The organization suffered a "site outage" due to a large number of people applying for $400 vouchers.

The Texas Renaissance Festival runs Sept. 30-Nov. 26 this year at 21778 FM 1774, Todd Mission. Attendees are invited to wear costumes when they attend and can choose to dress according to one of the event's themed weekends. Here is a noncomprehensive list of a few costume and specialty stores that feature Renaissance, fantasy and medieval-style clothing in the Greater Houston area.

The road to recovery for residents in a west Houston neighborhood after Hurricane Harvey has been delayed for nearly two weeks.

A caravan came rolling into the Philadelphia Fire Department's Special Operations Center in Northeast Philadelphia.

A Texas City couple says they were spared from Hurricane Harvey's flooding by the Virgin Mary statue in their front yard, and they're thankful for the divine intervention.

The brutal murders of two homeless men in Las Vegas were becoming cold cases until the police department came up with a unique approach that caught national attention.

Memorial Hermann Health System has named Dr. Benjamin Chu as its new president and CEO, replacing Dan Wolterman, who announced his retirement in October and has served as CEO since 2002. Chu currently serves as the executive vice president of Oakland, California-based Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan Inc. and group president for Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Georgia. He manages the health plan and hospital operations for 14 hospitals and 237 medical offices which services?

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner shared his views on Houston's energy-related job losses and on the city's role in stemming the blood flow.

When I was a little girl, I knew when it was rodeo season ? not because I was patiently awaiting the deep-fried everything and playing with goats at the petting zoo, which I definitely was ? but because on the Friday before the rodeo rolled out, I was dressed Texan to a T. I'd have tiny cowboy boots with a matching hat and a bandana around my neck; and a few years, my mom handmade my Western wear. While I might not still have her as my personal clothier, she instilled the tradition in me just?

Human communication is complex, but the first thing that comes to mind when we hear the word ?communication? is often spoken or written words. However, the words we speak and hear are just one way we communicate, and some studies show that most of our communication takes place through other means. Humans communicate in many different ways, such as verbal, nonverbal, body language and artistic communication, which is through images or music. The way we communicate with people affects all aspects?

Houston has many different chambers of commerce that identify with different geographic regions and demographics. Beginning this spring, the LGBT community will have one as well. Roughly 3.3 percent of the Greater Houston area identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a recent Gallup poll, but there is no chamber of commerce that represents and promotes LGBT-owned businesses, said Tammi Wallace, co-chair of the steering committee. "There's an LGBT chamber of commerce in?

Schouest, Bamdas, Soshea and BenMaier PLLC has merged with Houston-based law firm Fitzhugh & Elliott PC, effective Feb. 16, according to a statement. The two Houston-based firms will keep both of their offices, one in the Energy Corridor and the other in downtown Houston. The firm will retain the SBSB name and will have 31 lawyers, according to Susan Schmaeling, a spokeswoman for the firm. Thomas Fitzhugh and John Elliott will be partners at SBSB, the statement said. "This merger deepens and expands?

Once again, the teacher faces off against one of his pupils this weekend.

Twitter's got its 140-character limit and that's just fine. But sometimes a little more elaboration is called for.

AFC SOUTH GAME TO WATCH Seahawks at Titans 3:25 p.m. Sunday This interconference matchup appeals to Houston fans as the Titans visit next week. Each team is 1-1 and is coming off vastly different Week 2 victories. The Seahawks scraped past the 49ers in a dull game, while the Titans blasted the Jaguars in Jacksonville. And there's the Marcus Mariota-Russell Wilson QB matchup that bears watching. REPUS BOWL Browns at Colts noon What's the "Repus Bowl"? Uh, that's "super" spelled backward. These two 0-2 teams meet in what should be a slogfest. The Browns - by their low standards - have been somewhat competitive, while the Colts still look lost without Andrew Luck. Unless you're a glutton for punishment, pass on this game.

See if you can tell who each Astros player is just by looking at a picture from their childhood.

As the days left before October dwindle and the Astros' postseason roster comes into clearer focus, the likelihood of Brad Peacock's inclusion in their American League Division Series rotation trends closer to a certainty.

Former UT and NFL running back Ricky Williams was arrested on traffic warrants, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

Review one lawyer's fight vs. Harris County probation officials.

From their makeshift temple, a phalanx of displaced Jews will at sunset Thursday march toward their tormentor. The hundreds-strong crowd will cast challah bread and their sins into the slow-moving body that robbed them of their homes and security. There, on the bank of the Brays Bayou, the teary-eyed faithful from the water-damaged United Orthodox Synagogues will reflect on the lessons of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and, now, Harvey. The tashlich ceremony, as it's called, symbolizes the cleansing of the spirit during Rosh Hashanah, marking the Jewish Year 5778 that started Wednesday at sunset. The ritual has taken on new meaning after Hurricane Harvey.

Arnold Talbert considers his Memorial Drive apartment building safe. Military flags still adorn the walls of his one-bedroom unit, the hallways outside are still clean and free of clutter, and a pinkish pool raft still leaned Tuesday on the 10th-floor balcony of the housing complex for low-income, disabled and elderly Houstonians just northwest of downtown. Talbert, 58, loves the place. He renewed his one-year lease in July. Now, he said he is afraid he won't be allowed back into his home. On Monday, the nearly 200 residents of the public housing complex at 2100 Memorial Drive were ordered to vacate the property by Saturday, a move city officials said was necessary to evaluate the safety of the building in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Michael Spooner's house was the last one in his neighborhood above water. He watched the floodwaters on his street rise and drain away once, then twice, before letting himself think maybe his family had escaped the worst of Hurricane Harvey. "All of sudden, it was in our yard," Spooner, the worship pastor at Rollingwood Fellowship in Baytown, said. "We couldn't get out." Spooner, his wife Jana and their 4-year-old daughter Abigail waded out of their neighborhood through waist-deep water - their dog in her arms and Abigail on Spooner's shoulders - to Rollingwood, where they lived for a week after their house took on 2 feet of water during Hurricane Harvey.

Houston firefighter Brian Sumrall, described by friends and co-workers as "an amazing person" on Sunday, was in the midst of doing what set him apart: helping others. He was traveling southbound on FM 770 about two miles from the rural town of Batson in a Kubota tractor when he was hit from the rear by a Chevrolet pickup driven by Joe Patton, 35, of Hull. Sumrall, 39, was ejected from the tractor and died at the scene. Patton suffered minor injuries. According to Chief Fred Yust with Batson Fire Department, Sumrall's last act was in service to his community. He was on his way to load hay into the vehicle of a cattle owner impacted by Hurricane Harvey flooding. "Brian would have done anything for anybody.

The shelter at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center closed late Sunday after the Red Cross and city officials relocated nearly 900 people to three other shelter facilities.