Morning Roundup: Running on fumes edition

Good morning, Houston. According to a government report released yesterday, the national average price for a gallon of gas rose to $2.876 last week, up 7.4 cents over last week. Bad news, eh? But here's something good: A gallon of gas is, in general, a lot cheaper than that in Houston. Not that it's cheap or anything — according to reports, it'll cost you anywhere from $2.59 to $2.99 here. Looks like we might have to start thinking about replacing the Houstonistmobile.

>> 'You sent yourself to prison': A judge sentenced 20-year-old Breanna Zipf to 10 years in prison Monday for violating the probation she got after running down a schoolteacher in 2004. Zipf disappeared late last year while serving her probation at a Dallas-area facility run by the Salvation Army; she said she feigned cold symptoms so she would be taken to a hospital, after which she ran away. "You sent yourself to prison," State District Judge Brock Thomas told Zipf as he gave her the maximum jail sentence for which she was eligible. Another twist: During yesterday's hearing, Zipf testified that she's pregnant by a man who also lived in the Dallas facility.

>> Investigating burned office building: Lawyers and investigators on Monday checked out the North Loop office building where three people died in a fire March 28, and based on their preliminary visit they suggested that the structure might not have had an adequate smoke detection system. The investigators, working for the family of fire victim Jeanette Hargrove, plan to look at blueprints and inspection reports to continue their probe; meanwhile, a lawyer for Misty Ann Weaver, the woman who has confessed to setting the fire, said he wants to look at the sprinkler system and fire department response times. "They've had their opportunity to go in," Todd Dupont said of the Weaver team. "I need mine."

>> A new way to keep cool?: In the summer, traditional ventilated attics in Houston can get as hot as 140 degrees — a bunch of heat cooking air ducts and transferring into the living space below. Is there a better way to build a house? KHOU found one guy who thinks so. Mark Little's idea is to build a sealed, air-conditioned attic, which should make cooling the entire house more efficient. The only problem: "I get some very funny looks," he said. A projected 9-percent drop in cooling bills will make that a little easier to take, we imagine.

>> Today's weather: Looks like today will be our best chance for rain this week: The forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 1 p.m. Overall, today should be mostly cloudy with a high around 75 and an increasing rain chance through the night. Overnight, temperatures should drop to the upper 50s as the skies clear, leaving us with what promises to be a beautiful remainder of the week.

Gas up with some more headlines ...