Good morning, Houston. Sure, the national economy may be going to hell in a handbasket, but look on the bright side: Houston's housing market is remaining pretty strong, so at least you homeowners have something of value! According to a new report, the median home value in Houston fell just $500 between the end of the third quarter 2007 and the end of the year, to $119,300 from $119,800 — still a gain of......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • Say goodbye to the trees on Kirby. Out of approximately 175 trees along Kirby only eight will be relocated, the rest will meet their demise in the wood chipper. • In other tree news, 500 volunteers planted close to 3000 trees along North Shepherd. • A 21 year old man is dead and a veteran Precinct 6 officer is fighting for his......

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As the Texans 2007 campaign draws to a close on Sunday against the Jaguars, putting a bow on top of the most improved season in franchise history, we can look back at the highlights and lowlights. Pros: Mario Williams, the rock solid consistency of healthy Andre Johnson, Mario Williams, rookies Fred Bennet and Abomi Okoye, Mario Williams, possible tradebait Sage Rosenfels, Mario Williams, the revived Ron Dayne, Mario Williams, DeMeco Ryans' appearance on the national......

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......

We like to peruse YouTube for interesting videos that pertain to Houston. Today we have come across this classic gem of Stevie Ray Vaughan playing slide guitar as he performs the national anthem at the Astrodome back in 1985. We hope you enjoy this short clip. Rest in peace, Stevie.......

::Danielle Reich Trio at King Biscuit:: We saw this and we couldn't remember the last time we stopped by Height's area neighborhood pub & grub, King Biscuit. So we decided to swing back by tonight to see jazz artist, Danielle Reich. It's been too long. They probably miss us. Right? Riiiiiight. A regular at The Black Swan in the Omni Hotel, Danielle plays weekly with a trio at King Biscuit in The Heights. A veteran......

Good morning, Houston. Imagine it: a penthouse apartment in the Galleria area, complete with your own personal dome. Nice — and did we mention it's free? Or at least it is for one guy who's been squatting in the attic of an Uptown business: According to KTRK, he's set up a pretty sweet pad, with cable, a flat-screen TV, surround sound, air conditioning and a bathroom. It's a pretty sweet deal for the guy,......

It's an annual rite of fall, the one time each year that people in Houston care about Rice football. Yes,tonight in Austin, the number 8 ranked Texas Longhorns will play the Rice Owls in what promises to be a blowout football game. Longhorn fans and alumni from across the city will descend on the sports bars in droves, ready to feast on the blood of the Owls, who are just happy for the national tv......

Bad news for Houston schools: according to federal ratings, 737 schools across Texas (including 155 in the Houston area) fall short of national standards set by No Child Left Behind. Those numbers are up a whopping 36 percent of last year - but why? HISD's low graduation rate could be to blame. Last year, the district graduated just 67% of students, a little below the national requirement of 70% (which still seems remarkably low to......

Face the Music: An Evening of Jazz Dedicated to Fighting AIDS in Africa A college student-led nonprofit organization that raises funds to eradicate AIDS in Africa will hold a fundraising benefit concert tonight at Red Cat Jazz Cafe [924 Congress St.] in Downtown Houston. The University of Texas at Austin branch of FACE AIDS is coordinating the concert featuring five local college student jazz musicians who graduated from the High School for the Performing and......

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. Don't telemarketers and bill collectors know that the long pause when you answer the phone or the (even worse) "please hold for an important announcement" greeting is just a signal to immediately hang up? They're already inhibited by caller id. Why do they make it even harder on themselves? -- Jeff Balke, Houston A lot of things don't make much sense, Jeff. Why......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Good morning, Houston. The AP reports on an interesting phenomenon: According to preschoolers, anything tastes better if it's wrapped in McDonald's packaging — even carrots, milk and apple juice. The study was done by Stanford University researcher Tom Robinson, whose subjects were 63 low-income children aged between 3 and 5; Robinson's conclusion was that the kids' perception of foods' taste was "physically altered by the branding." Anyone want to make the argument that marketing......

Good morning, Houston. Noticed a sharp increase in the number of mosquitoes this summer? You will, observers say — and now, Harris County's first confirmed 2007 human case of West Nile virus has been reported. Break out the insect repellent, check up on the West Nile symptoms and do your best not to get stung — although, these days, we guess that's about like saying "stay out of the humidity." >>A break in Gearen......

