"We gon' rock it till the wheels fall off," the poet Nate Dogg once said. If he was referring to the Houston Texans' 2007 season (and we have no reason to believe that he wasn't), then the rocking will soon cease, as the wheels are at very least wobbling their way out of place as a prelude to actually falling off. The annual optimism has given way to the annual draft speculation, as the never-ending......

In our Retailist 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! Oolala Gifts (833 Studewood) is the kind of happy-place that makes you want to celebrate obscure holidays, if only for extra excuses to s.h.o.p. We file Oolala in with our favorite Heights shops - as it has the funky......

Opening statements began Tuesday in the trial of Quintin Wiggins, the former Texas Southern University CFO who is among those indicted on charges of misspending state money at the university — and, not surprisingly, Wiggins' attorney claims that what appeared to be the mishandling of funds was really just Wiggins carrying out orders from his bosses. Wiggins is accused of misdirecting more than $200,000 in public funds toward furniture, landscaping and a home security system......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Overpaid Teachers Saga Remember last week when we mentioned that HISD overpaid some employees because of a computer glitch? Well, we also found out that HISD is now asking for that money back and the head of the local teachers union is saying no way. Are You Experienced? New Cingular Retail Outlet Amidst crosstown traffic, AT&T has unveiled a new face in the wireless storefront community.......

Could perception of HISD's merit-based bonus program get any worse? Yes, of course: Today, most of the district's principals will be getting bonuses, with Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra taking home a whopping $67,000 in extra pay. As you might imagine, the news isn't sitting well with teachers and staff members who already feel slighted by the bonus scheme. At least 250 principals — that's 83 percent of the principals in HISD, according to the Chronicle —......

So here's something you might want to take note of: CenterPoint wants to make some massive increases to the fees it charges for basic services. No, really, they're big. CenterPoint wants to increase what it calls 'miscellaneous service charges.' The current fee for an initial connection is $5, but it would increase to $40. If a customer wants to move a gas meter, the fee would jump from the current $50 charge to $350. "These......

When we heard that former TSU President Priscilla Slade — who was fired and indicted for allegedly spending nearly $2 million in university funds on personal expenses — was back on campus this semester teaching accounting, we can't say we were really surprised. After all, very little about TSU surprises us anymore. But we did think it was an extremely bad PR move for the troubled university, and we apparently weren't alone: Fearing Slade could......

It must be nice to be Jennifer Silva: In April, the Katy elementary school teacher was fired for taping kids' mouths shut to keep them quiet. In June, the state said she had to be re-hired or given $40,000 because the Katy school district didn't give her due process during a hearing on the issue. And now — you guessed it — Silva is walking away with the $40K and a new job. The Katy......

Remember Jennifer Silva, the Katy elementary school teacher who was fired in April for taping students' mouths shut? Well, she's back in the news: On Wednesday, the Texas Education Agency ruled that Silva must be given her job back or paid her $40,000 annual salary because the Katy school district didn't give her due process during an appeal hearing on April 24. TEA Chief Deputy Commissioner Robert Scott ruled that the school district violated due......

We remember our first job, working at a suburban Houston mall. We proudly negotiated the hourly rate up to $5.00 an hour, contingent on us doing a good job for the first month, during which we would make a whopping $4.75 and hour. Soon after, in 1997, the federal minimum wage was raised to $5.15. Apparently that’s a number the federal government has felt good about, because the minimum wage hasn’t been raised since. (If......

The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority is expected to name Janis Schmees, acting head of the San Antonio convention and visitors bureau, its new leader today. Sports authority Chairman Billy Burge said he expects the group's board will unanimously approve Schmees at its meeting today, letting her get on with the business of getting more big-name sporting events to town and paying off the $1 billion in bond debt for Houston's stadiums. "We hope she can......

Houston, we have liftoff! The Astros and ESPN are reporting that Roger Clemens' retirement will be officially put on hold — again — much to the dismay of batters and Yankee, Ranger and Red Sox fans. Clemens will be paid a pro-rated salary of $22 million, so when he returns to the Astros around June 22, he'll get just under $13 million for the rest of year — approximately $3.25 million each month of......

Newsday is reporting this afternoon that Roger Clemens has signed a one-year deal with the Astros that could be worth about $10.5 million depending on when he returns to the field. The 'Stros will reportedly pay the 43-year-old pitcher $3.5 million a month under the deal. If it works out, the contract will end months of speculation about whether Clemens would stay with the Astros, go to another team — the Yankees, Red Sox and......

The Texas Southern University regents will hold an emergency meeting this afternoon to decide the fate of TSU President Priscilla Slade, who's under fire for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized expenditures she made while in office. The meeting was originally set for May 5, but regents decided to move it up — perhaps as a reaction to the bizarre, carefully orchestrated "media campaign" Slade began last week. It's been interesting — not unexpected,......

The buzz continues on whether or not Roger Clemens will rejoin the Astros for another (partial) season. Seeing the Rocket as a guest at the Texas Ranger’s opening day made us all a little nauseous, but he’s also still in talks with the Red Sox and Yankees, also. As we noted before, the trouble began late last year when the Astros passed on offering Clemens salary arbitration. In a recent interview, Clemens noted, “If......

