Xanax

Thieves' Bazaar: Medicare Fraud

Hospitals, doctors and dealers have made Medicare the nation's sweetest crime. The feds are now trying to shutter the door.

Texas Crimes of the Year, 2012

As it turns out, Texans indulged in all seven of the deadly sins.

Buried Kid Found Alive in Car Driven By Allegedly Smashed Mother

A Kingwood woman has been arrested after police caught her behind the wheel of a car while allegedly intoxicated on a cornucopia of substances, all while an eight-month-old baby was buried alive under clothing and a skateboard in the back seat of the trash-filled vehicle. Montgomery County Precinct ... More >>

Charles Lee Bergeron Sr.: 80-Year-Old Child Molester Said He Blew Boys Because He Needed Testosterone

The prosecutor in his case called Charles Lee Bergeron Sr. "the sickest of the sick," a monster whose "fun house became a house of horror" for the many young boys he victimized, and from the details that follow, that's not prosecutorial hyperbole. On Wednesday, in a Lake Charles court, before sent ... More >>

Stephanie Irene Santana, Allegedly Drunk & Pregnant: Clubhouse Leader in Bad Mom of The Year Stakes

Houston police say that 20-year-old pregnant mother Stephanie Irene Santana was drunk early this morning when she left her infant in the car to go get a body piercing at a North Freeway tattoo parlor. Whew. Let's unpack that sentence, shall we... Drinking underage is against the law, so there's th ... More >>

Sharon Russell: Mom Sues HPD (Again) For Auctioning off Evidence Related to Daughter's Suspicious Death

Approximately three years ago, the Houston Police Department auctioned off evidence that prosecutors planned to use in a tricky case against a disgraced lawyer named Shawn Roberts. Roberts's girlfriend, Tara Sganga, was found dead in her apartment in March 2007, and prosecutors planned to use Sganga ... More >>

Vanessa Clark: Second SIDS Death in a Year Leads To Child Endangerment Conviction

A Lufkin woman has been convicted of felony child endangerment after an infant died in her bed for the second time in a span of two calendar years. Yesterday afternoon an Angelina County jury handed down a guilty verdict against Vanessa Clark, 33, for her role in the death of her two-month-old son ... More >>

Last Night: Alan Jackson At Reliant Stadium

Alan Jackson RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 18, 2012 Be sure to check out our slideshow of Alan Jackson and the final day of RodeoHouston. By the time Alan Jackson's 2012 RodeoHouston season-closing show was over, his missing moustache already had its own Twitter account. No, it was not I who ... More >>

Texas vs Florida

Texans/Bengals -- 4 Winning Plays That Never Would Have Happened in 2010

T.J. Yates is on a roll.​Sunday morning, about an hour before the Texans and Bengals kicked off, I was driving to the grocery store with my girlfriend Amy to pick up some "Texans watching" supplies -- chips, sandwich paraphernalia, beverages, etc. (Xanax no longer necessary this season.) Unsol ... More >>

Clarence Leroy Teel: Cops Raid Hospital Room, Find Well-Stocked Illicit Pharmacy

Some people get happy in different ways​According to court records, it all started on August 14 when a nurse at Methodist Willowbrook hospital noticed that the patient in room 6412 was leaving a few syringes around. That struck her as odd, as the patient in that room, 52-year-old Clarence Lero ... More >>

Brown Trial: Rachel And Bagwell, Sittin' in a Tree

Jeff Bagwell lends a hand​Judge Jim Wallace did not allow Michael Brown's lawyers to introduce evidence that the ex-hand surgeon's wife is banging former Astro Jeff Bagwell in Brown's assault trial today. Arguing admissibility after the jury was excused, attorney Dick DeGuerin got Rachel Brow ... More >>

Dead Center

Bad things keep happening to people in Shawn Roberts's orbit.

