The axe falls at UTMB today as the 3,000+ layoffs begin It's all about the dogs. The fate of the fighting dogs involved in the busted gambling ring hangs in the balance this morning as authorities decide whether or not they should be returned to their owners. Street racing on Westheimer results in a fatalities this weekend and spawns public outcry from locals Southwest freeway traffic got you crying in your super deluxe grande no......

3,800 UTMB staff members are being let go as the institution struggles to survive in the wake of Hurricane Ike The Ike unemployment assistance deadline has been extended to December 12th To free WiFi or not to free WiFi? That is the question facing city officials as residents attempt to figure out if they will get the service for free or if they need to actually attend programs to use the service A driver turned......

Some Houston hospitals are accused of discharging patients to local shelters, even when those patients aren't well enough to make it on their own A would-be burglar drilled through a northwest Houston woman's apartment wall yesterday morning — a good plan until the woman opened fire on him A man died Tuesday when he became pinned between railcars after one of the cars derailed At Park Memorial, the condo complex the city claims could collapse......

Today is Veteran's Day - the day America says thanks to the veterans who protect our country and our freedom Debate is raging about what constitutes art thanks to Wayne Dolcefino's report. You tell us. What is art? Extending the seawall in Galveston may help better protect the area regarding future hurricanes The Texas House of Representatives hosted a hearing on hurricane planning in the wake of Ike. Opportunities for improvement included quicker access to......

A 17-year-old Spring High School students has been arrested and charged with raping a fellow student during school last week The city has worked out the takeover of a troubled north Houston apartment complex whose managers tried to sip town Wednesday Mayor Bill White isn't happy with FEMA's response (or lack of it) to Ike victims: 'There's too much bureaucracy. People are not acting with a sense of urgency' Meanwhile, FEMA is spending its time......

Harris County voted in record numbers but the total was still lower than anticipated Election day is in the rearview but the race for Harris County DA is still up for grabs There's a new sheriff in town. Garcia says earning back trust is Job #1. Houstonians view Obama's victory as opening a door of opportunity Gun sales jump up as enthusiasts hedge against tighter control under Obama Bank robbers used deer rifles in a......

Today is election day, clowns. GO VOTE or we'll punch you in the face. We also throw a mean elbow. Using some math (carry the one...move the decimal) the Secretary of State predicts a 68% voter turn out at the polls which equates to ~9 million folks. Go get in line already. Campaign workers for McCain & Obama are amping up their efforts as the witching hour nears Pollsters and other election day officials are......

One day before the election, Houston-area voters on both sides have a case of nerves News in the story of Shannel Mosely, the woman on trial for leaving her kids home alone while she went to Africa to get married: Mosely's sister, who promised to come to Houston to look after the kids, never actually came to town — then lied about it In Montgomery County, a jogger ran across a dead body in the......

More than 427,000 people have voted early in Harris County so far this year — the most early voters on record, officials say A 13-year-old boy died Monday night when he wrapped a seat belt around his neck and pretended to choke — and then choked for real A Metro bus collided with a pickup truck at Franklin and Chartres downtown yesterday, sending five people to the hospital with minor injuries A federal grand jury......

Texas is getting $70 million in emergency funding for Ike recovery thanks to "quick release" If you've been eagerly awaiting your IRS refund or stimulus check for the past forever, you may be one 7,000 Harris County residents affected by an address error. Oops. Your bad. HISD elementary school kids do alright in Math compared to the rest of the country Ashley Todd of College Station, a campaign volunteer for John McCain working in Pittsburgh,......

FEMA trailers are being deployed to house at least 2,000 Texas families who are homeless as result of Hurricane Ike Galveston officials are preparing to dredge areas of the submerged beach to reclaim sand which will then be used to rebuild the beach front "Blue roofs! Get your blue roofs here!" Today's the last day to sign-up for the temporary home covering. Chron.com's Houston Politics blog reports that politicos are buying lists of folks who......

Houston lawyer Ted Russell Schwartz Murray was convicted of 22 counts of conspiracy, fraud and tax fraud; Murray was accused of stealing $67 million from rich investors Death row inmates have been yakking it up on cell phones, authorities found The newest estimate for Ike damage in the Houston area is in, and it totals as much as $10 billion North Forest ISD's state-appointed leaders held their first meeting yesterday, drawing a crowd that seemed......

Guess what. Hurricane Ike really stuck it to Texas (and by Texas we mean the Houston area). Damage estimates peg the figure at $11.4 billion in total damage. Clean up efforts are winding down. The City of Houston may not be reimbursed for clean-up costs that extend past October 26th. Make sure you get your debris on the curb ASAP. Check www.houstonhurricanerecovery.org for more info. Hurricane recovery is not just about debris removal. People need......

From the economic desk, authorities say the trouble on Wall Street may be partly to blame for a rash of Houston bank robberies Mayor Bill White and City Controller Annise Parker laid out a three-point plan to help the city deal with the troubled economy The Texas economy, which has been strong to this point, began to falter last month And, things are also tough for local nonprofits in these uncertain economic times DNA evidence......

Families are scrambling as the Red Cross closes the last Ike shelter in Houston. The endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles, which had been making a comeback, are also still reeling from Ike as their nesting grounds have been destroyed A Montgomery County man bagged a nice eight point buck this morning. The man happened to be a Deputy Sheriff, and the deer happened to be in an office building. UTMB is getting attention from Governor......

