A Bay Area woman has gone missing after she was last seen at an airport in Houston, Texas on the day before Thanksgiving, and her family is desperate to locate her.

Danielle Friedland, 36, who lives with a husband and two children in Piedmont, had been in the Houston area receiving mental health care, as KTRK reports. She was last seen at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on November 22, but she never boarded the plane back to California that she was scheduled to be on.

Her husband, Jordan Friedland, gave a statement to KTRK saying, "Dani has been going through an unexpected but ongoing mental health issue for several months now, and we just love and support her."

As the Chronicle reports, via Houston police, Ms. Friedland had been experiencing depression.

According to her husband, her treatment had reportedly been going well, and she was supposed to fly home to reunite with her family — the couple has a two-year-old and a five-year-old — for Thanksgiving.

"Our kids miss her more than anything in the world," Jordan Friedland tells KTRK. "She's the most amazing mom in the world and the world is a better place with her and being a mom, friend, and community member."

Family members have reportedly flown to Houston to try to locate her. The family said they believed she might have gone into downtown Houston.

Police said Friedland left the airport with $160 in cash and a debit card, but none of her luggage.

"One of the scariest things for me is that Dani doesn't know Houston," said Jordan Friedland, speaking to local station KHOU. "She doesn't have friends or family here. She doesn't have her luggage, her credit cards, her phone and I just can't imagine how scary that must be."

Anyone with information on Friedland's location is asked to contact the family at 832-378-8798 or the Houston Police Department at 832-394-1840.

Republican (it goes without saying) Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon wants to slice off more than $3 million in state funding from Berkeley for their stance against Marine recruiting. He will introduce legislation to "withhold state transportation money until Berkeley rescinds its 'war on the U.S. Marine Corps.'"

Jesus.

In a move that will ideally hurt his political career -- since it's a waste of time, a symbolic prick move, and has little to zero chance of ever passing -- the flame-haired Houston's move parallels other Republican Congressmen. A few others on the right have also whined about financially destroying the city of Berkeley after the twee and annoying anti-war group Code Pink picketed downtown Marine recruitment center, prompting the city council to approve a measure that urged the Marine recruiters to leave their downtown office.

Next week, according to CBS 5, "Berkeley council members will consider rescinding the Marines' declaration to defuse the controversy." Way to stay strong.

After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts bridges could use a little help. But Bostonist brightened up considerably when they discovered they could drink themselves silly on the Amtrak booze ride and at the Sam Adams brewery. And, if they're not boarding the party train, they can think about their much-improved sports teams. Thanks to the arrival of basketball stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, Bostonist is finally feeling some Celtic pride. (They had to exercise that pride when a certain blog attempted to talk trash about their fair city.) Oh, and the Red Sox got pitcher Eric Gagne, too!

With hot weather forecast in the Midwest, Chicagoist offered its readers a survival guide to Lollapalooza. That isn't the only major event happening in the City of Broad Shoulders. The YearlyKos convention rolled into town, as well. Meanwhile, changes are afoot at the city's largest weekly newspaper after a change in ownership, more women are talking on their cell phones as a means of discouraging assaults, readers disagreed with a Dunkin' Donuts franchisee's decision not to serve pork breakfast sandwiches, and a retired machinist thought he won a million dollars until a Miller Lite girl took his winning ticket away.

DCist was a little testy this week: to start with, they called for a ban on Crocs after discovering that the ugly shoes are destroying the city's escalators, they gave another popular blog a hard time for ripping on their fair city for no reason, and they begrudgingly gave San Diego their best wishes after that city beat D.C. in the race to create more adorable panda cubs. Finally DCist Senior Editor Martin Austermuhle traveled to Chicago for the YearlyKos convention to speak on a panel about the struggle for District Voting Rights.

This week, Houstonist checked in on a series of fallen icons: an animatronic gorilla from their youth singing bad hip-hop, the virtuous halls of government invaded by a mysterious pink dildo, and a flamboyantly white-haired, blue-spectacled local news icon gone to the big TV studio in the sky. It all gives you something to think about while making late-night grocery runs in your PJs - which is totally acceptable, considering that Houston once annexed the city of New Orleans. And we all know what that means: drinks all around!

Was it, as this Berkely Daily Planet op-ed conjectured, due to the new media suite, which will record every performance on high definition from this Don Giovanni on and thus will put some demand on the singers to look good, conjectures the writer? And wouldn’t anyone from Texas (SF Opera's general director David Gockley's previous job was in Houston) consider a white woman such as Elza Van Den Heever better looking than a black woman such as Hope Briggs, asks the op-ed writer? The wild, unsubstantiated conspiracy theory says more about the person making those connections that it does about the process inside the opera house, but nonetheless, even the NY Times jumped in the debate!

