Plano

(Updated) Jesus FTW: God-Lovin' Kountze Cheerleaders Trounce Heathens In Court Battle

Updated with statements from Governor Rick Perry and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. In a high-profile battle based on small-town football, the cheerleaders in the little East Texas burg of Kuntze have won a court battle to praise Jesus during football games. The Kountze case drew national a ... More >>

Openings & Closings: Green Grocers Come to Katy and Hooters Enhances Its Seats

Congratulations, Katy -- your grocers have officially gone green. Two new grocery stores are opening this week in Houston's far west suburbs, starting with the Whole Foods Market that's opening this coming Wednesday, January 30. The newest Whole Foods will feature 34,000 square feet of organic good ... More >>

Kountze High School: Keep Jesus on the Football Field, Where He Belongs!

If there's one thing we learned from the Bible, it's that Jesus loved high school football. Remember Galatians 2:34? "And yea, Christ the Savior sayeth unto the Jerusalem Central Serpents, 'We are Bethlehem West, we couldn't be prouder, and if thou didn't hear us, we shall shout a little louder!'"? ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: Blondie/Devo, Uncle Lucius, etc.

Houston's football, etc., who package the spidery and poignant guitar passages of '90s bands like Mineral and Rainer Maria into a super-crunchy outer shell, went to the UK this summer and released a three-song split with Square Business in July. Monday, see if you can talk the trio out of a T-shirt ... More >>

What's Next For Randy Travis? 5 Fantasy Scenarios For Country's Newest Outlaw

Embattled and sorta-awesome country singer Randy Travis got into trouble again Thursday night, fighting drunk in a church parking lot in Plano, in an altercation involving another man and woman. According to TMZ -- which should stand for "Travis, Man, Zoinks" now -- there was "a "family argument" ... More >>

Drawn by Drunken Seven-Year-Olds

The five ugliest beer labels in Texas.

Bring on the Hatch Chiles: Central Market's 17th Annual Festival

The 17th annual Hatch Chile Festival is currently in full swing at Central Market, featuring specials throughout the store, Hatch chili classes at the Central Market Cooking school, Hatch chile prepared goods in the cold prepared-foods section and weekend lunch cookouts with live music and Hatch chi ... More >>

Does Dallas-Fort Worth Have the Worst Tippers in the State?

Last week, Eater alerted the great foodie masses to a website called Lousy Tippers that contains a pretty scary database of the nation's worst tippers. "There is a consequence," the site preaches ominously from its header. Call it the ultimate form of societal pressure to make sure you leave a grat ... More >>

Trader Joe's: Texas's Newest Sensation

What do you get when you take a grocery store with a jazillion specialty products, organic produce and flavorful freezer food and intertwine it with low prices throughout, then sprinkle it with a laid-back Hawaiian vibe? Trader Joe's. The specialty store, whose roots lie in the small town of Monrovi ... More >>

Living Loud and Proud

Celebrating Houston’s Gay Pride 2012—The celebrity grand marshal, local GLBT history, where to watch the parade — and the parties

Vinyl Gets Another Spin

Showing it has more lives than a cockroach, vinyl has been reborn, resulting in some beautiful music. But sometimes production values in records and turntables are lacking.

Mala Sichuan's Big Sister Disappoints in Dallas

Visiting family in Dallas this weekend, I found myself with a little down time to explore a city I very nearly grew up in but know very little about. I spent my summers as a kid split into three very different settings: Houston, Dallas and a cattle ranch in Henderson, and only eating out in one of t ... More >>

UPDATE: Trader Joe's Plans Locations in Memorial, Montrose

UPDATE: The Houston Business Journal reports that Trader Joe's has also received a sales tax permit for 2922 S. Shepherd, which is the location of the Alabama Theater. It looks like plans for the Montrose incarnation of the grocery store in the repurposed theater are back on. *** According to a po ... More >>

Dallas Makes a Damn Fool of Itself on Top Chef: Texas

​Thoughts: Is it really a "Healthy Choice" when so many of your frozen dinners are laden with preservatives and other chemicals? With that, we're hitting the road to Dallas, better known these days as a "dining nowhereville." Great choice, Bravo! Enjoy that! "When I think of Dallas, I think of t ... More >>

Is Houston's Handsome Bank Robber a Dallas Dude?

FBIThe Houston robbery​Recently we told you of the FBI's search for a man they dubbed the "handsome bank robber," who was described as being "older, well-dressed and accessorized." Those accessories included a black semiautomatic pistol, but that's just how he rolls. The item rang a bell wit ... More >>

The 10 Worst Things Texas Has Given To The Modern World

It's not nature's way, it's Houston's​If we were to list all the great, terrific things Texas, Our Texas has given to civilization, we would be here all day. (Two words: Jessica Simpson.) Unfortunately, Texas has also gifted America and the world with some things the world and America would n ... More >>

Dale Allen Richardson Jr.: This Badge Means I'm an Attorney!

