Deer Park

Breaking News: Funnel Cloud Warning for Fort Bend County

Click 2 Houston is passing on a weather report warning of possible funnel clouds this morning in Fort Bend County. The report says that rapidly developing thunderstorms coupled with "a very buoyant atmosphere" will lead to funnel clouds. Their report follows:

Intertek Oil and Gas Workers Screwed Out of Moolah, Says Lawsuit

Local oil, gas and chemical inspectors have been getting jipped out of overtime wages, according to a collective action lawsuit that was recently granted approval by a judge in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas. According to the suit, employees for Houston-based Intertek USA ... More >>

Jason Cassidy's 10 Country Songs You Should Hear Before You Die

Tonight traditional country upstart Jason Cassidy headlines Big Texas Dance Hall & Saloon out in Clear Lake. The strip-center venue, known for it's pretty girls with painted-on jeans and copious amounts of trucks in the parking lot and a Bud Light in every hand, has been host to Cassidy many times b ... More >>

Kevin Yang: Deer Park PD Sets Up Operation to Catch Cop Stealing from Cops' Refrigerator

Take something from the typical office refrigerator, and the owner of a missing yogurt snippily whips out a Post-it or e-mail announcing that she really hopes To Whom It May Concern enjoyed it. In the Deer Park police department, they go a little more hardcore. The PD's refrigerator was routinely ... More >>

Aaron Vaughn's Wedding Band: Navy SEAL Widow Asks Houston If You've Seen It

Kimberly Vaughn, a former Washington Redskins cheerleader who married a Navy SEAL who died in Afghanistan this summer, was visiting the Houston area this weekend before flying back home to DC. Somewhere along the way, she lost her husband's wedding band, which he had given her t owear while he was ... More >>

Shell Pays $500K to County for Not Telling About Pollution Incidents

Shell pays up.​Shell Chemical has settled a threatened lawsuit over not notifying Harris County of five pollution incidents at its Deer Park plant, County Attorney Vince Ryan has announced. "The failure of a company as large and prestigious as Shell to notify the county of serious air-polluti ... More >>

Chefing Shows Come to Texas

Guess who's not coming to town!​The big food TV news from over the weekend came from San Antonio (of all places), where it was revealed that Top Chef is currently filming. The news broke when a local blogger spotted Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio in a San Antonio bar, then promptly got into a ... More >>

A-Blake Records Joins Cadre Of Local Labels

​Houston has a multitude of music within - and bleeding across - its borders. By our own quick estimate, there are about 500 active musical acts in the metropolitan area, and that's probably still a lowball speculation. With all these acts, it's only natural that yet another label would sprin ... More >>

This Week's Deals

striatic​Last Saturday I went through my online "deals" accounts, printed out the coupons I've purchased lately and put them all in a pile; it looks like a manuscript. That said, I'm ready to do it all again. Read on for today's deals: Houston Press VOICE Deal of the Day: 50 percent off at Rio ... More >>

Bryan McCarthy: Illegal-Livestreaming Defendant Gets Some Web Help

Bryan McCarthy gets some help​Bryan McCarthy, the Deer Park man arrested last week for illegally livestreaming sporting events on the Web, is getting some support. A Web-freedom group called Demand Progress says McCarthy's arrest represents "a radical shift" in federal-government policy becau ... More >>

Bryan McCarthy: Deer Park Man Arrested for Illegally Livestreaming Sporting Events

Bryan McCarthy: Channel surfing can get you arrested​Federal agents today arrested Bryan McCarthy, 32, for running a Web site that illegally livestreamed NFL games, pay-per-view fights and other sporting events. The operator of channelsurfing.net was arrested at his Deer Park home without inc ... More >>

Go Texan Day Looms: The Five Horrible Aspects

Or else​Friday is Go Texan Day, the annual marking of the beginning of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. Everyone is encouraged to dress up in western gear, or cowboy stuff, or just wear a snap-button shirt. It's a charming little tradition, and we want to fully take part by sending us pict ... More >>

Suggestive Restaurants to Get You in the Mood This Valentine's Day

The big red cock itself.​On the way to Jimmy Changa's a few weeks ago, my dining companion and I passed a country-cute little restaurant in Deer Park called Jug and Muffin. Aside from reminding me that I still want to open a pub some day called The Honk and Jiggle, we couldn't stop giggling to ... More >>

What's Closed: Your One-Stop List, Updated Throughout the Day

​The announcements of closings due to the anticipated winter storm are beginning to roll in, the most significant so far being HISD closing all its schools and offices tomorrow. We'll be keeping a list of what's closed and updating it throughout the day, so check back frequently for news. Our ... More >>

First Look at Jimmy Changas

My regular camera is in the shop. You'll have to bear with me until then.​At 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday night, the wait time at Jimmy Changas was already 45 minutes for a two-top. We tried waiting in the bar, but it, too, was jammed full of people. The smart ones had hovered near the stools, waiti ... More >>

Harris County Sues Chemical Plant Over Carcinogen Release

County attorney steps in where TCEQ won't​It's no secret that when it comes to penalizing industrial plants for violating their emissions permits and endangering public health, TCEQ (the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) is not a very tough sheriff. The state regulatory agency rarely take ... More >>

