Morning Roundup: RIP Molly edition

Good morning, Houston. Today, the world is a little less colorful: Political columnist and legendary wit Molly Ivins died Wednesday evening after a seven-year battle with breast cancer. She was 62. Ivins was a diehard liberal whose folksy charm and pointed wit won over people on both sides of the aisle — and, of course, where better to practice political punditry than Texas? "Naturally, when it comes to voting, we in Texas are accustomed to discerning that fine hair's-breadth worth of difference that makes one hopeless dipstick slightly less awful than the other. But it does raise the question: Why bother?" Ivins wrote in 2002. "Oh, it's just that your life is at stake." (Find some more Molly Ivins quotes here — enjoy.)

>> Dozens arrested in immigration raid: Wednesday wasn't such a great day for the Republic Waste Services office in Humble: Just after 6 a.m., dozens of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up and picked up 53 employees suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. And then came the announcement that City Hall is looking into Republic's operations because its employees have been found to have used stolen Social Security numbers. Bad news for Republic, but there's some good news for us: The company said trash collection should continue today as usual.

>> Comets sold: The WNBA Board of Governors yesterday approved the sale of the Houston Comets to Hilton Koch, the chainsaw-wielding owner of Hilton Furniture. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I plan to take full advantage of it," Koch said. "The No. 1 reason for me to be involved with the WNBA and the Houston Comets is to give back to the community." Now the team has to set about finding a head coach to replace Van Chancellor, who resigned Jan. 3.

>> Eagle whoopee: There's not a whole lot to say about this story except these six words: eagles having sex caught on camera. The birds were spotted dirty dancing in a tree in Crosby yesterday; according to KHOU, people stood and watched all afternoon. What could make it better? A slideshow.

>> Today's weather: Sure, it's still kinda nasty this morning, but trust us, better weather's on the way. Expect a good chance of rain through lunchtime today, with clouds dissipating as we continue through the afternoon — and we could even see some sunshine on our way home from work. Today's high: 57. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low of 44, and then (keep your fingers crossed) the weekend should be beautiful, if a little chilly. But hey, we'll take chilly as long as we can see some sun.

Now, spread a little sunshine around with this morning's headlines: