Morning Roundup: Redeeming qualities (really) edition

Good morning, Houston. We don't mind telling you that we really have no love for cockroaches, but we do have a little bit more appreciation for the little critters after reading the Chronicle's interview with the Houston Museum of Natural Science's curator of entomology, Nancy Greig. "They're neat," Greig said. "Only 12 out of 4,000 are pests." Ah, well, good. But why are those 12 always in our apartment?

>> Perry: We need more time to clean Houston's air: Gov. Rick Perry has asked federal officials for nine more years to get the Houston-Galveston area's air in line with national pollution standards. If the request is granted, Houston will be one of the last cities in the nation to meet federal smog requirements — and it will put the area waaaaaaaayyyy past the first federal clean-air deadline, which passed in 1975. Perry's request for a nine-year extension is more than the 2013 deadline local officials were hoping for: "We thought it would be a challenge to do so by 2013 ... but we thought we could get close and give it shot," Mayor Bill White said. "I've said for years we have needed serious deadlines to ensure we were doing everything practical to reduce the ozone."

>> Here's why you shouldn't get into a bar fight: A woman was Life Flighted to the hospital Saturday night after she was stabbed in the neck with a broken beer bottle during a fight at a drive-through beverage store. It happened around 8:30 p.m. at South Airhart and Market streets in Baytoen, where the woman was approached by her ex-boyfriend. Friends say the man was angry because the woman had kicked him out of their home twice and he didn't want to leave, so he broke a beer bottle and slashed at the woman's face, then stabbed her in the neck. The woman was reportedly in serious condition when she arrived at the hospital, and police were left looking for the ex.

>> Dome hotel financiers get preliminary OK: Astrodome Redevelopment Co., the company that wants to redevelop the Dome as a luxury hotel, has gotten the preliminary green light to obtain financing for the $450 million project. The OK came from the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., which oversees Reliant Park, and it means the ARC can now move on to its next step: convincing Texans and Rodeo officials that the hotel will work for them, since both organizations have a say over whether a new tenant should be allowed in the complex. One issue to hash out is access to the hotel, which ARC has said could involve an elevated ramp from the South Loop to the Dome. "They either have to go over us or under us," Leroy Shafer, the Rodeo's CEO, said. "Ingress-egress is a major issue."

>> This week's weather: It's the time of year when weather forecasters can go on auto pilot: All week, look for a fairly good chance of rain with highs around 90 and lows in the mid-70s. Looks like the best chance of rain comes today, though, and some of the storms that pop up this afternoon could be heavy.

For now, forget about the rain in the land of sunshine and news ...