Timothy Shepherd was sentenced to 99 years in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend in 2007 A 27-year-old Houston woman has been jailed on charges of child endangerment, accused of leaving her three daughters — ages 4, 1 and 1 — alone all night while she was out drinking 24 HISD schools failed to meet No Child Left Behind standards this year, a statistic educators blame on a new special ed requirement The NTSB is investigating......

Houston outpaced NYC, LA, Chicago and other metropolises in terms of overall performance in a Milken Institute study reports Houston Strategies And, the New York Times counts Houston as a "Second City" for artists and creative types who can't afford to survive in The City, Miami or LA KTRK's SkyEye crashed killing the two crew members who were en route to cover breaking news Former presidents Bush and Clinton will tour areas damaged by Hurricane......

Financial markets around the world plunged yesterday as the ripple effect of the US economy continues The drastic market changes are depressing the price of oil which is a big deal for Houston - see the mid-80s The good news is that fuel prices continue to fall around Houston and the rest of Texas. Houston's average price per gallon is $3.22. We're a month in to the recovery, but there is still a lot of......

Despite promising to find cash to save their employees' jobs, most staff members at the University of Texas Medical Branch will be losing their jobs. Mayor White's registration proposal was struck down by the City Council after they concluded that the measure would penalize legit outfits while shady operations would continue being shady Most of Houston still has piles - of debris - but the city is doing a solid job of picking it up......

A fifth Ike victim has been found on Goat Island; meanwhile, at least 130 people are still missing in the hurricane's wake After UTMB decided it needed to lay off a third of its 12,000 employees, state legislators promised to find money to prevent the dismissals Traces of Tynesha Stewart's DNA were found on the apartment balcony of her boyfriend, who was accused of killing Stewart and barbecuing her body, an expert testified yesterday Interim......

Mayor Bill White wants Houston to have a million new trees. Make it happen. Environmentalists say don't cry over spilled oil. The fallout from Ike isn't beyond repair. Over half of Galveston ISD's 12 schools are back in business as of yesterday morning The SciGuy says that things aren't as bad as they could have been in Galveston Texas' official Night Out is tonight. The nationally coordinated event is designed to get neighbors to meet......

Remember when the lights were out after Hurricane Ike? Those days in the dark will cost Houston an estimated $6 billion or more And, though burying Houston's power lines sounds like a good idea in Ike's wake, doing so could cost billions of dollars — and we'd feel the impact on our electric bills Quanell X, testifying in the murder trial of Timothy Shepherd, the man accused of murdering his girlfriend, cooking her body on......

400 people are still missing due to Ike Galveston parents try to sort out an education solution for their children as the October 6th target reopening date for Galveston ISD looks aggressive Galveston is making slow progress toward recovery, but you should stay out of the water Contrary to popular belief, the Ike-related power outages have been beneficial to some - strengthening the faith of some and http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hurricane/ike/6027255.html Pioneering newsman Ray Miller died on Sunday.......

Centerpoint Energy to customers: Don't worry. We're bringing an army of repair people to your hood. The City and Centerpoint played a week-long game of Not My Job over a fallen tree tangled in powerlines in Montrose. Power was restored four days after the tree was finally removed. Houstonians beware! Identity thieves are using post-Ike conditions to dupe folks. A couple have been caught, but you can bet there are more out on the loose.......

Though we have 10 weeks left in hurricane season, there's good news: The odds are strongly against another storm hitting Texas this year Houston motorists could see a lot more traffic signals fixed in the next week, the city says Sure, the number of people with lights out was bad, but this is even worse: During Ike, Southeast Texas was pretty close to a total electrical grid shutdown Mayor Bill White has set up four......

Power update: As of last night, CenterPoint Energy had restored power to 1.58 million customers, leaving 569,000 (25%) in the dark However, most customers will have their power back by Sunday, CenterPoint says It might be November before all of Houston's traffic lights are back on, city officials say, because some signals will have to be replaced or repaired The number of Houston-area deaths attributed to Hurricane Ike has risen to 28, nine of them......

CenterPoint Energy update: 1.37 million customers have been restored as of last night, meaning 767,000 (34%) were still without power Houston electric customers could be footing the bill for upgrades to the state's power grid in the wake of Hurricane Ike Crews are working to restore Houston's traffic lights as quickly as they can — but it's a big job The Houston Texans are encouraging fans to donate to Ike relief in a campaign that'll......

First, the good news: Experts on hurricane recovery agree that Ike's aftermath is going pretty well in Southeast Texas As of Sunday night, CenterPoint Energy reported it had restored power to 1.33 million customers, meaning 803,000, or 36 percent of the company's customers, are still in the dark Also on the power front, CenterPoint has begun a process of 'neighborhood sweeps' designed to find and fix any remaining problems 90 percent of HISD's campuses will......

Here's the latest Ike-related news we could dig up — if you know something we missed, please drop us a comment. Electricity: More than 1.2 million of CenterPoint Energy's customers still didn't have power as of last night; the company is keeping to its basic timeline, indicating that many customers won't get power until next week Evacuations and water: KHOU has a list of updates on who may return where and who has to boil......

Each morning, we're doing our best to gather relevant Ike-related headlines — but if we've missed anything, please leave us a comment. Houstonist (and Houston) will thank you. Electricity: As of last night, CenterPoint Energy had restored power to 750,000 customers, meaning 62 percent are still in the dark; you can keep checking the Chronicle's electricity restoration database and CenterPoint's oddly vague map showing projected restoration dates Water: As we noted yesterday, Houston's water is......