Good morning, Houston. Sure, the national economy may be going to hell in a handbasket, but look on the bright side: Houston's housing market is remaining pretty strong, so at least you homeowners have something of value! According to a new report, the median home value in Houston fell just $500 between the end of the third quarter 2007 and the end of the year, to $119,300 from $119,800 — still a gain of......

Good morning, Houston. Remember Mayor Bill's agreement with Clear Channel that would result in the removal of nearly 900 billboards across the city? Well, it's not necessarily a done deal after all: On Wednesday, six City Council members voted to delay the plan, saying they still had questions about its ramifications. The problem, they said, was that the deal would allow Clear Channel to move remaining billboards: "We're allowing new billboard locations to pop......

Good morning, Houston. Have you ever wondered why our freeways have multiple names — for example, I-45 south of downtown is also called the Gulf Freeway, the section through downtown is the Pierce Elevated and the part north of downtown is the North Freeway? Yeah, we have, too — and it seems we're not alone: The Chronicle's Tex-Arcana column tackled that question this weekend. The answer? In Houston, at least, the names tell where......

Good morning, Houston. In case you didn't hear yesterday, we'll soon see the end of an era in air travel: Beginning Oct. 2, Southwest Airlines will assign passengers a place in line based on the order in which they check in. That means no more of the airline's (in)famous "cattle call" boarding process, which means there's no longer any point in arriving at the airport 16 hours early to get in the A group......

Good morning, Houston. Did you watch last night's Emmy Awards show with bated breath? Yeah, neither did we. If you want to check out the winners, the Chron has a nice cheat sheet that will bring you up to speed for today's water cooler conversation. We did get to wondering where the name "Emmy" came from though, and turned to Wikipedia to ease our minds. Turns out it's a feminization of the word "immy,"......

It looks like there's some Texas pride lacking over at 901 Bagby. Vending machines at City Hall will soon be taken over by Dr. Pepper, which originated in Waco, and some council members are not too pleased that their precious Coke and Pepsi will be difficult to come by. They did tactfully refrain from comparing Dr. Pepper to liquid manure though. But how can they complain at all? Two years ago, the council approved a......

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt made an appearance before a City Council committee yesterday to explain his proposed new chase policy, which concerned city leaders because it would bar officers from chasing suspects who refuse to stop for minor violations. But the policy is really nothing to worry about, Hurtt told councilmembers — the problem is, it's just misunderstood. "We are not telling our officers not to pursue individuals," Hurtt said. "If the officer is only......

Remember City Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck's idea about running the University light rail line along the north side of the Southwest Freeway between Mandell or Dunlavy and Edloe? The one that would reportedly require the demolition of between 50 and 75 homes and part of Chew Park? Yeah, well, Clutterbuck says she's sorry for any confusion, but she didn't really mean she wanted to send the rail line through any neighborhoods — what she would like......

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......

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. From City Council, there are calls for Hurtt to explain what taxpayers are getting for the money they're spending on police protection, KTRH reports. Councilwoman Ada Edwards said she would like to see data showing where funding to HPD should be spent,......

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. Southwest Airlines, the major carrier......