Texas City

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: T.S.O.L., Girl In a Coma, Etc.

The true sounds of liberty since 1978, whether those sounds are Black Flag-ish hardcore or Danzig-like mook-rock, the decidedly gothic T.S.O.L. sprang from the surfer's paradise of Huntington Beach, Calif., and palled around with the Damned and Dead Kennedys before helping their younger SoCal siblin ... More >>

BP to Pay $50 Million in Civil Penalties for Pollution Connected to Texas City Blast, AG Says

The Texas City blast​Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has announced that BP has agreed to pay a $50 million fine "for unlawfully emitting pollutants during and after the March 2005 explosion" at its Texas City plant. The civil penalties come two years after BP paid $50 million to resolve fe ... More >>

Good Air Pollution News in Texas? "Flexible Permit" Companies Agree to EPA Guidelines

Breath of fresh air​It's a rarity: Good air-pollution news in Texas that doesn't involve the Obama administration forcing state officials to do their job. The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that 156 Texas companies who have received the notoriously loose "flexible" permits ha ... More >>

Never Bring Oatmeal to a Gunfight, Man Learns

He would prefer friendly persuasion.​It's Go Time. You and some other dude have been driving side by side, cursing the other, and now you've pulled over to settle things. Other dude gets out with a gun. You reach for...a bowl of oatmeal? Consider yourself outclassed, son. The epic oatmeal v ... More >>

Shadaysha Little, Aricka Issac: Pregnant Robbers Get Busted

GCSOLittle and Isaacs: What not to expect when you're expecting​If you're 36 weeks pregnant -- that's nine months, if you're not a math whiz -- as far as we can tell, you don't want to do much except have the damn baby. If you're Shadaysha Little, 18, you're not going to let a little pregnan ... More >>

Blues Christmas

Texas City Dike Finally Reopens, Two Years After Ike

Texas City Dike is back​It's been a long time, but the Texas City Dike, that five-mile manmade but of pure Gulf Texana, is set to reopen.Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m., for the first time since Hurricane Ike sent a massive storm surge over its top, the fishing pier will be open for business. There's ... More >>

Texas City & Its BP Plant Star In The New York Times

A not-so-beguiling description of Texas City​BP's release of massive amounts of carcinogens into the Texas City air has been covered by the media here, but today it's getting a much larger spotlight.The New York Times looks at the incident, in a story headlined "With Neighbors Unaware, Toxic Spill ... More >>

BP Defending Itself On Yet Another Pollution Front

Still playing defense​During this economic recovery, we bet one place is hiring: the BP legal department.Not only is the company struggling to defend a crush of lawsuits connected to the oil spill in the Gulf, but now it has to deal with a $10 billion lawsuit for allegedly making thousands of peop ... More >>

The Walking Dead

Texas City's Come See My Dead Person is very much alive.

Violence, F-Bombs: Texas City Little League Is A Quentin Tarantino Movie

From now on, no one under 17 will be admitted to a Little League baseball game in Texas City unless accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.At least that's the way it should be, if recent events are any indication: A brawl between coaches that resulted in two arrests a couple of weeks ago, and no ... More >>

Sometimes You Just Pick The Wrong 63-Year-Old Guy To Rob

Photo courtesy GCSO​You're looking at Quintin Wade Brown, 25, of Texas City. You may notice his left eye seems to be a bit distressed.That's because Brown tried to rob a 63-year-old guy of two bucks and some potato chips outside a convenience store.Note to future robbers: Before attempting such a ... More >>

Worst Impersonation Of A Police Officer, Ever

​The police pull you over because you're swerving "all over the road." Fair enough.But this wasn't your typical DWI. For one thing, the arrestee was riding a bicycle. For the other, he got charged not only with public intoxication, but with impersonating a police officer -- all because the thrift- ... More >>

Slackfest '09

Distant Early Warning: Cobra Starship, Har Mar Superstar, KISS, Nitzer Ebb, The Used, etc.

