Although area blood supplies have been running low lately, Hurricane Ike made the need for whole blood and platelets even more dire. Four days without operational blood centers left the blood supply badly depleted as facilities housing the blood lost power and people injured by the hurricane needed what little supplies were left. It is estimated that around 900 blood donations are needed every day to keep up with current demand. If you've been......

• A fatal accident occurred this morning on Chimney Rock near Highway 90A. As of 7:30 A.M. the area around the accident has been cordoned off and traffic was being diverted. No further details are available as an investigation is under way. • Health officials are calling this latest round of the flu a "moderately severe epidemic." Flu cases are up 31% over last year and three children have already died as a result.......

Our first iMix of the year (yes, we know we missed last month, we were suffering a hangover after New Years) is a nice blend of now and then. We start off with Noah Lennox, also known as Panda Bear, with his 12 1/2 minute epic "Bros," which comes from Pitchfork's 2007 Album of the Year Person Pitch. Other recent releases include singer/songwriters Nicole Atkins, Josh Ritter, and Brett Dennen, along with one of Rolling......

A new study coming out of the Baylor College of Medicine suggests that the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy has led to real improvements in the way that the state’s middle school students eat. The findings, published in this month’s American Journal of Public Health, analyzed lunch records in south Texas middle schools before and after both district- and state-wide changes took place. The research team found that school lunches after the 2004 policy was......

::Houston NetSquared Meet Up:: The Houston Chapter of NetSquared returns tonight to kick-off another year of fascinating speakers. The Houston group recently got national props from Social Change advocate, Britt Bravo. Keep up the great work, guys! We are really excited to start the 2008 year with a wonderful guest speaker!! Kelly McCann, longtime advocate and CEO of the AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc., will be speaking about her work promoting AIDS awareness, prevention education. Kelly......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. No New Timing System For Houston Marathon Officials for the Chevron Houston Marathon have opted not to use a new timing system by Michigan-based SAI Timing and Tracking after it failed to operate correctly during a marathon in Honolulu. Chevron Houston Marathon officials have decided to stick with ChampionChip, the timing system it has used since 2000. Early Warning: HAAUG Swap Meet Mark your calendars, the......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • Ashley Benton, the 17 year old accused of murdering a 15 year old, has agreed to a plea bargain and will avoid prison time. • Former President George Bush's favorite BBQ joint, Otto's on Memorial is going to be razed to make way for new construction. There is no current date for the demise of Otto's, so go grab a Bush plate......

Good morning, Houston. We remember our days as student drivers — not bad overall, though we did have a pregnant in-car instructor who had a nasty habit of slamming on the brakes every time we passed a doughnut shop. Still, we didn't have it anywhere near as bad as the kid who passed his driver's test Monday, then crashed his car into the side of a Houston DPS office. The driver was parking his......

This past week was a study in contrasts for Houston sports fans: the Texans were idle but the Rockets played host to the most-watched basketball game in the world; the Astros made a trade that ended the Houston career of one of our biggest anti-heroes while the Dynamo set the stage for what may be Houston's first championship dynasty since the Rockets' run in the 90's. Let's take a look at what the blogs were......

Like all of us here at Houstonist, you're no doubt paying very close attention to the political unrest in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The opposition party there are the Republicans (distinguished from our Republicans from our Georgia by their lack of seersucker and combovers), and they have a very familiar logo: We for one welcome our new Eastern European football overlords. The proletariat demands better health coverage for our wide receivers, higher pay......

::Water For People Fundraiser at St. Arnold's Brewery:: Who are we to deny an event that let's us drink beer and better the lives of people all over the world? We usually like to tell ourselves that every time we drink, but this time we don't have to kid ourselves. Water For People is a nonprofit, charitable organization in the United States and Canada that helps people in developing countries obtain safe drinking water. Water......

Good morning, Houston. We admit that we have a thing for interview shows, so we thought we'd take a second to note that NBC's Meet the Press, the king of Sunday morning TV news, made its television debut 60 years ago today. Meet the Press began life as a radio show in 1945 and moved to TV a couple of years later, and it hasn't stopped since. Now, MtP is the longest-running show on......

Good morning, Houston. Seriously, what is it with North Texas these days? Yesterday we had the story of the 18-wheeler full of human heads, and today there's the Fort Worth man who accidentally shot himself in both legs in his cubicle at work. According to police, the 47-year-old man put his .45-caliber gun into his jacket pocket Tuesday morning, then draped his jacket over the back of his chair at an insurance office. When......

Good morning, Houston. Suppose you're trying to keep up with piles and piles of government reports. How can you tell when there are too many? Simple: You ask for a report, of course. That's what the Texas State Library and Archives Commission did — and in a 668-page report, the commission has declared that the state is over-reported. The commission looked at more than 170 state agencies and universities and found more than 1,600......