Maybe things aren't so bad for everyone's favorite soon-to-be-former congressman after all: Tom DeLay will be able to start drawing nearly $67,000 a year in pension as soon as he retires. DeLay will get a total of about $1.3 million in pension payments over the next 20 years and will be eligible for the federal retirees' health plan, all of which won't be affected by any convictions he may face. Members of Congress are eligible......

So it looks like the Astros may have to fight to get the money from their insurance claim on Jeff Bagwell. The team had sought $15.6 million of the $17 million in salary it had promised Bagwell, who announced this weekend that he may be out of baseball for good, but the claim might have been hurt by the team's decisions to keep the injury-plagued first baseman in through the World Series in the fall......

More developments in the soap opera that is the mayor pro tem's office: Two former employees talked to the media Monday, one who was fired earlier this month for taking what officials say were unauthorized payraises and bonuses and another who was let go months ago under odd circumstances. Christopher Mays, who was among the four pro tem employees dismissed in the payroll scandal, told KPRC yesterday that his signature had been forged several times......

Another day, another story from City Hall: This time, another seemingly forged mayor pro tem memo has been found, but this time it bears the initials of former City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Gordon Quan. The memo, dated December 2005, authorizes $2,500 for a newsletter, but Quan and his former office manager said the initials on it aren't his. "It wasn't really even close to my initials," Quan said. Quan was mayor pro tem......

Rosita Hernandez, one of the mayor pro tem office employees who lost their jobs last week over a payroll scandal, appealed her dismissal today, maintaining that she did nothing wrong. As Hernandez's attorney, Walter A. Boyd III, said: "Simply getting a bonus or simply getting a raise, the last time I checked, was not a violation of the law. It's only if it's unauthorized." He added, "That's the crux of the issue we have today,......

Yao Ming is not only the tallest player on the Houston Rockets roster, but he’s also heads above everyone else on the 2006 Forbes’ Chinese Celebrity List (yes, Virginia, there is a China edition of Forbes magazine). This is Yao's third year to top the list, which is complied by comparing fortune, fame, media and popularity (wow, it sounds like junior high). We learned that Yao is worth approximately $20 million, from salary and endorsements......

Local TV stations are reoprting that Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado has decided to temporarily step down from her position after the results of an investigation into illegal bonuses and raises her employees took were released today. "I intend to temporarily … step aside from the office of the mayor pro tem pending the outcome of the grand jury investigation," Alvarado said at a press conference this afternoon. Details of the report from the city's......

More news from the mayor pro tem's office this morning: In addition to more than $130,000 in unauthorized bonuses, employees there also seem to have given each other $60,000 in pay raises during Carol Alvarado's two-year yerm as mayor pro tem. The raises, which ranged from 11 percent to 64 percent, were found in records released to the Chronicle yesterday. The two highest-paid employees — who also got most of the bonus money now under......

One of the city employees involved in the bonus scandal in the mayor pro tem's office gave an interview to KPRC this afternoon, very vaguely pointing the finger at Mayor Pro Tem and City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado. Florence Watkins, who has worked for the city for nearly 12 years, said she knew she was wrong for taking a share of $130,000 in unauthorized pay bonuses, but she thought she had earned the money. Her salary......

Former Enron investor relations head Mark Koenig went on the defense yesterday as Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling's lawyers tried to attack his credibility by asking why he didn't get himself fired. Last week, Koenig testified to prosecutors that he helped artificially inflate Enron's profits to fool investors and analysts — and he said Lay and Skilling were active in that deception. Which left the natural question for the defense: Why didn't Koenig tell anyone,......

Houstonist is usually the model of kindness and charity, but there are some people who make us want to kill: the ones who nearly kill us cutting in lines of traffic, for example, or Britney Spears. Right up at the top of that list are people who talk on their cell phones during movies. After we drop a month's salary on a movie ticket, popcorn and a drink, the last thing we want to hear......

If you spent any time last week reading Gothamist's coverage of the NYC transit strike and got to wondering whether something similar could ever happen in Houston, Metro Chairman David Wolf had reassurances for you in a letter to the Chronicle on Sunday: In August, we approved a three-year agreement with operators, mechanics and cleaners that gave union members yearly wage increases, increased contributions for benefits and significant pension increases without sacrificing sound financial principles.......

Sure, Roger Clemens gave the Astros the disguised finger, but that doesn't mean he harbors any ill will toward the Bayou City. On the contrary, he's going to give us just what we need: a restaurant. Some time in May, the pitching phenom will open Roger Clemens' Rocket Sports Grill in Memorial City Mall, not far from his Memorial area home. Clemens won't just slap his name on the place and stay away, according to......

So it's happened: The Astros decided yesterday not to offer Roger Clemens salary arbitration, meaning Clemens cannot re-sign with the team before May 1. But it doesn't mean Clemens won't be back. And it doesn't mean he will, either. As Houstonist noted Tuesday, nobody knows exactly what Clemens is going to do. That's exactly why the Astros couldn't wait for Clemens to announce whether he plans to rejoin the team next season. If they had,......

At Westbury High, a catfight between evacuees and local students led to 27 arrests and one extremely minor injury With a few hours to go until the Astros' deadline to offer Roger Clemens salary arbitration, there are murmurs that the 'Stros will be setting the Rocket free The freeze line tonight should stay north of Huntsville and College Station, meaning cold rain for Houston but potentially icy conditions in Central and North Texas The 5th......