Good morning, Houston. We have two words to brighten up your day: obese squirrel. The squirrel in question got stuck in a hole in a tree in East Oak Cliff, Dallas, on Sunday — its head was inside the tree, but its rear end was left hanging. Wildlife rescue technician Joe Warner got the unfortunate animal free by sawing a hole around the squirrel, a process that took 45 minutes. All of which makes us wonder: Is there a Jenny Craig for woodland creatures?
>> All aboard: Metro reported a weekday boarding record on MetroRail yesterday: 56,388, many of which reflected rides to and from the Rodeo. The total beat out the previous weekday record of 54,193, which was set Friday — but it fell well short of the 61,005 boardings on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2004, the day the Super Bowl was played at Reliant Stadium.
>> Stop! No, really!: Things just weren't going well for a Harris County deputy trying to stop a robbery suspect on Tomball Parkway yesterday afternoon. The man reportedly tried to rob the manager of an emission testing center, but the manager escaped and the suspect fled on foot. A deputy caught up with him and tried to Taser him, but the Taser didn't deploy; the suspect then pulled a gun and the deputy fired his revolver at the man, but missed. Finally, with the help of some colleagues, the deputy caught and arrested the suspect without anyone getting hurt.
>> But did she try the peanut butter?: Houston's Beyoncé Knowles dodged a bullet a couple of weeks ago when she attended a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue party where the food might have been infected with hepatitis A, the AP reports. The party was one of 13 where as many as 3,5000 guests might have been exposed to the virus, but Knowles came out OK because she didn't eat. Symptoms of hepatitis A include fever, jaundice, nausea and vomiting — we bet Beyoncé's glad she's thin.
>> Today's weather: There's a 30 percent chance of rain before 10 a.m., after which the rain should move out and dry air should move in. Look for an afternoon high around 75 with skies clearing through the day; tonight, we'll have clear skies and a low in the mid-40s.
More news after the jump ...
- A school bus clipped mirrors with an 18-wheeler and ended up landing on top of a car in southeast Houston yesterday afternoon
- An Angleton police officer was wounded Tuesday morning when another officer's bullet richocheted off a target at a firing range
- Ne'er-do-wells, look out: HPD has kicked off its March on Crime
- A Florida appeals court upheld a ruling that Houston native Anna Nicole Smith can be buried in the Bahamas, so her funeral will be Friday
- Sugar Land is considering installing red-light cameras at key intersections across the city
- Police have identified a woman whose body was found inside a vacant house north of downtown yesterday: She's 43-year-old Hattie Marie McFarland, and she didn't die of natural causes
- The Midtown Management District is offering Midtown residents and business owners the chance to have a tree planted in front of their properties
- League City's city council gave the boot to the city attorney — but why?
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