Results tagged “thechronicle”

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.

>> 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?

Local Tech News in a compact, digital format.

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.

West Texas, specifically Marfa, may be No Country for Old Men, but it certainly seems to be the place for making Academy Award winning films. Speaking of winning, one lucky Houston Fiesta shopper hit it big in the Texas Lotto.

>> 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...

Rice junior Matthew Wilson, 20, is still missing, and while authorities are not treating the case as foul play, concern is growing. Wilson, whose car is gone but who left his cell phone in the apartment he shares with a roommate, often goes into near-isolation around finals period, say those who know him. His roommate, upon not seeing him for several days, assumed he had merely missed him on his way to or from the library, but Wilson turned in none of the four finals for the semester (which would have been due December 19th).

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. Hey, guess who's having a birthday today? Well, OK, it's technically not Houstonist — our second birthday was back on Nov. 20, but we figured that if the queen can have two birthdays, so can we. And so we're throwing ourselves a little birthday party tonight, and you're all invited. It starts at 6 p.m. at Monsoon Wok, Lamar at San Jacinto (yes, street parking is free downtown after 6). Six...

Good morning, Houston. Did you know that we're now in a bold new Fluorescent Age thanks to Mayor Bill White and his colleagues in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso? The collective His Honors gathered in San Antonio on Friday to name the compact fluorescent bulb the "state bulb of Texas." If that doesn't make you want to switch to CFLs, try this: December is Compact Fluorescent Light Month in Texas. What's so...

The Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo publicly stated opposition to the proposed redevelopment of the Astrodome into a hotel and convention center. Giving the reason that it would have negative effects on the Texans and the HLSR, spokesfolks didn't actually release details yet to back it up. Since the Astros' abandonment of the Astrodome, it has been tough to try to agree and finance good uses for it year-round. The hotel and...

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...

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Keyboard Reviews Dwight Silverman over at The Chronicle has reviewed a couple of keyboards. One from Microsoft and another from Logitech. Check out his article for the lowdown on this new hardware. Raawwr! Leopard Unleashed The latest OS from Mac, Leopard 10.5 is on the loose. JKOnTheRun, Dwight Silverman and Dr. Mac have all recently run articles on this revolutionary new operating system from Apple. Metro...

With the wounds from the Texans' loss to the Jaguars still fresh this morning, let's browse the blog world and see if there's any good news to be found. - Here we go. Rick Adelman + Rafer Alston = BFF. OMG ROFL. ;) - The Chronicle picks up a new blogger/editiorial columnist. It's always amusing to watch a non-Houston native try to put their finger on the pulse of this city's schizophrenic sports fans. It's...

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...

Good morning, Dynamo fans. Ready to see the Orange in the MLS playoffs again? Well, playoff tickets will go on sale at 10 this morning. Depending on where the Dynamo finish in the standings, the team will play in the Western Conference semifinal match at Robertson Stadium either Oct. 27 or Nov. 3; pick your tickets up at Ticketmaster or the Dynamo's website. >> The scandal effect: TSU's enrollment has fallen to its lowest...

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Comcast Raises Your Rates In October Get ready to dig deeper to pay your cable bill because the amount you pay will be going up. Yes, that's right, Comcast will be raising your cable rates starting with your October bill. How much is this rate increase? Comcast says bills are going up 6.1% for all its subscribers. What are you getting for this 6.1% increase? Increased...

Today’s Photo of the Day comes from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor eschipul. It's everybody's favorite technology writer and author, Dwight Silverman of The Chronicle and Technology Bytes fame striking a pose in the bowels of the Chronicle building in front of the old presses. The old presses are no longer used since the paper is now printed in the old Post building off of 59 and 610. If you have a passion...

Good morning, Houston. Pardon us, but we seem to have lost our phone number. Can we borrow yours? Yeah, we know — it's lame. And apparently we're not the only one with a bad pickup line: Houston is the country's 14th best city for singles, according to Forbes magazine. We lag behind Dallas-Ft. Worth (No. 9) and Austin (No. 12), but we're far ahead of San Antonio (No. 28). On the bright side, Houston...

More on Hines' proposed 47-story downtown skyscraper: The Chronicle has some details about the building and its design, and it looks like it really could be something different for the CBD. Plans call for the 630-foot building to be clad in glass, with the west facade featuring projecting vertical glass fins to shade offices from afternoon sunlight. Near the top of the building, on its east side, will be a notched opening that'll shelter...

The Chronicle reported yesterday on Harris County's plans to demolish two of its buildings to make way for another amazing county plaza. Fair enough — the county has a lot of buildings, and apparently we could always use another plaza. The problem is that the two structures that are potentially on the chopping block — the former District Attorneys Building at 201 Fannin and the Family Law Center at 1115 Congress — happen to be...

HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra announced Thursday that the district needs an $805 million bond issue this November to repair and replace aging schools — but the HISD trustees are expected to vote next Thursday on whether to put the issue on the ballot. Think that isn't much time to learn the details of a pretty big amount of money? You're not the only one: "I'm concerned about the timeline," school board member Greg Meyers told...

Good morning, Houston. Sure, we've had a lot of rain, but there haven't been any hurricane scares yet — so it's pretty easy to overlook the fact that we're headed into the peak of the 2007 hurricane season. Not that easy, though: The Chronicle's Eric Berger reminds us that there's still some storm activity in the Atlantic, including a system 650 miles east about 650 miles east of the southern Windward Islands that could...

Everywhere we turn, we see new homes being built in the inner-city. Unfortunately, many of these are new homes (or townhomes, in many instances) where some historic houses and bungalows once sat. However, if the latest news in real estate holds true for the rest of the year, we may finally see a dramatic slow down in new homes being built. The Chronicle is reporting that new home sales have fallen 18 percent in the...

Good morning, Houston. Where do you go when you want to get away? The Chronicle asked some of its readers that and published their answers Friday — and it's not such a bad list, with day trips, museums and natural attractions. (Also on the list: the mausoleum at Forest Park Westheimer cemetery, which definitely takes a certain kind of person to enjoy.) The suggestion we're most interested in checking out is ex-state Rep. Debra...

Remember Dan Duncan, the founder of pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners and the richest man in Houston? He's in the news again today, but this time it isn't for his wealth. Instead, Duncan may face criminal charges connected with a 2002 hunting trip in Siberia; it seems Duncan shot and killed a moose and sheep from a helicopter during the trip, a practice that's illegal in Russia. And though no complaints or charges were filed...

More information in the story of Sonoma, the giant mixed-use development being planned for a two-block site in the Rice Village: The Chronicle reports that the city has released the appraisals for the 2400 block of Bolsover Street, and there's a little bit of variation between the two — about a half-million dollars' worth, to be specific. The appraisals — for $913,171 and $1,460,340 — pertain to Lamesa Properties' plans to buy that stretch of...

Remember back in May, when news broke about the possibility of building a new stadium for the Houston Dynamo downtown? Back then, everyone said negotiations between the city and the Dynamo would wrap in in -mid-July — but now that we're actually in the middle of July, that's changed. The new target for an announcement, the Chronicle reports, is September — but that doesn't mean talks are breaking down, apparently. "We believe we've made some...

The Chronicle had a story this weekend about Houston's coming municipal Wi-Fi network: The network, which will be built and operated by EarthLink, will have the latest security features when it's completed in 2009 — but it'll be up to users to download and install security software to make sure they're protected. But will they? That's the question we'll have to wait for an answer to, especially where it concerns people who haven't really used the Internet before. "You have to educate people about what the threats are," Wi-Fi expert Craig Settles said. "You can educate them and educate them, and you hope it sticks."