::Land Use in Houston: Two Different Approaches:: As demand for more residential and commercial building in Houston continues, the question of how to develop (and how to preserve) becomes more and more important. Houstonians for Responsible Growth is sponsoring a free public forum tonight about land use decisions under consideration of City Hall. Houstonians for Responsible Growth appear to support market- and consumer-driven growth of the city, as opposed to land use regulations and......

Perspectives 159: Superconscious, Automatisms Now December 14, 2007 – March 9, 2008 Opening reception December 13, 2007, 6:30-9:00 p.m. Sigh. This is Houston's last hurrah with Senior CAMH Curator Paola Morsiani, and we are sad. Having been with the CAMH for over eight years, Morsiani is heading north to become Curator of Contemporary Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, an internationally renowned encyclopedic museum in the midst of a $258 million renovation and expansion.......

The question that has burned in men's minds since 2000, invading their slumber and disturbing their very ability to enjoy music, has finally been answered emphatically. It was Jerome Mathis, wideout and kick returner for the Texans, who let the dogs out. Mathis was given a citation by Brazoria County authorities on Saturday when four of his pit bulls were menacing neighbors near his home in Manvel. Animal control officers were able to intervene without......

Houstonist has an active and amazing Flickr photo group. We receive many, many photos of Houston and the surrounding areas every day and unless you are an active visitor to our photo pool many of these photos go unnoticed. So in a weekly effort to bring you more amazing photos from Houstonist readers and photographers, we are going to feature a block of photos submitted to our Flickr photo group. The images will be dug......

::Maurice Manning and Emily Fox Gordon Poetry Reading at Diverseworks:: Giving Houstonians a chance to hear tomorrow’s great writers today. The Inprint Studio Series, presented by Inprint in association with the University of Houston Creative Writing Program and Diverseworks, features some of the best young writers in the country, as well as alumni from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program and leading local authors. Now in its second season, the 2007-2008 Inprint Studio Series,......

We hope you are keeping the Spacetaker Optiks Gala on your radar, cuz it's been on ours for quite awhile. Bleep.....bleep...bleep..bleep, bleep, bleep. Yep, it's coming up. September 29th. Do you have your tix yet? Spacetaker September Artist Saloon This month Buffalo Bayou Art Park & Spacetaker, in conjunction with Winter Street Studios, present Sasha Dela, Jonathan Durham, and Dominic Walsh of the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater for the September edition of The Artist Saloon.......

If you're anything like us, you're probably waist deep into fantasy football magazines, watching ESPN's "Sportscenter" five times a day to catch the latest NFL training camp updates, and surfing the Internet until the wee hours of the morning to find out how that starting running back's knee is holding up to the rigors of two-a-days. No, it's just us? Either way, the dawn of a new NFL season brings with it another year of......

Local tech news in a compact digital format...

We guess Jacquelyn Woods has learned a lesson or two: She was arrested last week after trying to use a stolen credit card to buy some rims — and then making a really ill-fated attempt to run from the cops. According to KTRK, Woods showed up Monday at Cartronix, an auto accessory shop, wanting to buy some expensive rims. Red flags went up with the store staff when Woods wanted to pay using a credit......

William Phillips, 60, is the accused perpetrator of the murder-suicide at Johnson Space Center last Friday. Phillips, a JSC employee who feared being fired after a poor performance review, smuggled a revolver into the building and barricaded himself with his hostage. The security team at the space center had reassessed their security procedures in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings prior to this incident. The reassessment found that no major changes were needed, but......

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. This was a rough week for the gun lobby. Federal “safeguards” didn't stop a very disturbed young man in Virginia from being able to purchase guns that he later used to kill lots of people. Though there has been no official statement from the NRA, many pundits, talk radio callers and a guy sitting at a bar in Houston who was overheard by......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

Our own Houston Dynamo is doing their part to help out those affected by the recent events on the Virginia Tech campus. The Dynamo have organized fund-raising efforts to assist the University in the wake of the school's recent tragedy. At the Dynamo's April 29th game vs. Chicago Fire (6:00 PM CT), a number of programs are in place to aid the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. For every ticket purchased from a special Supergroup......

David Carr's number may finally be up in Houston. NFL sources have comfirmed that the Houston Texans have agreed in principal to trade for the Atlanta Falcon's highly touted backup QB, Matt Schaub. Schuab, 25 out of the University of Virginia, has seen limited playing time over the course of his career taking a backseat to Michael Vick, the Falcon's number one overall pick in 2001. NFL teams in the past of expressed great......

On Sundays, Houstonist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in Houston. The opinions expressed below are entirely those of the author. Dilettante has not received any letters this month, so she will just assume you, dear reader, are busy with your resolutions or perhaps are out buying a parka to prepare for the snow storm that’s heading to Houston. Bundle up. Grab the nearest person, dog or plant and make yourself a hot toddy. Oh,......

