Good morning, Houston! So how about this weather, huh? It kinda puts us in the mood for some news — but honestly, most anything does. We're strange like that. So let's get right to it ...
>> Modesty writ large: State Rep. Charlie Howard of Sugar Land has filed a bill in Austin seeking to keep explicit content off billboards, a move he said is meant to protect kids from seeing dirty stuff — but not to infringe on anyone's First Amendment rights. "We don't allow pornography in convenience stores ... yet we allow people to put billboards with any kind of explicit naked women, sexual acts, perversion they want to on those." Houstonist has clearly been looking at the wrong billboards.
>> Daycare worker arrested: A Channelview daycare worker was arrested yesterday for possessing child porn after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led police to her home. Renee Lofton, 21, reportedly had hundreds of child-porn images on her computer and had been posting some images on the Internet — probably not such a hot idea in retrospect. Investigators are now working with Child Protective Services to see whether any of the kids at the daycare match kids in the photos; Lofton could face a $10,000 fine and 10 years in jail.
>> Miss White's trial, Day 2: Michael Bilbrey, a Harris County deputy constable who administered a field sobriety test to Elena White during a traffic stop in August, admitted to at least nine mistakes at the scene in testimony yesterday. It was the second day of the DWI trial for Mayor Bill White's 17-year-old daughter; among the mistakes Bilbrey said he made was allowing a strobe light to cast a glare on videotape of White's arrest. Even so, he said there was the smell of alcohol on White's breath and that her eyes were bloodshot and her speech slurred when she was pulled over. The defense in the case is expected to rest today.
>> Today's weather: Look for a few more clouds today than yesterday, but the warm temperatures will stick around: We should see an afternoon high of 70, and there's nothing to complain about there. Tonight should be partly cloudy as well, with a low in the mid-50s. Looks like we have one more day of nice weather — Thursday — before clouds, rain and cooler temperatures move back in for the weekend.
Now let's see what else is going on:
- Police say a woman staying at a southwest Houston motel accidentally set the motel on fire Tuesday morning
- Dr. Steven H. Farber, a Conroe doctor, has had his license temporarily suspended because of drug and alcohol use
- Looking for a place to abduct your kid and defy custody orders? Try Mexico (no, we don't condone doing that)
- Alfred Alaniz, the HPD officer accused of taking bribes in exchange for letting people off without tickets, has gotten new defense lawyers because the Police Patrolmen's Union refused to defend him
- City Council is looking at an anti-clustering ordinance for registered sex offenders in the city; the proposal would limit how many can live in a single house or apartment complex and would prohibit them from living within 1,000 feet of a place children may gather
- Texas Southern University has brought in Academic Search, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, to help it find a new president
- A man crashed his company van into a house in Pasadena during rush hour yesterday, then ran away
- The Katy school district issued a warning after three males reportedly followed a fifth-grader home from school Monday
- Do you regularly drive on South Main through the Museum District, Hermann Park and Medical Center areas? Now you can sign up for e-mail alerts about street closures and road work in that neighborhood
- The search is still on for Glenn Moody, a 26-year-old man who disappeared Thursday; the reward is now up to $30,000
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