You can fly over floods… but only if there’s a place to take off and a place to land. Houston’s airports, like the rest of the city, have been dealing with high water and torrential rain caused by Hurricane Harvey, and while the runways are dry, it’s going to take some time for air travel to and through the area to get anything like back to normal. [More]
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Owner Of Houston Furniture Stores Turns Them Into Shelters For Residents Stranded By Hurricane
By 8.28.17
Thousands of Texas residents have been displaced following Hurricane Harvey’s landfall over the weekend. While many of these people no doubt traveled to stay with friends and family outside of the affected areas, others don’t have those options. Instead, they’ve sought refuge from rising flood waters at community centers, shelters… and furniture stores. [More]
Family Says 5-Year-Old Dog Died In United Cargo Hold
By 8.8.17
United Airlines is facing blame for another pet death today after a family in Houston says that their 5-year-old King Charles spaniel died in the cargo hold of a flight from Houston to San Francisco. [More]
Will United Refund Tickets On Soon To Be Suspended Flights To Venezuela?
By 6.5.17 — Updated: 6.9.17
Scoring a direct flight from the U.S. to Caracas, Venezuela just got a bit more difficult for travelers, especially those who prefer to fly with United Airlines, as the company announced it would suspend flights to the country this summer. [More]
Feds Accuse Bar Of Charging Cover Fees To Non-White Customers
By 10.3.16
Federal law prohibits restaurants and bars from discriminating against customers on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin, but prosecutors say a popular Houston bar actively discouraged non-white customers by, among other practices, demanding cover charges that were not required of white customers. [More]
Laptop-Using Car Theft Ring Busted In Houston
By 8.5.16
Hey, remember those car thefts in Houston where the suspect was caught on security cameras fiddling with a laptop computer before driving off with the vehicles? The cops say that they’ve found the culprits, who allegedly were able to drive off with the vehicles by programming blank key fobs with codes that they obtained through illicit access to the Fiat Chrysler database. [More]
Postal Worker Caught On Security Camera Pepper-Spraying Family Dogs
By 6.28.16
Last week, something pretty normal happened at a house in Houston: the postal carrier brought the mail, and the dogs hanging out in the yard barked at him. What happened next, caught on a security camera, was unusual: the man sprayed all three dogs with what appears to be pepper spray, even though they were secured behind a heavy gate. [More]
Southwest Flight Veers Off Runway After Landing; Eight Injured
By 12.16.15
A 90-minute Southwest Airlines flight went smoothly for 133 passengers, at least until the plane landed in Nashville Tuesday night, veering off the runway and injuring eight people. [More]
United Airlines Customer Service Reps Learn That Working From Home Comes With 20% Pay Cut
By 9.8.15
Last week, United Airlines decided to shutter two of its customer service call centers — one in Detroit and one in Honolulu — but did so without plans to lay anyone off. Instead, these airline staffers could either move to Chicago or Houston to work in a call center, or they could work from home, but with a pay cut. [More]
Comcast Accused Of Deliberately Sabotaging Houston Sports Channel
By 6.11.15
Comcast Sportsnet Houston, which had exclusive access to Houston Rockets and Houston Astros games, was on the air less than a year when it was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2013. Not even a year later, the station — once valued at $700 million — was sold off to a joint venture of DirecTV and AT&T for a whopping $1,000. A new lawsuit accuses the cable company of deliberately submarining CSN Houston. [More]
Man Throws Chihuahua At Window Of Starbucks That Banned Him
By 10.27.14
In Houston, a man was banned from a Starbucks due to his disruptive behavior, which included “harassing” customers. He reacted to this ban in a completely logical way: by pitching a fit outside, throwing a glass bottle at the ground, then throwing a Chihuahua puppy of unknown origin at the coffee shop’s window. [More]
Tractor-Trailer Tips Over, Spills Beer Across Freeway
By 9.2.14
Early this morning in Houston, an 18-wheeler and a sedan collided on a freeway. Both vehicles spun out, and the 18-wheeler tipped over, severely injuring the driver and spilling the trailer’s contents on the road. What was inside? Beer. Dozens and dozens of cases of beer. The beer spilled across the highway, and the driver remains in serious condition in the hospital. [KPRC] [More]
Donations Pour In, Replace Wigs Taken By Lowdown Thief
By 8.11.14
Police in Houston are currently dealing with a series of thefts that may or may not be related. Ten stores that sell hair in the Houston area in the last week have been robbed. It began with the theft of eleven wigs destined for a fancy spa event for women who have lost their own hair due to cancer treatment. Good news: donors have replaced those wigs. [More]
Uber And Lyft Now Open For Business In Houston
By 8.7.14
When Uber and Lyft opened for business in Houston, the same thing happened that has happened in many cities with existing livery industries: taxi companies freaked out and sought help from the city government. Now both ride-sharing services are open for business in the city, with some additional rules in place that are intended to help traditional taxi companies compete with them. [More]
Even Millionaires Can’t Urinate On The Candy At CVS
By 7.22.14
Even if you’re a wealthy real estate heir who has previously been acquitted of murder charges, you will probably get arrested if you decide to expose your private parts to CVS employees… and then use said private parts to urinate on the store property and products. [More]
Regional Sports Channels Highlight Problem With Comcast/TWC Merger
By 4.29.14
When Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal questioned Comcast and Time Warner Cable execs about how the merger of these companies would impact regional sports programming, the two cable operators shrugged it off as a silly question. But it’s not, and here’s why. [More]
Store Loses Super Bowl Bet, Gives Away $7 Million Worth Of Furniture
By 2.3.14
A furniture store in Houston has to give $7 million worth of furniture away to its customers after losing a bet on the Super Bowl. Don’t feel bad for the store owner, though: from his point of view, this is a good thing. Not because he’s a terrible business owner, but because the promotion got customers in the door, got the store’s name in the news, and just might create long-term customers. [More]
Restaurant Turns Away Customer In Wheelchair, Charges $245 To Cancel Reservation
By 10.3.13
Some people may disagree that it’s fair for a restaurant to charge a cancellation fee when someone misses their reservation. However, there’s pretty much no one who thinks that it’s fair to charge a cancellation fee because a customer uses a wheelchair and is literally unable to get in the door. [More]
