Morning Roundup: TGIF (the 13th) edition

Good morning, Houston. We're gonna be honest with you — it's Friday, we're ready for the weekend and we want to get right to the news. But first, there's something that's been bothering us all week: this thoroughly bizarre on-air exchange between soon-to-be KHOU anchor Lucy Noland and Fox News morning team Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy. Seriously, what's up with this? Ms. Noland, we can assure you that Greg Hurst will never use the word boobalicious on the air. Or if he does, we hope someone gets it on YouTube stat. What's that? Oh yeah, the news:

>> www.crime.com: HPD is turning to the Internet for help in its manpower crisis: The department's website, www.houstontx.gov/police, now gives residents the ability to report minor crimes without waiting for officers to show up. The initiative, which is meant to free officers to respond to major crimes, will save the police department an estimated 50,000 man hours each year, HPD chief Harold Hurtt said. "Officers have to go out, they have to collect the information, then write the report," he said. "Each report that is made online will save about 60 minutes of officer time." The online system is meant for small crimes, such as thefts under $5,000 and criminal mischief cases, but it doesn't take the place of 911 and shouldn't be used to report high-value thefts or violent crimes. And if someone still wants to speak with an officer in person, one will be dispatched, HPD said.

>> Bridges OK, Metro says: Metro announced Wednesday that an independent study has found that stray current from the MetroRail line isn't damaging steel supports in bridges and structures over and near the line, which brings a close to months of speculation — or does it? "Neither TxDOT nor Metro thought there was an issue with stray current damaging the bridges with Metro's light rail system," Jim Cody, Metro's senior director of construction, said. "We did the testing just to go the extra step and assure ourselves that we were correct." But Metro critic Tom Bazan, who long claimed that electricity leaking from the line will eventually weaken nearby structures, claims it's all a cover-up: "A few days of testing, likely under conditions staged for ideal results, may not be truly representative of the stray current leakage conditions the bridge foundations were subjected to for over 3.5 years of electrified tram operation," Bazan wrote in an e-mail to KHOU.

>> Dangerous game: A 20-year-old driver is in critical condition after crashing into a tree during a street race on Kirby Drive late Wednesday — bringing up the existence (and danger) of illegal racing. Witnesses say Timothy Pickle was racing another car along Kirby in River Oaks when he lost control, jumped a curb and hit a tree, tearing his car in half; Pickle was taken to Ben Taub, his passenger was treated at the hospital and released, and the other racer fled the scene. "[Racing] happens from time to time in every major city and in rural areas," Houston police chief Harold Hurtt said. "It really doesn't take much for that to happen — a straight stretch of road, a starting point and an ending point." Unfortunately, that ending point may be a tree.

>> This weekend's weather: Look for a slight chance of thunderstorms today, with a better chance tonight and Saturday morning. We should see a high around 80 this afternoon with a low in the mid-60s overnight and a high in the lower 70s tomorrow — and after that, the good news is that things look beautiful. On Sunday, expect lots of sunshine and a high in the mid-70s, with a cool overnight low around 53. Enjoy!

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