Results tagged “harriscounty”

The American Lung Association has completed their annual State of the Air survey and Harris County has received failing marks. The survey tallies the number of orange, red and purple ozone days and the amount of particle pollution to arrive at the grades. What's worse? Harris County's scores for 2009 have risen in every category compared to our 2008 scores.

Houstonist defends our fair city to naysayers all the time. They say, "Houston sucks. I was stuck at the airport and then at my relatives' place in Pearland." "That's Pearland, jackass. Not Houston," we reply. "You should hang out with us instead. We'll show you our Houston." The Greater Houston Convention & Visitor's Bureau has formalized this approach in the form of the "My Houston" publicity campaign that will involve local celebrities (HELLO! Where's our invite?) telling the world about how great their Houston is. Season Two Project Runway winner Chloe Dao is onboard. That's fierce. Thanks, Miya Shay, for feeding this story to our RSS reader. You show us your Houston. We'll show you ours.

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits...

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 more than $4,000 over the 2006 year-end average of $115,700. Oh, one other thing: People from more expensive markets are apparently discovering that things are cheaper here. "Areas in Texas, which we have long characterized as undervalued, are now attracting significant migration at the expense of much higher-cost metros of California or Florida," the report said. Oh, .

Yesterday was the second of the Super Tuesdays for this Presidential Election year and included primary elections in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont. Houstonist could careless about who wins. We're just excited to see the record turnout at the polls. We all win when that happens. Congratulations, Houston, and all you Texans that don't live in our kickass town.

Good morning, Houston. If the dearth of new TV in the wake of the writer's strike has left you willing to watch .

>> Poll shows split over Clemens, McNamee: The court of public opinion currently stands divided in Harris County regarding the Roger Clemens steroid scandal according to a poll by The Chronicle. According to the results published yesterday by David Barron, 35.5 percent said believed McNamee; 32.8 percent sided with The Rocket; and, 31.7 percent did not respond. The margin of error is listed at 4.1 percent. These numbers may prove initially encouraging for Clemens with a Justice Department investigation looming in his future. However, the data seems to indicate that his support base is less educated than McNamee's. Does it really seem hard to believe that someone kept a beer can, dirty gauze and a used syringe for seven years?

Hola, Houston. It's rodeo time. Everyone get happy. Throw ya hands in the air if you love Hannah Montana! Musical acts like Montana, rather the lack of Tejano acts on the rodeo bill, are just what have folks around Houston up in arms. Former State Senator Gonzalo Barrientos is calling for "friends across the whole great state of Texas not to attend the Houston livestock show, period." According to the ABC13.com story, the issue is a lack of main stage Tejano acts on Go Tejano Day, which "celebrates Houston’s rich Hispanic heritage...features premier entertainment, plus a mariachi competition, and other activities..." Rodeo officials blame the lack of main stage performances on feedback from last years ticket holders citing that 3% of the poll group said it was due to the Tejano star booked for the event. Perhaps interest would increase if bigger name act was booked. Sounds like there should be a Tejano Idol show in the works.

Good morning, Houston. Remember the city's smoking ban, which went into effect in September? Well, so does KPRC. The station checked around and found something that will shock you to your very core: Houstonians are still smoking in bars and restaurants! No, . One of the bars Channel 2 visited was Henry Hudson's Pub on the west side, where reporters found customers and the bartender smoking — and "we even bought a pack of cigarettes out of a machine inside the pub," according to reports. We're just as surprised as you are — and as City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado is. "To be breaking the law so blatantly, obviously these people have no concern, no care, no sensitivity," she said. And no Nicorette, it would seem. KPRC reports that two city smoking inspectors have followed up on 228 complaints since the ban went into effect, which have resulted in more than 60 warnings and four citations.

>> City offers $15.5M for possible stadium site: The Chronicle reports that the city has said it'll pay more than $15.5 million for five downtown blocks that could become the site of a stadium for the Dynamo. The parcel is bounded by Texas and Walker on the north and south and Dowling and Hutchins on the east and west; it's just east of the Lofts at the Ballpark and immediately south of a vast Minute Maid Park parking lot. The city's offer assumes the land is worth $49 a square foot, which is less than an outside assessor's estimate of $50 to $55 but way, more than Harris County's appraisal of $12.50 a square foot. The offer doesn't mean a stadium on the site is a done deal, though: Andy Icken, the city's deputy director for public works and engineering, said a stadium will only be built if the city can reach an acceptable agreement with the Dynamo owners.

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits...

Good morning, Houston. Remember the plans for the Dynamo stadium on the east side of downtown? And remember Metro's plans for two new light rail lines heading out from the east side of downtown? Turns out there's a question about whether the stadium will be in the way of the rail lines — and it's not clear yet whether the proposed stadium will have an effect on the rail alignments. "We are evaluating a number of options. Any proposed solutions will be part of the ongoing process with the FTA. We do not expect this to affect the timetable for construction," Metro spokeswoman Sandra Salazar told the Chronicle. Metro maps — which Salazar said are being revised — show the East End and Southeast rail lines routed along Capitol Avenue, which runs through a site the Chronicle reported that the city and Dynamo are looking to buy for the stadium.

