was walking along the center aisle when he brushed up against the victim, Otis James......

KHOU's Jeff McShan had a much-publicized interview with Quanell X last night — and despite the indication that it would show us who Quanell X really is, we don't know all that much more now than we did before. The only thing that seems clear about Quanell X is that he's full of contradictions. In the interview with McShan, he recalled what he called a turning point in his life: a conversation he had with......

The latest development in the murder of Texas A&M student Tynesha Stewart: Yesterday, Harris County sheriff's officials announced that they will not search area landfills for her body, saying that finding the body would be "virtually impossible." Meanwhile, sheriff's investigators did finally get a confession from Stewart's ex boyfriend, Timothy Wayne Shepherd, who on Wednesday had led police to a Dumpster where he told activist Quanell X he disposed of Stewart's body after killing her.......

The ex-boyfriend of missing Texas A&M student Tynesha Stewart was charged with murder this morning after he led police investigators to a dumpster where he said he put Stewart's body. The ex, 27-year-old Timothy Wayne Shepherd, hasn't made a formal confession and reportedly isn't cooperating with police now, but activist Quanell X said he did confess to him. Stewart disappeared a week ago while she was spending Spring Break at her mother's apartment. She left......

An unusual story is developing at Kashmere High School, where the family of a student with Down syndrome claims her son was raped in a campus restroom by another special-needs student Friday. The students, both 16, weren't supposed to be in the bathroom at the same time, but one apparently walked in undetected; later, a teacher discovered both students in the room, unclothed, and now the alleged victim's mother says her son isn't doing well.......

The Texas First Court of Appeals overturned community activist Quanell X's conviction for evading arrest yesterday — and now Quanell X said he's going to sue the city of Houston. If you don't remember, Quanell X was arrested in June 2004 when police pulled his black Hummer over and found accused cop shooter (later convicted cop shooter) Derrick Forney inside. Quanell X said Forney was afraid to surrender to police, so he was taking Forney......

More on yesterday's drive-by shooting at Westbury High School: It might have been gang-related — but probably not in the way you're thinking. The family of 16-year-old Julian Ruiz, the student killed in the incident, told KHOU that they believe he was shot because he refused to join a gang. Ruiz's folks spoke through the ever-present Quanell X: "We believe that this killing has something to do with someone that he knew from the......

People in Acres Homes are claiming HPD has bungled its investigation into the murders of six young women in the area — a series of errors they say has left them afraid to leave their houses because they might be (a) killed or (b) harassed by a cop. Police should have told residents all along that there might be more than one person responsible for the murders, they say, and the cops should stop using......

Police believe a man being held for raping a woman in late May could be the man who has murdered at least six women in the Acres Homes area, the Chronicle reports this morning. Bilford Dwight Junious, 35, was arrested Friday night and charged with aggravated assault; a criminal report says he was toting a shotgun when he sexually assaulted a woman in the 2600 block of Mansfield on May 31. What could link him......

We have to admit that we've quickly become fans of the Press's new HouStoned blog — not so much because the posts are well-written, not so much because it featured boobs, and not even so much because there was a post today on a coming collaboration between Pimp C and Quanell X, a situation that gave us a headache when we tried to figure it out. No, what really hooked us was something the HouStoned......

An 18-year-old man tells KPRC he came close to becoming a victim of the five people charged in a murder spree — but rather than killing him, they let him go, and he still doesn't know why. The man, who identified himself only as "Vince," said the group kidnapped him June 19, the day after police day they carjacked and killed Maria Chrisalee Aparece and Huy Ngo. Vince said the group stopped at his......

The smiling cops in the picture might give you that warm and fuzzy safe feeling, but Houstonist’s trolling for news uncovered a sobering moment courtesy of Houston's finest: homicide investigators reportedly showed a child-sized casket they’d specially picked up for the purpose to parents of missing Kendrick Jackson , age 3, and told them that the coffin was the next place they’d likely see their son. Kendrick’s mother, who is not a suspect in his......

A group of ministers and community leaders gathered in front of the offices of 97.9 The Box yesterday to protest the station's having played a rap song with sexually explicit lyrics Saturday night. The station claims its CD of Twista's remix of "I'mN Luv (Wit a Stripper)" was marked by the record company as being OK to play on the air, but when the DJ popped it in, it turns out it was the version......