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Along with prices on the McDonald's menu board in Texas Children's Hospital, consumers can now see how many calories and grams of fat and carbohydrates their meal will include.

Adding to the usual production and leadership burdens bestowed upon him as the face of the franchise are the inescapable realities that he is essentially entering a contract year and is in need of a big bounce-back campaign.

Texas on the Potomac has offered every candidate in contested congressional primaries an extensive opportunity to weigh in on their qualifications for office and their positions on the major issues facing the district. The candidates' comments will be published in...

Former Houston Mayor Bill White told a gathering of Austin Democrats this evening that Texans have been ill-served by the criticial advertising that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry have run against one another in the Republican...

Mayor Annise Parker wants a full briefing from fire department officials on differences between a State Fire Marshal's review of an Easter Sunday house fire that killed two firemen and the department's inquiry. Captain James Harlow and firefighter Damion Hobbs died l...ast April 12 as they fought a raging fire inside southeast Houston home....

American Idol 9 - top 12 boys perform Tonight has to be better, right? Tuesday's top-24 kickoff was an underwhelming, mediocre display of girl-power and shot a hole in the female winner prediction. Tonight, the top 12 boys take the...

Three Texas educators have been recognized for their efforts last year in beating back efforts to dilute the teaching of evolution in Texas public schools. The National Center for Science Education calls David Hillis, Gerald Skoog and Ron Wetherington "Big,...

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Support for the Democratic Party among young voters is waning and Republicans are gaining strength among Americans under the age of 30, recent polling has found. At a conference today on the political leanings of the so-called "Millennial" generation, officials...

I ask because the age of piezoelectricity appears to be upon us. The idea is to convert the energy of human activity into electricity, and scientists are developing "piezoelectric" materials that generate electricity when flexed or subjected to pressure. How...

If you remember, it was a pretty day last Saturday. In Sealy, if one voter -- just one -- had decided to stay home and get her tomatoes into the ground, Wyn McCreadey would be a newly elected city council member. Or if another voter had decided to go have a beer Satur...day afternoon at the Garden Lounge instead of dropping by his polling place, then Mark Stolarski would be accepting...

Pop star Shakira wants President Obama to push for immigration reform. The Colombian singing sensation already knows the president since she performed during his inauguration. On Monday, the Grammy winner, whose latest album is called She Wolf, made several...

So, twice now I've seen Al Edwards and Borris Miles in action together -- the first time at a candidate forum at the SHAPE Center a couple of weeks ago, the second time when the two Democratic legislative candidates met with the Chronicle editorial board a couple of days ago....

Hetta "Peaches" Kempner, one of Galveston's leading philanthropists, has been selected as Galveston Historical Foundation's (GHF)'s 17th annual "Steel Oleander." The award, a cast oleander blossom sculpted by the late Galveston sculptor David Moore, will be given at a luncheon...

The Greenroom PRAldean makes his RodeoHouston debut March 6. Jason Aldean has kicked up an impressive amount of dust in less than five years. The young-country buck has sold more than 3 million copies of his three studio discs...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, would prefer not to deal with a vacancy from Texas if U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison fails in her bid to unseat Gov. Rick Perry. On a conference call...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is finding her voice in the world of foreign affairs — and it's the sound of hawk-speak, filled with threats and warnings. She has warned that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship. She is...

ONE DAY THERE WON'T BE ANY OLYMPICS OR LOST (sob) AND I'LL HAVE TO COME UP WITH SOME REASONABLE EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THESE ENTRIES ARE SO LATE. UNTIL THEN, SORRY. O RLY, CHARLIE SHEEN? YA THINK? JUST SO THAT...

Too many long weekend days spent working in his father's Napa Valley vineyards during high school had turned Jim Barbour completely away from the wine world. When he left for college, Barbour wanted nothing whatsoever to do with grapes or...

By KEN HOFFMAN Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle This week I reached out for a Bacon & Egg Cheeseburger, which is finally getting some notice at America's all-night flapjack flipper, IHOP, with 1,433 restaurants in all 50 states. IHOP quietly introduced...

By MARY VUONG Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle Angela Wilson was delighted by her meal at Flavors (1001 Mc-Kinney, B3 Tunnel Level). "It is absolutely tops in the (downtown) tunnel!" Wilson says....

Missouri City's city council recently approved a ban prohibiting operating certain wireless devices while operating a motor vehicle. It goes into effect June 1. A story published on the Houston Chronicle's Ultimate Fort Bend Web site reports: The Missouri City...

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Among the changes being considered by Harris County Commissioners Court is a tightening of car allowances and take-home vehicles. County Budget Officer Dick Raycraft told the Court this morning that there are 1,034 car allowances dispensed to county employees at an ann...ual cost of $6.6 million. His report to the Court today suggests that a study be done regarding whether car allowances should be abolished. Commissioner Jerry Eversole also suggested that the county...

Survivors Episode 2 Aired Feb. 20, 2010 In post-apocalyptic tales, the end of the world as we know it brings about the best - and the worst - in people. Many cling to the values and morals of their former...

QUICK! WHAT DO SIMON COWELL, SARAH PALIN AND THE CAST OF JERSEY SHORE HAVE IN COMMON?: No, they don't all make your stomach hurt. I mean, they might, but the answer we're looking for is that they will all be...

Video after the jump: Cuba, home to some of the most premium leaves in the world, opened its doors to the 12th annual Cigar Festival in Havana on Monday. The clip begins following a short commercial....