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits...

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits...

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits...

::Houston NetSquared Meet Up::

Good morning, Houston. Who said Barbie never did anything for anybody? She's helped make 4-year-old Phoebe Swann famous, at least for a little while: Swann recently caught a 50-pound Black Drum with a Barbie fishing rod. It happened during a family trip to Rockport; Swann was using the Barbie rod with a red plastic worm as bait when she reeled in the big fish. In case you're wondering, Swann and her dad threw the fish back — and there's no word on whether she's willing to sell the lucky pole.

Good morning, Houston. If you've ever been driving around in the 'burbs and wondered who names the streets, well, it just might be someone like Susan Vreeland-Wendt, who the Chronicle's Nancy Sarnoff interviewed yesterday. Vreeland-Wendt, marketing director for The Woodlands Operating Co., has come up with more than 1,600 names for roads, parks and neighborhoods in The Woodlands in the last 20 years. Turns out she gets inspiration from all kinds of places: paint charts, wine bottles, songs, poetry — even . "Whenever I travel I bring a note pad," she told the Chron. "It's become an obsession. After a while, you never go anywhere without noticing names of things and writing them down." Ms. Vreeland-Wendt, if you're reading, may we humbly suggest a new neighborhood called Houstonist Hills? It does have a certain ring to it ...

Good morning, Houston. We're sure you're as excited as we are to get right into this year's news, so without further ado ...

Good morning, Houston. So you say you're a Dynamo fan, eh? Well, here's your chance to prove it: The back-to-back MLS champs are auctioning off a chance to get close to the team's two MLS cups — literally. If you win the auction, the cups will be dropped off at your house on Christmas Eve and picked up Dec. 26; in between, you can do whatever you want with 'em (within reason, of course). Best of all, the money raised will benefit Casa de Esperanza, an organization that helps kids in crisis. Break out your checkbooks and bid — the auction ends at 5 p.m. today.

Good morning, Houston. As we were sitting around Monday morning contemplating using a witch's extremity to keep warm, we started to wonder exactly how cold it's gotten in the city before — and, thanks to the Internet, we know! According to the National Weather Service, the record low temperature for Houston was 5 degrees Fahrenheit, which we hit on Jan. 23, 1940. Maybe more interesting, though, is the Houston snowfall record: Turns out we haven't had any appreciable snowfall since Dec. 22, 1989, when 1.7 inches fell. That's nothing compared with the blizzard of Feb. 14-15, 1895, when a whopping 20 inches of snow fell in the city. We couldn't find any photos from that storm, but we did turn up a few Bob Bailey pictures from a snowfall on Jan. 30, 1949. Enjoy!

We're always looking for more ways to learn about our great city, so why not start at home? Not only is it interesting to know about the plat upon which you live, but it can also help to paint part of the picture of Houston's interesting, albeit short history, and there are quite a few on and offline resources to help with research. An easy way to start is to find the specific name of...

The tryptophan has worn off, we all trudge back to work, and sit down to surf the web. Between another crushing Texans loss, the Aggies poaching one of the Texans' coaches, and the Rockets finally getting their act together, it was a busy holiday season for Houston sports. Let Houstonist do the surfing for you and bring you up to speed on what the web is saying about our teams: - Ok, this is just...

Good morning, Houston. In these days of near-$3 gas, there's one group of drivers who aren't so worried: hypermilers, who use certain techniques to squeeze every possible M out of their MPG. Hypermiling involves a few pretty simple changes in the way you drive, including coasting, accelerating slowly from stops and the skillful use of cruise control. Used correctly, hypermiling can increase your car's fuel efficiency by 30 percent or more — so why...

Good morning, Houston. Well, uh here's something you don't hear about every day — but it being Halloween and all, we couldn't resist: In Hunt County, police pulled over an 18-wheeler Sunday morning and found about two dozen human heads in the back. True story. But it's not what you think: Turns out the heads (which were embalmed) were specimens used in medical training in Fort Worth, and they were headed back to a...

At Chuck E Cheese, a kid can be a kid. Not so, however, in Harris County, where we prosecute more teens as adults than do four other heavily populated Texas counties....combined. Judges and prosecutors think we can expect the number of teens in prison to increase in the coming years as well, since recent sex scandals at the Texas Youth Commission (the juvenile hall end of the law) have led to a new rule where...

Good morning, Houston. So this is what it must be like to live in California, huh? We're looking at a string of fantastic days, with highs in the lower to mid 70s and lows around 50 into the weekend. Today, expect a high of 73 with clear skies. You know what that means? We all have to spend as much time as possible outside. Yep, you have our permission to skip school and work...