Somewhere, Marvin Zindler is rolling over in what is no doubt a very lavish coffin. While this article in the Chron todaylooks into the health inspections at sports venues makes no particular mention of slime or its proximity relative to the ice machine, you can be sure that Marvin would've known and would've shouted it from the rooftops. Or at least from somewhere near Dave Ward's elbow. The stadiums reviewed under the auspices of the......

In case you weren't familiar, there's a large university in Austin, with orange and white for their colors, and a big, drugged cow for a mascot. You may have also heard that their football team is usually pretty good, and that a couple years ago, they actually won a national championship in football. Their quarterback that year kinda flew under the radar, so you may not have heard about him, either: regardless, he was......

Good morning, Houston. If you've ever been to Rich's, the dance club in midtown, you probably won't be surprised to hear that the crowd there Saturday was sporting "feather boas, glittering hair accessories, sparkling dresses and tutus." But exactly who was in the crowd might take you by surprise: It was a bunch of kids there for Baby Loves Disco, part of a national series of dance events that benefit childhood cancer research. (In......

Texans DT Cedric Killings, who was almost paralyzed during Sunday's game against the Colts, arrived at the Texans practice facility yesterday, not to work out with his teammates, but to show them something none of them had expected: he was walking. A full recovery from the fractured vertebrae he suffered while attempting a tackle is expected, and he wanted the team to join in his celebration. Surgeons at Methodist Hospital stabilized Killings soon after the......

Kevin Everett may soon be a walking miracle. Just weeks after a brutal on-field collision almost killed him, and his doctors were convinced he would be a paraplegic, Everett was moved today from a Buffalo-area hospital to a rehab facility affiliated with Memorial Hermann Hospital. The goal: to have him walking within the next several weeks. A quick response by the Buffalo Bills' team doctor is credited with giving Everett the fighting chance he has......

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,"......

Good morning, Houston. These days, when everyone and their dog has a computer, it's getting harder to remember the days when all "official" writing was done on typewriters. The practical modern typewriter was invented in 1868 by an engineer named Christopher Latham Sholes, but it wasn't until 121 years ago today — Sept. 14, 1886 — that George K. Anderson of Memphis got a patent for the typewriter ribbon. They were originally made of......

This past Sunday, Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett was very nearly paralyzed in a brutal on-field collision during the Bills' game against the Denver Broncos. Doctors originally thought that chances of a full recovery were 80-90% against, with a strong possibility that he would be a quadrapeligic; today, the Port Arthur-raised Everett is moving his limbs and breathing on his own, and his family and doctors are optimistic for a full recovery. Everett played......

Good morning, Houston. As you might have noticed, we passed the night sans Humberto — but our friends in the Beaumont area weren't so lucky. The sudden hurricane made landfall early this morning and battered Beaumont with winds up to 62 mph and Orange with gusts of up to 85 mph, the Chron's Eric Berger reports. From across Southeast Texas came reports of knee-deep water, downed power lines and damaged buildings, including an apartment......

Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, in his second start of the season after Tommy John surgery, threw 97 pitches in his strongest outing since being injured last year. Showing a lot of the fire and self-criticism he's known for, Backe was not pleased with his showing, telling Astros.com: I was lucky, fortunate enough to make good pitches in big situations when the game could have gotten out of hand," he said. "But for the most......

In our Retail-ist weekly feature, we share local places to satiate your shopping needs and feed your consumerist tendencies. Have a great place for us to get addicted to? Email us and let us know! Houstonist loves shopping at places that keep us on our toes. At Sandy's Market (12171 Katy Freeway), blanking out in the middle of squeezing tomatoes might cost you a nasty run-in with a group eating in the middle of......

We wouldn't go quite so far as to say that every day is an anniversary of 9/11, but there are several events happening around the city today to remember 9/11 and its victims. So hit them up, whether you're a firefighter, a civilian, or a troofer. >> Houston Fire Museum dedicates new statue: The Houston Fire Museum will dedicate a new statue titled "In the Line of Fire" to honor firefighters everywhere. The sculpture will......

Good morning, Houston. Sure, you've heard a lot about Alamo defender Davy Crockett — but have you ever read his final letter? Soon you'll be able to see it in person: The Texas Historical Commission has bought the letter, which was discovered in a file folder last month, for $550,000. Crockett wrote the letter to his children Jan. 9, 1836, shortly after he arrived in Texas and less than two months before he died......

With 11th hour upon the citywide smoking ban taking effect (on a long weekend no less), all sorts of commentary from both sides are coming to light (no pun intended). Houstonist thought it would be only fair to have videos for and against the smoking ban...we also threw in a music video at the end for those who don't care about the issue. The music video is one of our favorites, Franz Ferdinand performing Jacqueline......

Really, it's a typical story: guy and girl go to bar with their various friends, looking to mingle. Guy and girl meet. Guy and girl have drinks. Girl invites guy home to her place to check out her bootleg Top Chef DV--wait, is that part just us? Anyway. When the guy and girl wake up the next morning, it lately seems as if they should get checked for syphilis. The Chronicle reports that Houston's trying......