Drilling For Oil In Houston Parks: Five Things To Consider

Thar's oil in them thar parks​City Council will consider this week a proposal to let Southern Star Exploration drill for oil and gas in Houston parks.Specifically, Herman Brown Park, Brock Park, parts of Maxey Park, and Public Works McCarty Road Service Center. (The last isn't a park per se, but i ... More >>

The Five Worst Houston-Area High School Team Names

Clear eyes. Full heart. Can't lose...unless you got a name like this.​When you live in Texas, you realize that certain things are sacred whether you like them or not. The Alamo, good barbeque and football are at the top of the list and when it comes to football, nothing is more sacred round these ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Independence Day

Photo by photine​How did you celebrate the 174th anniversary of Texas' independence from Mexico? You probably didn't do anything like what a group of stalwart runners spent their weekend doing -- running the 203 miles from Gonzales to the San Jacinto Battleground in Deer Park.Dozens of teams ... More >>

Aftermath: Gold Sounds Top a Four-Band Texas Variety Pack at Walter's

Photos by Adam P. NewtonThe Small Sounds​While we're sure that some people feel that Aftermath engages in a bit of hagiography regarding the music of our fair city, we find it mildly difficult not to regularly and frequently express our love for the many excellent artists who call Houston home. We ... More >>

The Gold Sounds

More Bad Benzene Numbers, And They're Probably Worse Than They Sound

​Oil and gas make the world go 'round, but refining the stuff can be deadly business. And according to a new report, the cancer-causing chemical known as benzene is on the rise.Earlier today, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project released a study showing that benzene ... More >>

It's Go Texan Day! Hope You Don't Have Any Out-Of-Town Friends Coming In

Today, of course, is Go Texan Day, marking the opening of the rodeo.It's the day when secretaries all over downtown wear "western" blouses and skirts, adventurous guys sport bolo ties and cowboy hats, and the rest of us cringe.Longtime Houstonians know to never, ever schedule any friends to come vis ... More >>

Oldies, And Not Goodies, On The Pollution Front

The wheels of environmental justice move ever so slowly. To call it a snail's pace would be an insult to mollusks everywhere. But it is what is, as we say in the parlance of our times, so now we have the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality assessing penalties against two local polluters for ... More >>

Some Overnight Fun At Shell's Deer Park Plant

The problem with oil refineries, from a purely layman's point of view, is they're full of valves and fittings and all manner of other hardware that seem to leak after a certain amount of wear and tear.And so it was at the Shell plant in Deer Park beginning at 1:44 a.m. yesterday -- Sunday, December ... More >>

The Best Local Songs of 2008, Part 1

"Song About My Mom," Jenny Westbury: This song likely encompasses all of Westbury's tunes. It's silly, serious and most of all lyrics meet instrumentation in perfect harmony. Westbury's lyrical phrasing makes it seem as though rhyming couplets pour as effortlessly out of her mouth as water does f ... More >>

A Handy Guide To Terror Targets In Houston

Sometimes it seems like organizations that want to protect Americans from terrorism end up doing all the terrorists' research for them. The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank headed by John Podesta, formerly Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, has compiled a handy guide to the nation' ... More >>

Shell Oil Finally Gets Fined For What It Puts Into Deer Park's Air

It took awhile, but state environmental regulators and Shell Oil finally came to meeting of the minds about a slew of pollution violations committed at the Deer Park refinery. Upshot: Shell will pay a $345,744 penalty for 35 emissions events and record-keeping violations that occurred from 2004 ... More >>

News You Can Use, Deer Park

If you live in Deer Park -- well, any sentence that begins that way is unlikely to end well. And that's the case this morning, as a large chunk of the town is under a shelter-in-place order because of a fire at a plastics plant along 225. We're lucky we live in such a modern age, where informa ... More >>

How Not To Blog About Ike

Where To Get Supplies From FEMA

Hey Truants -- They're Coming After You

In the Shade: In the Hot Seat with Chris from Gold Sounds

Happy Record Store Day

Reverberations Extra: The Love Me Nots, etc. Live at Rudyard’s

A Garland for the 'Stros?

Letters to the Editor

Winning Ugly

Don't ask how, but the city made a good move

Best Franchise Owner

Letters

Trailer Treasure

Tired of galleries? Head to "Trailer Park"

Come Fry with Me

Valdo's misses some connections on its culinary journey around the world, but it's right at home with Gulf Coast seafood

Best Auto Parts Store

SGP Racing

Bay Area Ballet

Letters

Letters

The Truth is Out There

Pharmacist Garland Gross says Deer Park police have abused him for ten years. Police say Gross is a jerk who harasses them.

Crashing the Grand Old Party

Dolly McKenna is the GOP candidate for the 25th District. But will Republicans vote for her?

Maxwell's Demons

If you get crosswise with Larry Maxwell, beprepared to go to court

Trashing Houston

To a world worried about waste, Houston may offer an answer -- or at least a place for the garbage to go