Julia Ward: Alleged Pill-Mill Doctor Says She's Legit

We're no pill mill, doctor says​The Texas Medical Board has temporarily suspended the license of a Houston doctor who Board investigators allege is running a pill mill out of a pain clinic on West Little York.According to the suspension order of Julia Renee Ward, investigators for the Medical and ... More >>

The Year In Skank: 2010's Top 7 Skankiest Celebrities

​Plenty of famous women exude a healthy, feminine charm, a reserved beauty and refined grace that keeps them respectable even while they titillate. Plenty of celebrity men have a classy demeanor, yet just enough of a rakish-scoundrel glint in their eyes to turn them into the mysterious strange ... More >>

Jason Merksamer: Houston Juggalo And Accused Robber Is Facebook Moron Of The Week

Jason Merksamer tells all on Facebook​It goes without saying that it's not a good idea to commit another violent felony -- specifically, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon -- while you are already on probation for a violent crime. And you would think it would also be inadvisable to broa ... More >>

One Last Hit of K-2

Fake weed's final freewheeling days

Tom Petty's Ten Most Underrated Songs

​ "I Should Have Known It" Rocks Off has an especially acute case of clockwatcher's syndrome this afternoon, because as soon as we leave the office we're heading up to The Woodlands for the big Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers/ZZ Top show. Some of you out there might be doing the exact same t ... More >>

Mental Cases

Philip Grantham counts on his meds and his MHMRA doctor to stay straight. Too bad Texas is slashing funding.

The Stern-Gaiser Affair: HPD Arrests Alleged Shooter

Photo courtesy HCSOMichelle Gaiser, alleged criminal mastermind​A fifth suspect has been arrested in connection with events surrounding the alleged murder-for-hire plot of Yvonne Stern, the Bellaire trial lawyer's wife who survived three recent attempted hits.Houston police say that 26-year-old Da ... More >>

Game Time: The Knicks And Tracy McGrady...Shortest Honeymoon Ever

​Those who know me know that I have an unhealthy fascination with Britney Spears, unhealthy to the point where I found myself strangely attracted to her even through her hefty "Xanax and Frappucino for breakfast" phase back in 2007. One of my favorite Britney stories ever was her "marriage" to boy ... More >>

Houston's Craziest: The 30 Worst

The troubled people whom Houston police officers hate to see headed their way.

That Roberts Elementary Teacher Is Cleared, No Matter What HISD's Drug-Sniffing Dog Says

The District Attorney's office has announced they're formally dropping the charges against Mindy Herrick, the art teacher whose arrest after a drug-sniffing-dog search sparked protests.The dog found a Xanax in her car; the pill wasn't hers. HISD reinstated her almost two months ago, so the question ... More >>

Is Mooyah Burger a Mooby's Knockoff?

Mooyah Burger on Bay Area Boulevard is another contestant in Houston's gourmet burger beauty pageant. The chain touts "100% fresh lean American beef (never frozen, no additive, fillers or preservatives)." But if you ask me, the meat at Mooyah burger is too lean. Though cooked to medium, my burger wa ... More >>

What Mainstream Publishers Don't Want You to Know: Digging Holes

Work hard, party harder

Get Inside. It's Summertime!

Your guide to the season's hottest films (and the other ones, too)

Addicted to Fluff

Racket and company's American Idol symposium

KISD Off

Klein students are on a fast track to expulsion, thanks to a district that's figured a way to get someone else to pick up the tab for alternative education

Endless Summer

The deep house of Miguel Migs transcends California vapidity

Sick Kids

For many mentally ill teenagers in Texas, the only way to get treatment is to get arrested.

Learning How to Survive (at) CEP

HISD and a paid trustee get entangled in the spreading empire of a private firm touting safe alternative schools for troubled kids. So why are some students and parents so scared?

Carlos Chaves, Mall Surgeon

Sure, an unlicensed doctor was performing liposuction at a hair salon. Stranger still: Clients kept showing up.