​Well, well, well, the City of Houston announced over the weekend that our long, horrible nightmare is over ding dong the wicked witch is dead they have settled their lawsuit with American Traffic Solutions to rid us of the scourge red-light traffic cameras FOREVER once and for all.

Setting aside for the moment the fairy tale-like hyperbole, the city has agreed to pay ATS $4.78 million to settle their dispute over the agreement they had with the company to keep the red lights operating. City council approved ending the red-light camera program after a vote by Houstonians in November 2010 rejected them. We wrote about the entire fiasco in a September cover story.

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Happy New Year from Metro.

​If your New Year's Eve plans include drinking past the point where it'd be wise to get behind the wheel, Metro's got your back.

All buses and light rail are free from 6 p.m. New Year's Eve until 6 a.m. New Year's Day, the agency announced.

Metro says it "wants to help individuals celebrating the arrival of the New Year a safe option
to get home rather than getting behind the wheel."

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Bring your own urine jars.

​The world's cleanest, germ-free light-rail station -- albeit one in which you no doubt will be encouraged to piss in jars -- will be Stop 3 on Metro's new East End line.

That stop will be officially designated the Altic/Howard Hughes stop, the agency announced today.

One stop later will be the Cesar Chavez/67th Street stop, and the Southeast Line has an MLK stop, but those two are tied to streets in the area with those names.

Metro spokesman Jerome Gray tells Hair Balls the Hughes name came from community suggestions. The station's location is near the site of the original Hughes Tool & Die Company plant.

Hughes is the only person to be honored by a station name not directly tied to an already-existing neighborhood or street, although technically the plant could count, we guess.

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Photo by Craig Malisow

Our heroes!

​Our favorite Metro cops -- the officers whose quick actions helped save Houston Press Music Editor Chris Gray after he suffered a heart attack last month -- were presented with awards this morning from Metro and the American Heart Association.

Officers John Zepeda and Leonard Wagner just happened to be at the downtown light-rail station where Gray had collapsed on his way in to work on October 28. After a Good Samaritan, who we still haven't been able to personally thank, dragged him off the tracks, Zepeda quickly administered CPR and called for assistance. That's when Wagner swooped in, and the duo took turns administering the life-saving procedure until Houston Fire Department EMTs got to the scene.

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Let the latest phase of trough-feeding begin!

​Metro had itself a party this morning, with tons of local officials making happy speeches and a federal official on hand to dole out cash.

The transit agency announced it's officially been cleared to get $900 million in federal funds to build more light rail in town, funds that had been endangered due to previous Metro administrations' ineptitude (to put the best possible spin on it).

"The rail expansion team, Metro board members, past and present and our entire staff, past and present, should be proud of accomplishing an enormous task. We've never lost sight of the prize and finally it is Houston's," board chair Gilbert Garcia said at the event. "We thank all the community patriots for all their help in making this day happen. This is a major investment in the region that will not only create jobs but boost economic development."

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Houston's very own Randolph Mantooth

​John P. Zepeda of the Metro PD's canine squad had performed a routine bomb search at the Ensemble light-rail station October 28. Finding nothing, he tried to head back.

But train after train was filled with morning commuters headed downtown, so he and his dog waited things out.

Which turned out to be a lucky thing, for as they were waiting for yet another train they heard someone yell for help.

That someone was dragging Houston Press music editor Chris Gray off the tracks, where he had fallen after suffering a heart attack.

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A sad day at Metro

​A Metro worker was killed last night when he stuck his head out of a railcar and it hit a support beam in a repair shed.

Chung T. Luu, 45, who had been with the transit agency for 11 years, was working in the Rail Operations Center about 6 p.m. last night when the incident occurred.

"Preliminary information shows that Chung T. Luu was onboard a light-rail vehicle that was being moved into the shop's service lane," Metro said. "While the train was in motion, Luu reportedly stuck his head out of the train's door, hitting a support beam in the shop."

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Metro Rail: Comin' at ya!

​Yesterday's Metro light-rail crash was, of course, captured on security video.

The jumpy video is silent, so you can't hear the engineer's exclamation when the dump truck pulls onto his tracks and there's nothing he can do about. We're going with "Fuuuuuuck" instead of "Oh, shit" here, but we could be wrong.

A second video shows a pedestrian making a mad dash to get out of the way of the two colliding vehicles, always a pleasant way to start the day.

The crash:

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Photo by John Nova Lomax

Oops

​At around 9 a.m., a dump truck headed eastbound on Capitol was struck by a southbound MetroRail train. The truck was knocked up on the sidewalk, where it came to rest very near the door to Ziggy's deli. The train derailed, but both vehicles remained upright.

A statement from the Houston Fire Department said that 14 people from aboard the train and the dump truck driver had been taken to hospitals, all with minor injuries. The truck sprung a diesel leak, requiring containment by an HFD HazMat team.

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Photo by Brittanie Shey

​Union members lined the north and east side of Metro's downtown headquarters this morning -- a prime visibility location for those taking the light rail to work -- to protest the breakdown in contract negotiations between Metro's leadership and members of the Transportation Workers Union Local 260.

At issue is how the Metro is planning to use money it has already earmarked for expansion of the light rail and adding more entry-level positions to the company, protesters said. The employees' contract expires at midnight tomorrow.

As buses and trains passed by, honking in solidarity, Union steward and transportation grievances representative Wayne Jackson said workers are most concerned with "givebacks" proposed by Metro leadership -- cuts in salaries and higher cost for benefits. "We don't want to give back things we already have," he said.

About 30 picketers waved signs with slogans like"The New Metro: 23 Vice Presidents and Counting" and "The New Metro Puts Image Before Safety."

Vanessa Ausley, another Union steward, said Metro is proposing cuts to routes in low-income areas, citing decreased ridership, which she says isn't true.

"We're only asking for what's fair."

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