Morning Roundup: Celts in lions' clothing edition

Good morning, Houston. Interested in cheering on the University of St. Thomas sports teams? Now you know what to call them: the Lions, the mascot university officials settled on last week. Actually, the lion isn't the mascot — that would be the Celt — but the lion will represent the Celt. Get it? The lion was chosen over the Irish Wolfhound and the Celtic helmet. Good choice, we'd say — though we'd like to have seen a student parading up and down the sideline dressed in a giant, plush helmet costume.

>> HISD approves teacher raise: The HISD trustees approved an average 5.7 percent pay raise for the district's teachers yesterday, meaning a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree will now earn nearly $43,000 a year teaching in Houston. Though that's still below the starting salaries for many professions, teachers say it's a pick-up: "They're showing that they're committed and that they care," teacher Suzanne Silvinsky told KTRK. And I think that gives everybody just a little morale boost to keep them. ... You know, the people that want to teach are going to teach, and they'll always be there." The Houston Federation of Teachers was a little more reserved, but agreed that the raise was a positive step: "There's still some work to be done, but this is definitely a step in the right direction," HFT's Zeph Campo said. "If we can get the word out and get the budget passed, I think it will help in keeping those teachers in the classroom."

>> Union, Kroger reach agreement: Union workers at Kroger grocery stores in Houston and Dallas OK'd a three-year agreement with the company Sunday, averting a possible strike. The new contract gives the workers pay raises, more vacation time and affordable health care — which had been the sticking point in reaching an agreement. The new contract covers about 600 meat cutters at Dallas-area Kroger stores and more than 12,000 meat cutters, cashiers and other employees at stores in and around Houston. "This agreement provides a very good total compensation package for our associates and their families and helps to make Kroger more competitive in the marketplace," Bill Breetz, president of Kroger's Southwest Division, told the AP.

>> Today's weather: In a word, wet. There's an 80 percent chance of rain today, and some of the storms could be heavy — though they'll likely be scattered, like yesterday's storms were. The good news is that the rain will keep temperatures down to a manageable 85 this afternoon; the bad news is that the rain will stick around through the night and into Wednesday. And then through Wednesday night and into Thursday. And ... well, we'll get to that later in the week.

More news? Yeah, sure, we got that ...