Morning Roundup: May we interest you in some vinyl siding? edition

Good morning, Houston! Looks like we're far from the only people enjoying the bliss that is freedom from telemarketers: According to the AP, almost 25 million phone numbers were added to the federal do not call list in fiscal 2006, bringing the total ... uh ... number of numbers on the list to 132 million. And amazingly enough, it's working: The percentage of complaints last year was small, and the FTC has taken enforcement action in just 28 cases since the list was created four years ago. Just one thing to watch out for: Numbers added to the list expire after five years, so be sure to keep your registration current.

>> Kendrick Jackson, one year later: Saturday marked one year since 3-year-old Kendrick Jackson went missing from his father's southwest Houston apartment — and Jackson's family still has no idea where the boy is. Thousands of volunteers searched for Kendrick last spring to no avail; though his dad, Roderick Fountain, was considered a suspect, police were unable to prove he had anything to do with his son's disappearance. Homicide investigator Edward Gonzalez said someone is sure to have information, but might not be coming forward because they're worried about retaliation. "We ... need people to help us find out what happened to Kendrick," Naquea Jackson Walker, Kendrick's aunt, said.

>> A college crisis?: State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) is calling for a nearly $1 billion investment in the state's TEXAS grant program, saying Texas could face a crisis if it doesn't increase the number of students graduating from college here. The grant program, which helps middle-class and low-income students pay for college, has fallen prey to flat funding and rising tuition, meaning 70,000 students have lost their grants in the last two years. "A lot of people in [the Capitol] don't realize that it's a time bomb ticking," Ellis said. "It takes a crisis and making an issue ripe, and that's why I'm trying to sound an alarm." Texas now ranks 41st in the nation in the number of college graduates it produces.

>> This week's weather: Funny how quickly the weather can change, right? After freezing our Peeps off all weekend, we'll look for a mostly cloudy afternoon today with a high around 66 and a slight chance of thunderstorms. The rain chance will continue tonight and tomorrow morning, but things should clear off tomorrow night and stay decent until the end of the week; look for afternoon highs around 80 and lows in the mid-to-upper 60s.

No better way to kick off the week than with some headlines, eh?