Fort Bend County

Shakedown: The HCAD Appraisal Game

HCAD fights owners of moderate housing for every single assessment penny. So why is it routinely handing out tax breaks worth several millions to big corporations?

Openings & Closings: Goodbye, Goldfish and Hello, Caballo

As our own Josh Justice hinted at in last week's round-up of jinxed restaurant locations, there is indeed a steakhouse moving into the old La Strada spot on Westheimer. According to a press release that went out this week, La Casa del Caballo -- the second location of "the most internationally popu ... More >>

Ten Houston Men Named (So Far) In Boy Scouts "Perversion Files"

Since 1919 the Boy Scouts of America has maintained a database of "ineligible volunteers." Known informally as "the perversion files," the database contains the name of 5,000 men and a few women who have been expelled from the BSA because of allegations of sexual abuse of children. Last week a grou ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Forks Over Knives and Farm Dinners

First things first: Don't forget that this coming Monday, April 2 is our Championship Tasting for the 2012 Burger Bracket. If you disagree with any of the Final 4 contenders, be one of the first 100 people to come out to The Distillery at 4 p.m. and judge the burgers for yourself when sampling opens ... More >>

Sylvia Casares, Noted Chef, Shot By Boyfriend

Sylvia Casares, the chef and owner of Houston fave Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen, was shot in the stomach Monday night by her boyfriend, our sister blog Eating Our Words reports. Casares was allegedly shot by Michael Warren, who is also her business partner. Warren is on the run and the Fort Bend Cou ... More >>

Felicia Moon, Oiler QB Warren's Ex, Arrested for Public Sex

Felicia Moon, the ex-wife of Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon, knows how to enjoy a trail ride, if the Waller County Sheriff's Office is to be believed. KHOU says Moon, 55, was arrested Monday night near Hockley for having public sex with a man we presume to have been at least for the moment ... More >>

Clarence Vick: Man Murdered While Watering His Front Lawn Was Civilian Cop & Police Chaplain

Clarence Vick: Cops have few leads in his murder.​Clarence Vick, 61, was murdered about a month ago at 3 a.m. while he was watering his lawn. Police and his family put out a renewed plea today for help in finding his killer, and gave a fuller picture of the victim. "Vick had lived in the nei ... More >>

Bruce McMillian: Star Chef to Plead Insanity On Child-Rape Charges

FBCSOBruce McMillian: Insanity plea coming​Former Tony's chef Bruce McMillian is planning an insanity defense to charges of sexual assault of a child. McMillian, 49, was arrested in Fort Bend County in January and charged with two counts of sexual assault, one county of indecency with a child ... More >>

John Dolard, Accused Child Rapist and Church Choir Volunteer: Quite the Mugshot

FBCSOJohn Dolard: Accused of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy.​Police have arrested a church choir volunteer who they say has confessed to sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy. John Dolard, 53, met the boy at the unnamed Houston church they both attended, police say. He asked t ... More >>

Little India

Hillcroft and Raja Sweets have become the epicenter of Houston's vibrant Indian population.

Leadbelly's "Midnight Special" Prison in Sugar Land Closing (Although It Might Not Be the Prison He "Wrote" It in)

Texas legislators are likely to agree to closing the century-old Central Unit prison in Sugar Land, mostly because it sits on land near the airport that can be developed. It's one of several Texas Department of Criminal Justice units in the area; a compound of four units is nearby in unincorporated ... More >>

Michelle Pickens Beat the Crap Out of Her Ex-Boyfriend, Jury Finds

I want you TO STOP HITTING ME.​A Fort Bend County jury has convicted Michelle Pickens, 26, of whomping her former boyfriend, the district attorney's office announced today. Prosecutor Amber Givens said last September, Stafford police received a 911 call from a woman who said her son had been ... More >>

Grandparent Alert: Sun City Development Coming To Houston

Del Webb was the guy who invented retirement communities, with Sun City in Arizona.He's long gone now, but his company lives on -- even if most of its clients don't -- building other big-time developments across the southern tier of the country, including Georgetown, north of Austin.Now they're com ... More >>

Openings & Closings

Photo by Robb WalshOyster season is permanently over for Shuck Daddy's.​Lasting only a little over a year, the not-quite-Hooters seafood spot Shuck Daddy's (1511 Shepherd) has shucked its last oyster. With Mak Chin suffering a similar fate in the same location in 2009, could it be that Houston ... More >>

Larry Dressendorfer: Terrible Bike Bandit, Terrific Mugshot Poser

Photo courtesy FBSOLarry Dressendorfer: It's a GREAT day to get a mugshot!!​Last Saturday, Richmond police officer Michael Hicks was dispatched to a high noon disturbance in the parking lot of Rosita's Bail Bonds downtown in Fort Bend's quaint old county seat. There they found an irate man collec ... More >>

Police Need Help Finding Bank Robber, Identifying Sports Team Logos

Photo courtesy of the FBI​The Houston FBI and Richmond Police Department are looking for a man who robbed a Capitol One Bank in Richmond this morning. Like most criminal masterminds, he apparently felt it was OK to basically stare at the security camera because his sunglasses and baseball cap ... More >>

