With the Houston Astros moving from the National League to the American League, owner Jim Crane is toying with a name change...or is he? The Dallas Morning News reports that Crane, regarding a potential name update for his team, said: "We're going to study the information both from the fans and from all sorts of marketing people,” but also volunteered that, “I'm not saying we're going to change. We haven't made the decision yet whether we're going to change.” more ›

Houston prosecutors are reporting that six men have pleaded guilty to a plot that involved smuggling over a ton and a half of marijuana inside of watermelons. The pot was transported over time to a warehouse in Houston from McAllen, which is apparently a weed paradise that no one ever knew about. Party in McAllen? more ›

A Houston man has narrowly escaped a life sentence handed down by a jury after his lawyer finally took a look at his history. LaDondrell Montgomery is a habitual offender who was identified by witnesses in a grainy video as being the man committing armed robbery. He was adamant that the witnesses were mistaken. Regardless, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile, his attorney decided to take a closer look at his rap sheet. Sure enough, attorney Ronald Ray uncovered a sweet surprise: Montgomery was in jail when the robbery was committed. Yep, you read that right, he was in jail for something totally unrelated, therefore couldn't have been the shadowy black man in the surveillance video shown in the courtroom. According to the Chron, "Ray said Montgomery was in and out of custody so many times he did not remember exact dates. The defendant even testified in his trial and never brought up the startling fact." more ›

This year's Free Press SummerFest was not for the faint of heart. Battling extreme weather conditions ranging from record setting heat (104F!) to torrential downpours to whipping winds, the estimated 70,000 Houstonian music-lovers were not deterred. more ›

The World's Greatest is coming to the Toyota Center in Houston on June 5, and you can get pre-sale tickets beginning tomorrow at 10 a.m. Buy tickets online or by calling 1-866-4-HOU-TIX. It's the "Love Letter" tour, but we'd lock ourselves in a closet if he didn't bring out all the hits. more ›

Looks like James Franco didn't get hired by Stephen Colbert to be his full-time art director. The Oscar-nominated actor is looking for his Ph.D., and he's been accepted into the University of Houston program for literature and creative writing. The exclusive program only admits 20 folks each year, and Franco is scheduled to begin in September 2012. more ›

• There’s a college basketball game in Houston on Monday night. It’s kind of a big deal.
• At least one of the basketball fans in the stands at the Final Four will be wearing a dog collar that has nothing to do with Butler!
• 70,000 people are in H-town for the Final Four?

• Houston Jazz takes on NYC…
• Listen to Iron and Wine play their unreleased new album (via NPR).
• Comedian Patton Oswalt was in Austin. Here are the pictures to prove it!

• Ballet Austin director looks at "Black Swan.”
• Mmm, locally made goat cheese. We had no clue that the Pure Luck Farm & Dairy can make up to 550 pounds of cheese each week.
• Ewww! What a drive -thru burger really looks like, compared to the ads.

• Clueless about gift-giving season? Check out this Hipster Holiday Gift Guide.
• Did you know there were internment camps in Texas during WWII? Historians are now trying to preserve both the stories of people who were in the camps, and what’s left of the structures.
• Never mind the people calling for his blood, former Longhorn coach Greg Davis seems like a decent fellow in this profile.

• ‘La Barbie’ may be the biggest criminal to ever come out of Laredo.
• During the trial, details are emerging about that shooting at Spiros nightclub.
• Texas hates gay marriage so much that they’re making a gay couple stay married?

• Filmmaker Emily Hagins is way accomplished at 17. She’d still love to have more funding for her new movie, My Sucky Teen Romance.
• Music-industry pro Zoe Cordes Selbin is way, way cooler than you were at 17.
• The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center is trying to raise money to save Scarlett O’ Hara’s curtain dress. Don’t forget to wear your gloves, HRHRC, when you cozy up to donors!

Disgraced former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling won a small victory Thursday. Yesterday the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that restricted prosecutors' use of an anti-fraud law making it a crime to "deprive another of the intangible right of honest services." Skilling had argued the unconstitutional vagueness of such an honest services law being used by prosecutors in his case. more ›

• The Washington Post explains the marine climate down at the business end of that huge oil spill in the Gulf.
• When he went off to college, Rick Perry's momma was still sewing him homemade underpants!
• Cheddar's apologized to the family of a boy who uses a wheelchair for refusing to seat them at a Waco outlet on Mother's Day. (Allegedly, once the family complained about not being seated, the restaurant's general manager threatened to call the police if they didn't leave!)

• Passover starts at dark on Monday, which means a lot of prep for this kosher catering company in Dallas.
• Capital Metro did a poor job of transporting passengers on the Night Owl Route on St Patrick’s Day/the first night of SXSW. (Police had to be called for crowd control!)
• Do you love Houston’s vintage Alabama Theater? If so, you might want to know that the iconic Art Deco interior is being threatened!

• Former congressman Charlie Wilson (the guy whom the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War” is based on) has died. He was known as the “Liberal from Lufkin.”
• Listen to this sad story about churches being torched in Texas.
• First the Saints win the Super Bowl, now Brennan’s of Houston is reopening! (New Orleans culture is totally back!)

