For all the attention her husband gets with such deals as buying Morton's Steakhouses or buying out a casino once owned by Donald Trump in Atlantic City and remodeling it as a Golden Nugget or for spending $60 million to bring back the splendor of Galveston Island's Historic Pleasure Pier, Paige Fertitta does a lot of stuff too.

GALVESTON — Mayor Joe Jaworski joined The Oak Ridge Boys onstage at The Grand 1894 Opera House this week, taking up a pair of drumsticks to play surf rock favorite "Wipe Out" with the quartet.

In this blog, we’ve had long and interesting discussions about children at restaurants. Remember this one about a Pittsburgh-area eatery banning kids?

Galveston got a big boost of publicity last week when ratings juggernaut American Idol aired the round of auditions shot at Galveston Island Convention Center.

Although I knew that January, 2012 was milder than normal, it still surprised me to learn that this past month was the 8th mildest January ever in Galveston, with records going back to January, 1872. In fact, it was the warmest January on the Island since January, 1952.

Galveston County topped last year's total of athletes signing letters of intent to play collegiate sports on Wednesday morning when more than 40 local players made it official. There were a few surprises in the list, but as always, the sport of football was ever prevalent in helping Galveston County's college-bound athletes secure scholarships.

Here’s the text of a letter State Rep. Larry Taylor of Friendswood sent to Mike Gerick, the chairman of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. His basic complaint is that it’s unreasonable for the board to continue to raise rates until it makes a better effort at cutting costs.

A visiting judge on Thursday ordered $7,500 in sanctions against Christopher Dupuy, judge of Galveston County Court at Law No. 3, stemming from a Houston attorney's attempts to depose Dupuy in connection with a $500,000 fraud and malpractice suit filed against him.

TEXAS CITY — Wydell Dixon, founder of Whiskerville Animal Sanctuary, is attempting to appeal last week’s ruling that the nearly 200 cats seized from the shelter should stay with county animal control.

GALVESTON — A jury sentenced Cheretta Smith, 20, to 84 years in prison on Friday. Smith pleaded guilty to murder in the Feb. 12, 2010, slaying of her grandmother, Theretta Gayden Miller, 57, who was found dead in the Texas City home she shared with Smith.