Good morning, Houston. In the mood for a really, really bad promotional video? It's your lucky day: May we introduce you to "The Metro Report", a quasi-Colbert Report-style production in which a host, Elliot Roberts, "interviews people on the street" about why they love riding public transportation. Which makes us wonder: Where'd Metro find all these people? Oh, right, they're actually actors — and, according to KTRK's Wayne Dolcefino, this bit of self-promotion cost......

The Metro board approved a $77.3 million agreement yesterday that's a step toward construction of four new rapid transit lines — the first step in a construction project that's estimated to cost more than $1 billion. Under the contract, Washington Group Transit Management Co. will begin work on the early design and construction of four transit corridors: north, from UH-Downtown to Northline Mall; southeast, from downtown to Palm Center; East End, from downtown to......

A Metro police officer is in trouble this week for something we rarely hear about: His K9 partner bit a random student on the campus of Madison High School on Thursday. It happened when Officer John Wiggins, who works part-time in security at Madison, left campus, got Vigo, the dog, and brought him back to the school — something he hadn't done before. It was after classes had let out for the day, so Wiggins......

Not surprisingly, U.S. Rep. John Culberson's announcement last week that he won't support a proposal to run a light rail line down Richmond Avenue has sent Metro into something of a tailspin: The agency has now pushed the date it expects to recommend an alignment for the University Line back a few weeks while it conducts cost and ridership estimates for a variety of routes that would take the line from the Third Ward......

More than 20 area firefighters have been questioned about a series of arsons in east Harris County; officials say two Cloverleaf firefighters are suspected of setting, then responding to, fires in at least two buildings A Texas Department of Corrections employee was run over by a bus this morning while she was transporting prisoners downtown; the extent of her injuries isn't known If Galveston has to be evacuated ahead of a major hurricane, 100 air-conditioned......

Metro is ready to take another step toward its proposed intermodal transit station on the north end of downtown: The Chronicle reports today that the agency is working on a deal with Union Pacific to buy nine acres of the Hardy Rail Yard. The Metro board voted yesterday to negotiate the purchase for the combined light rail/bus/commuter rail station that was proposed earlier this year. The land Metro has its eye on is adjacent to......