​"3rd Annual Texas City Music Fest" With Jerry Jeff Walker, John Conlee, Texas Johnny Brown: Sat., Oct. 24. Nessler Park, Texas City. Bob Schneider: Fri., Sept. 25. Warehouse Live. The Bravery: Sat., Oct. 24. Warehouse Live. Cobra Starship, Boys Like Girls, A Rocket To The Moon, The Maine: Sun., ... More >>

Another City, Another Dispute Over Sexism And Racism

​After a summer of what seemed like a million racist and sexist offerings from the Houston Fire Department, it started to feel like our city had to have the worst department around. But that changed earlier this month when Channel 13 reported some "explosive new allegations" about racism and sexis ... More >>

Things to Do This Weekend If You're (Almost) Broke: Happy Fourth, Houston

If you're celebrating independence from a lot of money this Fourth of July weekend, believe us, Rocks Off feels your pain. If you can pry yourself away from the barbecue pit, here's a few other things to do that won't cost much. Friday Grrrl Parts and Dave Wrangler glam it up at Boondocks. Fre ... More >>

The FBI Makes Things Go "Boom," And We Have The Video

(Note: The explosions get bigger the longer you stick with the video.) For the better part of this week, FBI bomb experts have been teaching area cops the Xs and Os of improvised explosives, like the ones made by shoe-bomber Richard Reid or the one that killed college student Matthew Rugo in his Tex ... More >>

WTF Is Up With All The Cursing Arrests In Galveston County?

Photo by GuerrettoBelieve it or not, a third person has been ticketed for cursing in public in Galveston County.First it was Kathryn Fridge, arrested for dropping an F-bomb in a La Marque Wal-Mart. Then it was the guy from Queens, ticketed for talking like a guy from Queens, in a Galveston diner.Now ... More >>

Burnout Houston

BP Pays Big (Kinda) To Settle Texas City Pollution Claims

Logo courtesy BPGood news and bad news for Texas City: The good news is that BP will be spending $167 million to reduce pollution in its plant there.The bad news is that they were polluting the area so bad it's going to take $167 million to do something about it.The Environmental Protection Agency a ... More >>

Valero Gets Fined For A Damn Impressive Bit Of Polluting

If you've ever pondered how much pollution an oil refinery can spew out in 4,008 hours and 50 minutes when the gasoline-making process goes wrong, Valero Refining in Texas City has provided an answer: -- 345,624 pounds of sulfur dioxide-- 3,752.30 pounds of hydrogen sulfide-- 63.30 pounds of o ... More >>

Dow Chemical Forgets To Leave The Light On

Ever have trouble keeping your hot water heater pilot light on? It's annoying, yes, but the worst repercussion is a surprise cold shower.Pilot light problems occur in the petrochemical world, too, but the repercussions are decidedly more consequential.In the case of a Dow Chemical Co. plant in Texa ... More >>

More Images from Before and After Hurricane Ike

Some Dogs Enjoy An Ike Break

Ike Brings On The Pollution

What a Dump: British Petroleum Fined for Unauthorized Disposal of Hazardous Waste

Bribes in the Soviet Union, Jesus Christ on PBS and Gavin Newsom at La Strada

The oil business ain't pretty

999 Eyes Freak Show

Lobster woman, scorpion man and other people with weird hands

Ring in the Holidays at Charles Brown Blues Fest

Westside Wolves Forfeit Last Season Due to Ineligible Football Player

Kinda Gay

I See Hawks in LA

Sig's Lagoon in-store at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, 3710 Main, 713-533-9525; Continental Club at 10 p.m., 3700 Main, 713-529-9666

Letters

Letters

Kitty Litter

Toyya Braskey lives with 100 cats. They are her life. Now the city says they have to go.

Catfight

The fur flies with the fuzz when feral felines keep getting fed

Letters

Letters

Bill Minutaglio

Friday, January 10

Airborne Again

The Lone Star Flight Museum celebrates Galveston's place in aviation history

Up In Flames

KRIV's newsroom bitching gets a national audience

Local Rotation

"Mean" Gene Kelton Most Requested

New Wave Good-bye

Houston's The Shivers ready for Austin

Rocky Landing

Residents of this seaside neighborhood are about to be joined by a 1,000-acre port facility

Letters

Shadow Over Texas City

Petrochemical plants and refineries are the lifeblood of Texas City's economy. But for Hester Joiner and her neighbors, all they've provided are foul odors, property damage and mysterious ailments.

Pray

In a small town south of Houston, they say school prayer is a matter of religious freedom. But even in Santa Fe, freedom for one student can be tyranny for another.

No Way Home

Texas City police can't go mosquito hunting with an elephant gun

The Year of Living Anxiously

Are We Having Fun Yet? Or is it just the jangly buzz of advanced urban stress syndrome?