Those of us struggling to make our livings following our creative passions have been hit especially hard by the economic downturn. Luckily, here in Austin, we're in good company - surrounded by countless talented artists, we have people to turn to for advice, collaboration, and most of all support. In that spirit, Domy Books has teamed up with Chicago based Temporary Services to present Art Work: A National Conversation about Art, Labor, and Economics. Art Work is a newspaper and website consisting of writing by artists, academics, and activists responding to the recession and discussing how it has affected the creative process and artistic compensation. Domy will act as the Austin distribution hub for the publication and is hosting tonight's discussion which is being organized by Claire Ruud, editor of ...mightbegood, and artist Kate Watson. The 32-page paper will be distributed throughout the country and in Puerto Rico and includes pieces from New York Time Art Critic Holland Cotter, author Julia Bryan-Wilson, and many visual artists. more ›

• The New York Times tells us that most-often stolen book at Book People is …The Bible.
• This Plano East graduate nearly turned down going to Harvard, in order to stay home and help his family.
• U can’t legally txt while drivi8ng in the ATX.

• Houston elects openly lesbian mayor, sky (still) does not fall
• Citigroup to repay $20 billion in bailout money
• Obama determined to herd banking "fat cats"

• Story about the A&M student who barely survived the tragic bonfire collapse in 1999.
• When we learned that the mayors of College Station and Austin were wagering live trees on the outcome of Thursday's Longhorn/ Aggie pigskin kerfuffle all we could think of was the vintage Belly song “Feed The Tree.”
• Dallas Cowboys who were real turkeys. A.k.a. “Serious Cowboy FAIL.”

Glasstire is reporting that Art Palace, Arturo Palacio's aptly named East Side gallery, will move to Houston in January. The move will indeed be a significant loss for Austin's contemporary gallery scene - it seems as though we are still recovering from Gallery Lombardi's closure - but acquiring space in gallery row on Houston's Main Street will allow Art Palace to expand and grow. Palacios has signed a lease on a space that used to house Finesilver Gallery in the Spanish revival style Isabella Court building. Meanwhile, Art Palace's Austin gallery recently opened a group show, One on One on One featuring work by Matthew Rodrigez, Sonya Berg, and collaborative works by Michael Sieben and Nathan Green among others. One on One... closes on December 5th. more ›

• Dallas Police Dept. tackles teen prostitution by looking for teen runaways. The result: "guilty pleas from over 90 percent of the pimps arrested."
• Yikes! Paul Saucido, host of ME TV’s show “Sonido Boombox” has been arrested on charges of sexual assault.
• Yikes! San Antonio teacher charged with sexual assault, after he allegedly created a “secret society” and used the Bible to convince underage girls to have sex with him.

• Teacher who was killed in his classroom in Tyler had previous concerns about the student who stabbed him.
• Oops! The State of Texas invested with Madoff!
• Emaciated toddler found in Houston. Child Protective Services had previously investigated his mother, but no charges were filed in the earlier investigation.

• Fried butter is coming to the State Fair of Texas. “Big Tex” might just get bigger….
• P.E. requirements reduced by the State of Texas, but you’ll still need them to graduate from the Corpus Christi Independent School District!
• Want to live to be 110? Don’t take a car! (That's actual advice from someone who is 110 years old.)

• Texas lawmakers remember the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
• “It looks like a war zone in Taylor” following a thunderstorm last night.
• First day of classes at UT, and the game has changed. This semester brings the start of plus/minus grading to the university. We’ll totally miss the days of squeaking into an “A” with a 90.

Austin's Peek-A-Boo records is prepping Octopus Project's upcoming Golden Beds release, due this week. Peel is getting ready for a hiatus due to Josh Permenter's move to San Fransisco, so July 31 will be your last chance to see them for a spell. Supported by {{{Sunset}}} and Little Stolen Moments, they'll perform at Baby Blue studios around 9 p.m. more ›

The school was hosting the one-year anniversary of "Trae Day," a celebration honoring local rapper Frazier "Trae" Thompson III and meant to promote community service and voter registration, when gunfire erupted from the parking lot near the TSU stadium. Subsequent incidents took place off campus at a nearby intersection. more ›

Z-Ro and Trae’s It Is What It Is contains none of the signifiers – marquee collaborations, cross-overs, shouted intros by popular DJs - that we come to expect from modern rap albums of a certain stature. Save one Nitti beat, the album’s producers would be tough to place for those who don’t obsess over Mr. Lee’s drum sounds. Imagine watching Monday Night Football next week without Joe Theisman, Suzy Kolber, the intro clips, the crowd noise, the dozens of camera angles, the replays, and the in-game graphics. You’d see a purer, though potentially less enthralling spectacle that depended on a matchup strong enough to carry you along without ESPN’s glossy signposts. Here recording as ABN (Assholes By Nature), Houston’s Z-Ro and Trae have always been outlaws of sorts, even while occasionally finding success within the rap mainstream. more ›

Photo by Neeta Lind on flickr
• Markos vs. Ford: party unity proves elusive at Netroots
• Too much fluoride in Kyle's drinking water makes it unsafe for kids under 9
• Woman exposed to rabid bat on Lady Bird Lake found

For the second year in a row, Miss USA had a spectacular fall in front of millions of worldwide viewers during Monday's Miss Universe pageant. To her credit, this year's Miss USA winner, Houston native Crystle Stewart, quickly regained her composure after accidentally slipping on her evening gown. more ›