Free Republic

Galveston County has extended voting hours until 8:54 pm. Votes after 7:00 will be counted as provisional. County will have further details available at the polling location and on Galveston County website. Any idea what caused this extension?

OU-UT rivalry at center of bloody bar fight Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — To hear Oklahoma football fans tell it, some things just aren't done in the heart of Sooner Nation, and one of them is to walk into a bar wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt. That's exactly what touched off a bloody skirmish that left a Texas-shirt-wearing fan nearly castrated and an Oklahoma fan facing aggravated assault charges that could put him in prison for up to five years. The shocking case has set off a raging debate in this football-crazed region about the extreme passions behind a...

Victim turns gun on man trying to rob himBy MÓNICA GUZMÁN Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle A man who tried to rob a Katrina evacuee of his FEMA money early today by pointing a gun at him and throwing his daughter down a flight of stairs was killed when the evacuee managed to wrestle the gun away from him, police said. The gunman, who has not been identified, was one of three men who came to the door of 23-year-old Christopher Joseph Norris's apartment on the 6200 block of West Tidwell about 12:30 a.m. Norris, a Katrina evacuee, knew two of...

Police this morning arrested a former New Orleans police officer believed to have deserted the force during the hurricane crisis, officials said. The unidentified man, who was driving a stolen car, was pulled over during some kind of traffic stop in the 10300 block of the North Freeway around 11 a.m., said Sgt. Nate McDuell. When approached by police, the man, who had a firearm, identified himself as a New Orleans police officer, McDuell said. Authorities learned, however, that the man was no longer an officer for the New Orleans Police Department because he had quit his job in lieu...

Mother, boy and suspect shot in break-in By S.K. BARDWELL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle An apartment break-in this morning left a woman and her 11-year-old son with gunshot wounds and a suspect clinging to life. The woman's husband told police he shot the robber after he burst into the apartment and opened fire on the family. The incident began about 6:30 a.m. at an apartment in the 9900 block of Windmills Lake Boulevard in southeast Houston. Homicide investigator D.L. Robertson said the husband had just arrived home in and closed the door behind him when three suspects kicked it in....

Bond girls aren't easy By SAMANTHA BONAR (c) 2004, Los Angeles Times Britney, you are no Pussy Galore. Former Bond Girl Maryam d'Abo (Kara Milovy in 1987's The Living Daylights) with Timothy Dalton. A recent Extra television report revealed that Britney Spears has had the gall to approach Barbara Broccoli, a producer of Bond films, with a view to becoming the next Bond Girl. ..... ...A Bond Girl has sex appeal. Her allure stems from her classic beauty -- tall, lithesome, elegant. Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder) rose from the sea like a knife-wielding Aphrodite in 1962's Dr. No, the first...

Fastows expected to plead guilty in Enron cases By MARY FLOOD High-flying ex-Enron couple Lea and Andrew Fastow are scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday at the Houston federal courthouse, the Chronicle learned today. The plea deals come one week after their agreements to plead guilty seemed secure, then foundered. Andrew Fastow, the former Enron chief financial officer, is set to plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt at some time prior to his wife Lea pleading guilty before U.S. District Judge David Hittner. The plea bargains have been in limbo for more than a week after Hittner threw a...

Sidewalk camper wounded by officer By PEGGY O'HARE Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle A man believed to be homeless was shot by a police officer Thursday after he swung a club at one officer and attacked another on a downtown street, investigators said. Roberto Aleman Ojeda, 52, was listed in fair condition at Ben Taub Hospital with a knee wound. Ojeda admitted he was trying to knock a gun out of the officer's hand with the club, said HPD homicide Investigator Brian Harris. Sgt. Steve A. Perez and officer James P. Tyler were not seriously hurt during the struggle, which spilled...

SEC says ex-Enron executive to pay $500,000 Reuters News Service WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission said today that it charged the former chief accounting officer of Enron North America with securities fraud and he agreed to pay $500,000 in a settlement. Wesley Colwell, without admitting or denying wrongdoing, agreed to be barred from serving as officer or director of a public company and to pay $200,000 in penalties and $300,000 in disgorgement, the SEC said. "As part of this settlement, Colwell will continue to cooperate with on-going investigations into Enron Corp. by the Securities and Exchange Commission and...

Capt. Bob Diggs Brown Jr. focused his digital camera on a young girl who was looking into an ad hoc classroom set up by U.S. Special Forces at a ruined school site in Afghanistan. Snap! The Sony camera recorded a crisp digital image of the shy, brown-eyed girl with a loose black cloth draped over her head. Brown and his unit of special forces soldiers helped drive the Taliban and al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. But, for the 46-year-old Duncan native, rebuilding one school outside the capital of Kabul was their biggest achievement. “Part of winning any war is winning the hearts...

Auchan closing local stores to leave U.S. market behind. French chain a hit in other countries By DAVID KAPLAN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Fifteen years after its arrival in Houston, Auchan is closing its two stores here, the French company's only remaining U.S. locations. Auchan employs about 700 people here. The stores, in west Houston and the Gulfgate area, will stay open at least 60 days. When Auchan opened its first Houston store in 1988, Wal-Mart was experimenting with a new concept, the Supercenter, which is similar to the Auchan hypermarket in that both are massive stores selling food and...

Where there's smoke, there's usually politics. Downing Street cigar bar attracts an official crowdBy RACHEL GRAVES Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Surely there are those who think meetings are best conducted in an office. Many Houston politicians prefer to do business over a single-malt scotch and an imported stogie. The place of choice? Downing Street, a River Oaks cigar bar. Walk in on any given weeknight, and a cadre of elected officials and political operatives is packed into the lavish mahogany and leather booths. "Politicians gravitate toward smoke-filled rooms," said political consultant Dave Walden, who used to be a regular. "That...

A would-be car thief died Friday after he was shot by the car's owner, a camouflage-clad hunter toting a bow and arrow, police said. The thief was moments from a clean getaway when the hunter happened upon his car, police said. The man told the hunter he had a gun and threatened to kill him, said Sgt. T.E. Kiser of the Harris County Sheriff's Department homicide division. The hunter drew his bow and shot at the man, hitting him in the hip and buttocks area. The man jumped from the vehicle and ran across the 9500 block of East Mount...

Channel 13 new just broke that Andrea Yates is pregnant. her lawyer denies it. Developing.

'Twas the 12th of December And all through the state Florida's counters Were staying up late To count and recount And count them some more Till they found enough votes To favor Al Gore. They counted all night And into the day And soon Bush's lead Was slipping away. But still not enough To make Gore the winner So they counted some more, Through lunch and through dinner. "I need help to win this," Al Gore told a friend "And I know just the man On whom to depend." And so Bill Daley Mounted his sled And flew to Cook ...

10.13.2000 00:15 Reed stall tactic fuels backlash, but it works Late yesterday, Rhode Island's senior senator indicated he would no longer block three immigration bills as a tactic to gain support for his bill to grant permanent residence status to Liberian refugees. By ARIEL SABAR and JOHN E. MULLIGAN Journal Staff Writers Belinda Hulin, 46, a newspaper editor in Jacksonville, Fla., had never heard of U.S. Sen. Jack Reed before this week. But in the last few days, the Rhode Island Democrat made her list as public enemy number one. Hulin and her husband are traveling to China next Friday ...