Houston surges to No. 1 metro ranking by dominating the energy sector and landing huge tech deals.

Housing construction posted a surprisingly large increase in February, bolstered by strength in all parts of the country except the West.

With 222 cloudy days each year, Portland is the unhappiest city in the country, according to BusinessWeek.com.

The largest city in America without zoning has enjoyed government policies that do not artificially constrict supply by restricting land use. Instead, deed restrictions control what can be built within most neighborhoods and the friction between growth and neighborhoods that commonly inspires the ill-considered politics and policies in other cities has been relatively rare in Houston.

Houston, Texas is announced the number one healthiest housing market for 2009.

Houston had the best year of any market, picking up an additional 57,300 jobs, according to a new bizjournals analysis.

Our approach this year to picking the ten best cities in which to live and work was simple: Look for places with strong economies and abundant jobs, then demand reasonable living costs and plenty of fun things to do. When we ran the numbers, some of the names that popped up made us do a double take at first. So we hit the road to meet movers, shakers and regular folks, experience the ambience and take in the sights.

During the past year, I've made several appearances on television news programs to talk about the housing crisis. My role was that of the straight man.

Plenty of us smart-aleck Dallasites, if we try, can work up a crush on hustling Houston, where the air—leave aside the suffocating humidity—has the tang of freedom.

Most Harris County residents would support zoning or other land-use planning tools to guide growth, protect neighborhoods and curb suburban sprawl, the 2008 Houston Area Survey shows.