Good morning, Houston. You know what today is, right? It's the day before what's apparently the most important book in the history of the world, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released. If you're a Harryhead and a fan of Katy, our neighbor to the west, you should be delighted to know that Katy has been named the "Harryest" town in Texas — the distinction that goes to the town that pre-ordered the......

MFA's Artful Thursday: Shakespeare's Friends, The Illustrated Version Lecture by Kate Emery Pogue Timed oh so conveniently with next week's start of the Houston Shakespeare Festival, the MFA welcomes Kate Emery Pogue, playwright, Shakespearean actress, teacher, producer, and director for a discussion and story telling based on her book, Shakespeare's Friends . Founder of the Drama Department at Houston Community College Central Campus and former Artistic Director of the Shakespeare-by-the-Book Festival, she is the author......

Get ready with your jokes about a really big wedding: According to the Chinese state press, Houston Rocket Yao Ming will marry his girlfriend of eight years in August. Yao, 27, and Ye Li, 25, met in 1999 when Yao was playing for the Shanghai Sharks men's team and Ye was playing for the club's women's team. Since then, Ye — who's 6 feet, 2 inches tall herself — has gone on to play for......

So, Houston cable subscribers, the much-talked-about day is here: Today, Time Warner cable service in the city officially becomes Comcast cable service. Feel any different yet? You probably won't unless you go looking for the TV Guide Channel or west coast feeds of the Disney Channel and Encore, which have been dropped from the cable lineup. In their place are 20 new channels, some of which KHOU has listed: high-definition versions of Starz, The Golf......

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network. It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by......

Good morning, Houston. Remember Radar, the adorable Channel 2 weather dog? If you're a Ken Hoffman reader, we can't imagine how you'd forget. It turns out someone in Tyler was a big fan of the idea: a TV station there has their own weather dog, Stormy. Stormy serves a function similar to Radar's and also wears an American flag bandana and takes ridiculous pictures. Just another reason to be glad you don't live in......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

Finally! After sixteen straight weeks of increases, gasoline prices have finally dropped across Texas. That's not to stay it still won't cost you $60 or $70 to fill up your gas-guzzling SUV though, because they've only dropped to an average of $3.05 in 11 Texas cities. On the bright side, that's three cents down from last week and still 14 cents below the national average. Gas prices are still about a dollar higher than they......

So there's an interesting side effect to downtown's booming office-space market — interesting, that is, for folks who park downtown. According to an annual central business district parking survey (yes, apparently there really is such a thing), increased occupancy in downtown office buildings is pushing the price of downtown parking up. Last year, the median price for a reserved downtown parking space was $225 a month, up 6 percent from 2005; for expensive spots, the......

Good morning, Houston. When we hear the words "concrete canoe," two other words come to mind: "doesn't float." But our instincts are wrong: Concrete canoes can be seaworthy, and one created by University of Houston engineering students floats so well that it's headed for the national concrete canoe competition in Seattle. The national contest is set for mid-June, and it could lead the team to a spot in the international competition in Holland in......

Good morning, Houston. Can Texas gas prices get any higher? Well, sure — they increased for the 15th straight week last week, and now they're edging toward the previous record high. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Texas last week was $2.952, just 1.2 cents short of the previous record, $2.964, which we hit after Hurricane Rita in September 2005. Houston's average price is $2.92, still lower than most major......

Good morning, Houston. According to a government report released yesterday, the national average price for a gallon of gas rose to $2.876 last week, up 7.4 cents over last week. Bad news, eh? But here's something good: A gallon of gas is, in general, a lot cheaper than that in Houston. Not that it's cheap or anything — according to reports, it'll cost you anywhere from $2.59 to $2.99 here. Looks like we might......

University of Houston basketball legend Guy V. Lewis was voted into the newly created National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Lewis, who will be inducted in November in Kansas City, Missouri, will be part of the second ever induction class that also includes ten other inductees and featuring UCLA all-time great Kareem Abul-Jabbar. . When it came to college basketball, Lewis' ideas were always Texas big. He was the first person to put a......

Good morning, Houston. It's been a long week, but fortunately, there's not much of it left. So to get things moving on toward Friday — and because we're still smarting over not knowing Texas had two Clear Lakes — we're jumping right into the news this morning. Go! >> Enron lawyers in hot water?: Two former Enron lawyers have been charged with civil violations of securities laws for — hang on to your hat......