A Pervert With A Very Specific Fetish

Photo courtesy Fort Bend SO​Fabian Michael Sims knows what he wants, and it's not just a do-over on his first name.What he wants is, to be sure, nothing too fancy: He wants a) a woman b) with two kids c) bending over d) in the kid's section of a bookstore. He'll take it from there, if those four c ... More >>

The Houston Press Mastermind Awards: Last Year It Brought Hightower Great Luck

​For at least one winner of last year's Houston Press MasterMind Awards, the accolades continue. The Hightower High School Broadcast Academy, which received a $2,000 prize in the Press's 2009 MasterMind contest, was recently awarded three separate grants that will help Ted Irving and his students ... More >>

Yuletide Mayhem Round-Up: Bank Robbing Santas, Spouse-Throttling 'Round The Xmas Tree, And Wal-Mart Parking Lot Catfights

​'Twas the season to be jolly. Too bad these people didn't get the memo...First, there's this 60-year-old Missouri City woman who was charged with assault after a fight over a parking spot outside a Fort Bend County Wal-Mart. Fort Bend Now picks up the tale... According to reports, the victim was ... More >>

Friday Night Lights, Houston Style: The Difference Between High School Football In Texas And Pennsylvania

Photos by Paul Knight​Hair Balls traveled to a high school football game this weekend with a native Pennsylvanian to see how high school football in that state matches up against high school football in Texas. We went to Rosenberg to watch a Saturday night match up between the B.F. Terry Ran ... More >>

Friday Night Lights, Houston-Style: Hightower-Dulles, And Ranking The Best

Photos by Paul Knight / Click here for a full slideshow​Hair Balls watched a game about a month ago between two old HISD rivals, and we noticed that the stands were a little empty and the game play was a little soft. We found an old Madison coach, Richard Blair, who told us that he thought H ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: Never Trust A Man With A Hatchet

​Throughout history, the term "hatchet man" has meant different things. In the 1880s, it was slang for a Chinese hired assassin. In the mid-1900s, it was used to describe a journalist who assassinated the character of a public figure.Today in Houston, it means something much simpler: someone who a ... More >>

This Is One Way To Report A Story, We Guess

​All the BARC brouhaha today brought us an interesting bit of e-mail correspondence, forwarded to us from a chain that began with a Houston Chronicle reporter.Rebecca Maitland, a freelancer who writes occasionally for the Chron's Fort Bend zoned edition, was doing a story on animal shelters in tha ... More >>

Moratorium Is Over, So Foreclosures Spike Locally

Photo by Paul KnightHarris County is seeing the result of failed government efforts to fix the housing crisis by issuing 90-day moratoriums on foreclosures.July was the worst month for foreclosures in the county since the savings and loan debacle, just 73 properties short of the record month -- Octo ... More >>

Everyday He's Hustlin': Only 18, But He's Got A Bigger Multi-Media Empire than You

Photo by Margaret Downing Well, there he was at a table in an H-E-B in Fort Bend County and he was peddling books, which is either the most naive or desperate or optimistic of things someone can do in a grocery store on a weekend. Actually, it was his book. Eighteen years old and an author -- ... More >>

War Breaks Out At A Houston Charter School, Obama (Possibly) Embarrassed

Photo by bobster1985There's trouble brewing at the Girls and Boys Preparatory Academy, a small charter school on Houston's southwest side. A little background: the academy received its charter in 1995, making it one of 19 original charter schools to open in Texas. Carroll Salley, the school's founde ... More >>

No One Messes With Fort Bend County Fair Day

Useless Protest

Homeowners find the rules can change from county to county

Weekend Music: Setting Things Straight

Music at the Y, Minus the Village People

Who Is Sylvia?

A chef who loves Karl's on the Riverbend and Freddie Fender

Wheel of Fortune

Hog Wild

Feral pigs are ugly, destructive and mean. Some people in Texas just love to trap, stab or shoot them. Or put them in rodeos. With dogs.

Still Fighting

The battle against Nooky's Erotic Bakery rages on

Got Your Health

How much more can you cut?

Beggars Can't Be Choosers

Parents plead with the state not to shut down the state schools for the mentally retarded. But it looks like a done deal.

Sweet Charity

For years Tom DeLay has used nonprofits to help himself. Now the heat is on.

Young Loves

Tom Zaratti was just a lawyer of modest means, looking out for his boy. Then the revelations began.

Star Blazers

Stuffed animals ignite more than the crowd at this event

Back Door to History

Thank J.R. Quinn for the gay celebrations

All Duct Up

From leftist camps and corporate security to semi-panic and port patrols, Houstonians tackle terrorism threats. Sort of.

Sue Me, Baby, One More Time

Why Gary Gates won't let CPS walk away

Lines & Shadows

A former farmworker wanted only a utility system for her Fort Bend colonia. Seven years later, there's still tainted water and untreated sewage -- but raw words and the stench of politics flow freely.

A Father's Retribution

Children's Protective Services thinks Gary Gates abuses his kids. Gary Gates thinks CPS abused his family. Who's abusing who?

Rubber Fetish

Glory days for KHOU and Anna Werner

Law and Disorder

In Janice Law's quests for a judgeship, the fourth time was a charm -- and now an alarm for the rest of the courthouse

Night & Day

August 27 - September 2, 1998

The Insider

Press Picks

Alison Cook looks back at 1996: Year of the Rat