Good morning, Houston. Have you wondered lately what Music World Entertainment founder Matthew Knowles is up to? You might never have guessed: He's releasing a new line of toys aimed at urban toddlers. The line is called Baby Jamz, and they're meant to be a twist on traditional kids' toys: "Think about it," Knowles told KTRK. "'Old McDonald' has been the same since we were kids. So what if we change 'Old McDonald' and...
1
Results tagged “adaedwards”
We're sure glad that City Council isn't our mom - they're strict. Yesterday, the council decided in an 11-3 vote that children 16 and under must be off the streets by 11 pm on weeknights. The previous curfew was midnight, which still applies to Fridays and Saturdays. There are a number of exceptions, including children who are accompanied by a parent or participating in school or church-sponsored events. Those delinquents who violate the rule will...
Good morning, Houston. Or should we say happy National Zucchini Bread Day? Yep, April 25 is the day to celebrate the delicious Southern tradition — so why not hit the kitchen and whip up a batch based on Emeril's recipe? And don't forget to send your friends a National Zucchini Bread Day e-card. No, seriously. >> Appeals court: Bible fight moot: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the legal battle...
This is the third in a series of posts on upcoming City Council races. Check out last week's post about District I and District E and keep reading Houstonist for campaign coverage. There's no shortage of interest in the city council seat that Ada Edwards, District D's representative, will vacate due to term limits after this election. District D includes Neartown/Montrose, Midtown, and part of the Third Ward, as well as other neighborhoods. Local businessman...
More on the story of the city trying to take The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation's land: The Chronicle reports that advocates of The Center seem to have found supporters on City Council. To recap, the issue here centers on an agreement The Center worked out with former Mayor Lewis Cutrer in 1963 to lease the land at West Dallas and Shepherd for 99 years. Under the agreement, The Center would pay the city...
Good morning, Houston. You know what the problem is around this town? We'll tell you: mismatched news racks. But never fear — City Council is trying to save us. Under an ordinance presented to council this week, newspaper vendors would have to make their racks relatively the same size, keep them clean and in working order and paint them all the same color: forest green (we had some details back in the summer). The reaction?...
Via Off the Kuff, it seems some residents along West Alabama are wondering when they're going to get their old street back — you know, the pre-Spur 527 reconstruction version, sans contraflow lane and with the old bike lanes back in place. Alabama between Spur 527 and Shepherd, you may remember, was reconfigured to better handle increased traffic expected while the spur and parts of the Southwest Freeway were under construction. Originally, the street had...
If you've got an opinion, city council wants to hear it. Starting tonight with M.J. Khan, city council members will be hosting public meetings to garner comments on the city's budget for 2008, the 2008-2013 Capital Improvement Plan, and the 2007 Annual Consolidated Plan. Houstonist highly encourages participation in local politics.
On what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 78th birthday, some Houstonians are saying the city hasn't done enough to commemorate the life of the civil rights leader through the years. Sure, there's the street in southeast Houston that bears his name and there's the bust of MLK at Bricker Park, but maybe that's not enough for a city like Houston. By this time next year, the Chronicle reports, at least two groups hope...
City Council took the first step Monday toward an ordinance that could restrict where registered sex offenders live, requiring them to live a certain distance from schools, churches and parks and preventing clusters of offenders from living in residential neighborhoods. "You don't have alcoholics living next to a liquor store, and you certainly don't want to have five or six sex offenders living in a neighborhood with children," Andy Kahan with the mayor's crime victims...
More on Houston's newly expanded smoking ban: Everyone knows the ordinance prohibits smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, but what's still sort of unclear is where people will be able to smoke under the new law. That's because of potential vagueness in the exceptions to the ordinance, which include outdoor patios, private rooms in nursing homes, tobacco shops, cigar bars and designated rooms in meeting facilities during private functions.
Three months after the investigation into serious problems at HPD's crime lab was put on hold for lack of funding, not a lot has changed: The probe still isn't funded, and it looks like the city might not be willing to turn loose of the $1.5 million needed to complete it.
Not surprisingly, U.S. Rep. John Culberson's announcement last week that he won't support a proposal to run a light rail line down Richmond Avenue has sent Metro into something of a tailspin: The agency has now pushed the date it expects to recommend an alignment for the University Line back a few weeks while it conducts cost and ridership estimates for a variety of routes that would take the line from the Third Ward...
Back in March, we talked about how the city was getting ready to re-bury some bones unearthed 20 years ago during construction at the HFD complex off Houston Avenue and Dart Street. The fire department office/training facility was built in the 1960s on top of the old City Cemetery, where Houstonians of all stripes (including quite a few Confederate soldiers) were buried between about 1840 and 1870. UH anthropologist Ken Brown, who had criticized the city for continuing to dig after the bones were found, took the remains to his lab to study them. What happened for the next 20 years isn't clear: The city claims Brown hung onto the bones, but Brown says he asked the city to re-bury them and nothing ever happened. Whatever the case, the bones were forgotten until City Councilwoman Ada Edwards heard about them and led a push to have them buried again.
More info today on the criticism of HPD Chief Harold Hurtt that we talked about yesterday: There's more of it coming from City Council, and the chief has struck back — well, sorta.
Despite the allegedly gang-related murder of a teen boy in broad daylight at Chew Park on Tuesday — and the memories of crime that used to plague the area — residents of the neighborhood near Dunlavy and the Southwest Freeway say they still feel safe. Mostly. Over the last few years, run-down apartment complexes in the blocks around the former Dunlavy Park had been torn down and replaced with upscale townhomes. Older houses were restored,...
There's nothing quite like a good City Council rumble to close out the week, and we had one Wednesday courtesy of the national immigration debate — more specifically, a local plan to renew city funding to a day-labor site. The flap started after some councilmembers delayed a vote on the federally funded $100,000 contract that would allow Neighborhood Centers to continue running the site in the Second Ward where day laborers wait for jobs. The...
So if you fly out of Hobby Airport often, you might want to take note of the $3 fee on each ticket you might have to start paying later this year. It's a charge City Council approved yesterday to put the burden of extreme budget overruns off on the traveling public. Yep, that's right: You, too, will have the privilege of helping finance the Hobby renovation and expansion project.
You've probably heard the stories about a Houston hospital that was built on top of an old cemetery — but you might not know the stories were actually true, and that a fire department facility also stands on top of the dead folks. The site is off Elder Street just northwest of downtown; Jeff Davis Hospital was built there in 1924 over the City Cemetery, which was used between 1840 and around 1900. In the 1960s, HFD built an office/training complex next door to the old hospital. The old cemetery last came up — no pun intended — in 1986, when workers were digging a utility trench at the fire department property and unearthed the remains of 27 people.
Houston Port Commissioner Cheryl Thompson-Draper is under fire for a racist remark she allegedly made in Shanghai last year — but it seems her comment wasn't much of an issue until she made a county commissioner mad.
« Previous
1
Next »