Morning Roundup: What price murder? edition

Good morning, Houston. If you haven't made up a personal budget for 2007 yet, we recommend that you don't run over and kill anyone this year — it can really blow your grand financial schemes, as Mercedes murderess Clara Harris found out last week. Jurors in her wrongful death civil trial decided the dentist should pay her in-laws $3.75 million for their pain and suffering after she ran over and killed their son, her husband David, in 2002. Interestingly enough, jurors found Harris was only 80 percent responsible for her husband's death (a private detective agency and the Nassau Bay Hilton, where the murder took place, are apparently 17 percent and 3 percent responsible, respectively) — but because she's more than 50 percent responsible, she has to pay the entire $3.75 mil. Can she, though? That remains to be seen.

>> HPD's communication gap: It's been a decade since Houston officials began talking about how much HPD officers need a radio system that lets them communicate with Harris County sheriff's deputies, but that system still doesn't exist — and it looks like it might not for at least another five years. Some observers call that worrisome, especially in case of a regional disaster, but Mayor White isn't worried: 'I think that there tends to be an overemphasis in Washington on hardware and an underemphasis on the planning and cooperation and ability to improvise by our community." After all, you can do a lot with cans and a string, right?

>> It's all in the name: You've probably heard about the proposal to move the Pride Parade out of Montrose next year, right? The idea has a lot of people stirred up, including lawyer John Nechman, who's leading the charge to keep the parade in its traditional home. But you can't be proactive without an acronym, and that's where Nechman had some trouble. Fortunately, inspiration hit just in time: His group will be called POMPOM, which stands for People Opposed to Moving the Parade out of Montrose. "I loved it because it's also visual," Nechman said. "And even if they do move the parade downtown, we will have a float in that parade. Of course, we'll be waving pompoms." We guess the lack of visuals kept him from considering People Interested in Staying Solidly on the Edge of Downtown.

>> Today's weather: The good news is that it's a lot warmer than it was most days last week. The bad news, it's still kinda cold. And rainy. Today, expect clouds and a fair chance of rain through the morning; after lunch, the rain will probably ease up and we'll reach the day's high of 51. Tonight, look for a low around 40 leading into a rainy, cooler Tuesday. We sure hope you enjoyed the sun yesterday afternoon — it may be the last time we see it for a while.

If that didn't cheer you up, how about some more headlines? Find 'em after the jump ...