OF COURSE I'm a lawyer​A 28-year-old Plano man is going to federal prison for more than five years after falsely claiming to be a lawyer -- despite submitting a badge declaring him to be an "Officer of the Court" of the Cherokee Nation. That's not good enough? Well, it isn't when a clerk for ... More >>

The 10 Sexiest (Male) Texans Of Our Lifetime

Last week we gave you our 10 Sexiest Texans of Our Lifetime. It was a list that was, admittedly, vagina-biased. We make it up to the people who love guys with this definitive list, which involved more asking around than the first one. Here are, then, the 10 sexiest Texas men of our lives: 10. Sea ... More >>

Food Fight: Battle Tuna Salad Sandwich

Kraftsmen on the left, Weslayan Cafe on the right. ​When it comes to tuna salad sandwiches, I'm with David Rosengarten: there is no better homemade sandwich. So simple - in its most basic form, comprising only canned tuna, mayonnaise, and bread - and so delicious. But there's also a dark side ... More >>

WAR ON CHRISTMAS: Texas Principals Still Face Lawsuit Over Banning Jesus Pencils & Candy Canes

Who knew Jesus was a "Say my name! Say my name!" guy?​Two Texas elementary school principals have failed in their attempt to have the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismiss a suit filed against them for trying to kill the spirit of Christmas, not to mention Jesus, in innocent young children ... More >>

One Last Hit of K-2

Fake weed's final freewheeling days

Recipe: Marinated Mozzarella

​Continuing my Italian kick, I'll share with you a simple method to spruce up that delicious chunk of mozzarella you have sitting in your fridge. This is a marinated mozzarella recipe inspired by Josh, the cheese guy at Whole Foods in Plano, who tediously but happily makes his fresh mozzarella ... More >>

Busted! 20 Musician Mugshots

​ Getting arrested and booked isn't the end of the world, by any means. Well unless you just killed a shit-ton of people at a bowling alley or something, it really is. But if you are a rocker or a celebrity who committed a minor offense, it's just a funny footnote in your public life you can look ... More >>

Everyone's Packing Up Their U-Haul And Moving To Houston

​Houston is the top U.S. city for people relocating with U-Hauls, the company announced today.Last year we were second to Atlanta, but that city has dropped off the face of the earth, probably because it has too many Braves fans, coming in only seventh this year.More than 1 million U-Haul transact ... More >>

Quote Of The Day, From The Judge Who Had An Affair With A Prosecutor

​The odd case of Charles Dean Hood has been a subject of talk for a while. He was convicted of killing a Plano couple -- there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of doubt about it -- but he's got a unique appellate argument: The judge and his prosecutor had been lovers.Back in our cub-reporting days, ... More >>

The Dallas Observer Learns About Interviewing Bill White

Photo by Sam Merten​Our sister paper the Dallas Observer tagged along recently as Houston mayor Bill White visited a suburban deli and learned what it's like to deal with the generic, content-free answers the big man uses when he doesn't want to reply to what you're asking.The headline? "Will Sena ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Plano Balloon Festival

Photos by eppytx​Every fall for the past 29 years, the skies over Plano come aglow with colorful aircrafts and odd hissing sounds that signal take-off for flight The Plano Balloon Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary Sept. 18-20. It's an event that has raised more than 2 million dolla ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas, Part 2: "Trinity"

[Note: This week Rocks Off is looking at the musical heritage, highs and lows, for each of the five possible states that might result should Texas secede from the U.S. like Gov. Rick Perry wants it to. Yesterday we began with the Panhandle/West Texas "Palo Duro" territory; today it's northeastern qu ... More >>

Times Writer Dumps on Texas' JC Penney, Because We're Just So Damn Fat Here

​JC Penney is the reliable standby of malls across the Midwest and in Texas; for the past 20 years the company's been headquartered in Plano, the mall-infested suburb of Dallas.They've decided to open a Manhattan branch, and were met with heaps of condescending scorn from The New York Times' "Crit ... More >>

Perverts, Beware

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

The Pride Of Spring, TX, Doesn't Blow It For Halo Fans

Stephen Rippy grew up in Spring, and unless you're into gaming you've probably never heard of him.But if you are into games, perhaps obsessively, then you're familiar with his work -- he provides the soundtrack for such titles as Age of Empire and Age of Mythology.But that was peanuts compared to hi ... More >>

Possible Loophole To Get Out Of Those Red-Light Camera Tickets

A Dallas judge has ruled that the company operating that city's red-light cameras violated state law by operating without a private investigation license. So what's the big deal?Well, American Traffic Solutions, the Arizona-based company that operates the cameras in Houston, isn't licensed in Texas ... More >>

A Mainstream Mormon's Test of Faith

Seven months have passed since the polygamist raid in Eldorado, but the effects linger

Texas Horror Movies: The Top Five

Weekend Music: Allen Oldies Band, True Colors Tour, Tom Waits and a Really Strange Japanese Guy

Savage Sports Fans and Mexican Overcrowding

Lights On or Off?

The fight for a TV show about truth, justice and high school football

Six Degrees of Separation

Letters to the Editor

Plano Tex-Mex

Mi Cocina's food may be tepid, but the margaritas are magnificent

Pass the Salad

This dance festival has got the world's best ingredients

Letters

Investigate CEP, Santa Fe's Shame, Politics Makes Strange...

Death (Row) Watch

Odell Barnes joins a growing list of death row inmates whose convictions have become a lot less clear-cut during the appeals process.

Waldhauser Watch

A story about the new life and old ways of a notorious killer spurs indictments and national coverage

Widening the Waldhauser Net

Status Report

Merry Xmas, Mr. Waldhauser

A hearing officer finds that a convicted killer did not violate parole

Sexual Healing

Nice Guy, Nice Songs

From 4-H to Miss Molly, Hadden Sayers keeps aiming for the next plateau

The Race Matter