These community newspapers in West University, River Oaks, Memorial and Bellaire are as thoughtful and researched as they are feisty. Bellaire Examiner Editor Charlotte Aguilar keeps things going at a steady pace, making sure these papers provoke discussion as much as they celebrate neighborhood achievements. Reporter Steve Mark stays on top of Houston Independent School District business, and not always in the more comfortable manner that some other media members adopt. This is a group of community papers that remains focused on its readers in both print and online editions, and that not infrequently breaks news that its bigger brethren would love to have.

READERS' CHOICE: Houston Press

As everyone knows — because we've been told so over and over — talk radio from the left side of the political spectrum is boring, earnest and dull. Unless you listen to Partisan Gridlock on KPFT-FM Friday afternoons from 3-4. Host Geoffrey Berg, an attorney, is funny and sharp; he gets good guests (from the right as well as left) and doesn't let them off the hook (again, whether they're from the right or left). Entertaining talk radio from a progressive view? Sure, Air America died, but its spirit burns on here in Houston.

When Texas favorites Rick Perry, Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent showed up for a rally at the Berry Center in Cypress, the crowds followed. Wearing camouflage and hats decorated like American flags, the people listened to The Nuge shred the "Star Spangled Banner" and Palin say things like, "A lot of us in our states proudly cling to our guns and religion." But when a Houston Press photographer snapped a picture of one Perry/Palin supporter, thanks to the Internet, the picture became the symbol of the Houston rally. The supporter, apparently homeschooled, held up an errantly spelled sign: "Homescholers for Perry."

Vanity Fair reporter and Barbarians at the Gate author and native Texan Bryan Burrough was raised on tales of the exploits of the great oil men, and The Big Rich is likely the only book you will ever need on their successes and excesses. While Dallas-Fort Worth barons like the wise Richardsons, the crackpot Hunts and the dissolute Murchisons do occupy a broad swath of the tome's pages, Houston is well represented, with a full accounting of the mighty Cullen family and a swift and punchy (literally) retelling of the rise and fall of pugnacious Glenn McCarthy and his Shamrock Hotel. For Burrough, the demise of the Shamrock was the end of an era that began with the gusher at Spindletop, and never has that age, with all its whiskey-soaked infidelities, rampant anticommunist paranoia, family feuds and sheer myth-creating grandiosity been better captured on the page. Read it and weep, if only because they don't craft icy stares (or philanthropic souls) like Roy Cullen's anymore, nor wildcatters like Glenn McCarthy, who could not only inspire James Dean's character in Giant but also probably drink Donald Draper under the table and steal his best girl to boot. (Not to mention kick his ass.) All that, and now forgotten, once ubiquitous local socialite Baron Ricky DiPortanova and his River Oaks swankienda soirees, too.

A better moniker for this year's winner for Best Arts Twitterer, @dancehunter, might have been @artshunter. That's because Nancy Wozny, the force behind the constant stream of news, critiques, discussions and, from time to time, a little gossip, doesn't limit herself to just dance. Nor is the conversation aimed solely at dancers and choreographers. Civilians, as some of @dancehunter's followers call those of us who have never strapped on a pair of pointe shoes, are also welcome. Recent posts by Wozny included a link to a USA Today article about the action/thriller/dance film Black Swan, an announcement of the latest dancers to join the Houston Ballet and news about a free performance by the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre in New York. Wozny has managed to do more than just disseminate short bursts of arts-related information — she's managed to create a smart, supportive, everything's-open-to-discussion meeting spot for Houston's arts aficionados.

Most times after politicians are voted into public office, they stop reaching out to the people altogether except for fund-raisers or photo-ops. Not so much with Mayor Annise Parker, who is actually one of the more accessible Houston leaders in recent memory. The mayor takes to her Twitter account to talk about what she's up to, not just regurgitate boring political stuff like most other politicos dipping their feet in the social media pool. She talks about her softball games, going on her daily walks and — yes — interesting mayor-type stuff she gets to do.

We didn't get to include her in our cover story on Twitter a few months back, but we still think everyone in Houston who's worth their social media real estate should be following @brandius. Brandi Aginagua weaves sweetly profane tales of daily life with each of her updates. She digs her husband, wine, lady friends and unicorns. Granted, you may see more tweets devoted to the more fermented and bottled of that group. There's really never a dull moment with @brandius. If you were to check her status at this moment, she'd most likely be damning people for not being as nerdy as she is.

A former food blogger for Eating...Our Words and current food blogger for 29-95.com as well as his own personal food blog, Chris Reid is also one of the best people to follow on Twitter if you're interested in food — Houston or otherwise. Reid live-Tweets adventures like barbecue crawls that take him from Acres Homes to central Texas and is usually among the first to eat at any new restaurant, allowing you to live vicariously through his excellent, well-informed descriptions and delicious Twitpics of the dishes. There isn't a person in the Houston food community he doesn't know, and he always does an admirable job of re-Tweeting, sharing news and connecting people with new friends and foodstuffs, all through Twitter.

READERS' CHOICE: Twitter.com/imneverfull

As his name indicates, Steve Shalagan lives in Katy. He also makes regular sports-related Twitter updates that are so funny, you'd think they were written by a team of sitcom writers somewhere in Los Angeles. A random sampling of some of his finest work includes gems like: "Now that the NBA season is over, Pau Gasol can finally get back to planning the big Nakatomi Plaza heist" and "Engineer develops software to filter out vuvuzela noise. Plans are already underway for a 'Chris Berman' edition based on whale sounds." Shalagan should be at the top of your To-Follow List purely because everyone needs more laughter in their lives, even if you don't know a bunt from a punt.

READERS' CHOICE: Twitter.com/richardjustice

Jeffrey Stern and his wife Yvonne seemed to have it all: a million-dollar home in Bellaire and an Aspen getaway for the long hot summers, two adorable kids and a foothold on Houston's social scene. Unfortunately, police say, attorney Stern had another accoutrement of the high life, and this one Yvonne did not share: a mistress named Michelle Cabrera Gaiser. And apparently Gaiser was no longer content to be Stern's lover: she wanted the ambulance chaser to put a ring on it, and she decided to take the bull by the horns and rub out her rival. To do so, she is alleged to have hired a series of inept assassins to kill Yvonne, and were it not for the fact that Yvonne did eventually get shot (thankfully, not fatally), the incompetence of those would-be Wee Beys and two-bit Snoops would simply be hilarious. As of this writing, Gaiser is accused of solicitation of capital murder along with two of the bungling hit men. Jeffrey Stern was also arrested on the same day as Gaiser. The lawyer was charged with unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon, but not accused in Gaiser's alleged plots. As for Yvonne Stern, she finally had enough and filed for divorce on grounds of adultery, with Gaiser named as the other woman.