Agua Dolce fourteen year old Katie Wernecke developed cancer several years ago--a sad, but all too common story. She landed in the news only when her parents refused traditional treatment for the Hodgkin's disease, which would have required chemotherapy centered on her lymph nodes. Now, the cancer, once in remission, is back. The state took Katie away from her parents and placed her in foster care, but while in state-mandated treatment at M.D. Anderson, Katie......

While Houstonist took a post-holiday trip to a local warehouse retail outlet, we noticed several shoppers with carts filled to the rim with cartons of cigarettes. Then, we remembered why: As of yesterday, it will now cost smokers an extra dollar to buy a pack of cigarettes. That’s due to a new law that went in effect state-wide, raising the price of cigarette taxes from 41 cents a pack to $1.41. The American Cancer Society......

Houstonist stayed up half the night glued to our television just to bring you the latest election results, locally, state-wide, and nationally. Let's look at how things went down yesterday. Locally: Much to the mayor's delight, propositions A-H all passed. This means good things for Houston's libraries, parks, police force, airports, etc. Mayor White is keeping the city moving, literally and figuratively. The Chronicle offers complete election results, but we're going to look at a......

Who says TSU has accounting problems? Everything with regard to the university's books is done on the up and up — just ask former President Priscilla Slade, who's learned a thing or two about finances. And if you don't believe her, talk to Treva Mott, an instructor who has tapped into a bit of creative accounting we haven't heard of: She worked for more than two months as TSU and never got a paycheck. That's......

Wednesday A new twist to the whole emo-rock craze: a female vocalist. Well, it’s about time. Rosematter hails from York, Penn., while their stage partners Mile High School is from Yorktown, Va. Coincidence? We think not. 8 p.m. at Super Happy Fun Land | tickets and info On L.A. rappers Jurassic 5’s (there are actually six of them) latest release, they team up with Dave Matthews Band. Not something you’d expect from a hip-hop......

Tuesday Brother and sister act Trish and Darin reunite for a show at the Duck tonight. You may remember Trish (Murphy) more than her brother, after their duo stint in the 90’s, she went on to have a successful regional alt-country career. 8 p.m. at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck | info Wednesday Any band that’s brave enough to call their first album Greatest Hits has to have some major dusters. What else would you expect......

According to Time magazine, Tom Delay will not seek reelection and plans on dropping out of congress in May and changing his place of residency to Virginia? Wow, this guy knows how to quit cold turkey. The money quote: "I'm going to announce tomorrow that I'm not running for reelection and that I'm going to leave Congress," DeLay, who turns 59 on Saturday, said during a 90-minute interview on Monday. "I'm very much at peace......

It's no secret that Texans like their guns — why, Houstonist is packing heat right this second, because hey, you just never know. Even so, businesses can (and do) prevent people from carrying concealed weapons into their buildings, and now Houston-based ConocoPhillips is trying to get guns barred from parking lots, too. Drunks getting arrested in bars, guns getting banned from parking lots — what next? They won't let us park our horses in the......

Wednesday Start your concert week off with some British electronica. The Orb has returned to a more ambient sound with Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt. 8 p.m. at Warehouse Live | tickets and info Thursday Another fine example of great local talent is Scattered Pages. Their smart indie-pop landed them a record deal with Three Ring records. Expect an EP out this spring. Music: “Americant” 10 p.m. at the Continental Club |......

Yao Ming is not only the tallest player on the Houston Rockets roster, but he’s also heads above everyone else on the 2006 Forbes’ Chinese Celebrity List (yes, Virginia, there is a China edition of Forbes magazine). This is Yao's third year to top the list, which is complied by comparing fortune, fame, media and popularity (wow, it sounds like junior high). We learned that Yao is worth approximately $20 million, from salary and endorsements......

Proving that reading comprehension isn't a prerequisite for working at ABC News, ESPN Sports or Reuters comes this little gem. HOUSTON (Reuters) - Denver Broncos offensive co-ordinator Gary Kubiak is to become the Dallas Texans's head coach, owner Bob McNair said. "I look forward to getting Gary down here," McNair told a Houston news conference on Sunday after the Broncos lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the American Football Conference (AFC) playoffs in Denver.......

NBA: The Rockets fell to the Bulls 94-89, the team's seventh loss in a row College football: UH beat Rice 35-18 to take the Bayou Bucket, which may send the Cougars to a bowl; Grambling State trumped Southern 50-35 in the temporarily relocated Bayou Classic College basketball: Rice fell to Oregon 84-60; UH dropped a nail-biter to Virginia Commonwealth 62-61 HS football regional semifinals: La Marque came from behind to defeat defending Division II state......