Race most likely did not play a role, but still one consequence of the switch was to cancel an African-American community outreach event, which is still a slap in the face and a tough situation for the PR to handle. Is Al Sharpton flying into town soon?

Yet last night performed slammed shut the questioning and finger pointing and Monday quarterbacking of the move: while Hope Briggs performed quite expertly a few excerpts of her part in Dolores Park a week ago, Elza Van Den Heever was a revelation last night. She had all the qualities of a major star: range, power at the top, yet the required Mozartian agility in the more challenging parts. She would reveal the high notes, clear and fully formed, hit them straight on the mark, confidently, when so many singers get to a nearby approximate spot and slide to the right tone.

Pictures of Mariusz Kwiecien by Terrence McCarthy and Elza Van Den Heever (with Charles Castronovo) by John Lee, courtesy of SF Opera. The second picture was actually taken during Saturday's first act. Short of taking you with us, you cannot get any closer!

Best show you've ever played and what made it great?
Our last gig in Paris at La Maroquinerie in April 2007. The place was packed with 400 fans who knew all the words and clapped and danced and yelled out to us and made us feel incredibly good. We played really well with in our fancy embroidered suits and we came off stage sweaty as barnyard pigs.

Best venue in the world?
I hate to be such a Francophile, but la Cigale in Paris. It's a huge, old, red-velvet theater and truly a lovely place to share and experience live music.

Best fans in the world?
The best fan we've met so far is a young girl from Houston named Gelli. We just met her last week. She wore our band t-shirt at the show, danced in the front row the whole time, beamed bright smiles at us, and gave us hope for the future of the human race.

What's your favorite song to perform?
Right now it's 'Saltbreakers'. I love it when the guys come in -- who doesn't love a rousing chorus of bearded men? Also, I crank the reverb on the amp and dance around with my guitar.

Favorite collaborators?
My bandmates -- Tucker Martine, Karl Blau and Steve Moore. also the wonderful world-class violist Eyvind Kang. and the Cedar Hill Baptist choir from Nashville that sang on 'To the Country' from the new record.

Lamest Crowd Request ever
When we played to two people in Dallas a few years back and both were from our record label. It's not that the label people were lame -- they were really nice -- but that was certainly the lamest attendance ever.

Laura Veirs & The Saltbreakers
June 5 @ Café Du Nord
Openers: Lake, Ryan Auffenberg
Doors: 8pm
21+

Friday will be a farewell: it is the last "Friday 6.5 show" of the season, a last dance of sorts, if only to make sense of our title. The performance is at 6:30pm, so people can go straight from work in their Friday casual attire. Gosh, do they wear shorts? We don’t know, we try to go earlier in the run so as to share our opinion as quickly as possible. We are very partial to the Thursday matinees, the little old ladies are so sweet. Anyhow, the show being about 2 hours long typically, you get out just in time for dinner at Zuni, Hayes Street Grill or Citizen Cake, and the night is still young and full of fun ahead. Being artsy and classy early in the evening gives you a good excuse to do the dumb things you’d do on a Friday night anyway. It all evens out.

This week’s series features an eclectic mix of old and new, challenging and pleasing. A Beethoven symphony (not the ta-ta-ta-tum one, not the keeping score one and not the ode to joy one, another one), and his Romance for violin.

Picture of Hans Graf courtesy of Houston Symphony

It's time for American Football Spectacular's capsule reviews of the 2007 NFL Draft. Adventure, excitement,! All hard information was culled from NFL.com's pretty excellent draft tracker site. Proceed.

* Selection # / Team (trade info) / Player / Position / Height / Weight / School

* 01 / Oakland / Russell, JaMarcus / QB / 6-6 / 263 / Louisiana State: Sorry, JaMarcus; the Raiders only picked up one offensive lineman in the draft. So, uh, now you've got that guy and Jeremy Newberry to add to last year's offensive line unit. Start buying pain medication in bulk now, my friend, 'cause you will be sacked a lot this coming season. On the bright side for Oakland, have you seen how well the Golden State Warriors are doing?

* 02 / Detroit / Johnson, Calvin / WR / 6-4 / 237 / Georgia Tech: The founder of K Records and a key member of the Northwestern indie rock scene, it will be intriguing to see how well Johnson excels within Detroit offensive coordinator Mad Mike Martz's multi-receiver pass patterns. (Har, har.) Now seriously, either Calvin Johnson has the talent to be a success wherever they go, but Detroit's legacy of leadership futility makes it specifically difficult to succeed there. Fire Millen!

* 03 / Cleveland / Thomas, Joe / OT / 6-6 / 313 / Wisconsin: Went fishin' with his Dad for draft day rather than dealing with the New York City draft spectacle. Smart guy.

* 04 / Tampa Bay / Adams, Gaines / DE / 6-5 / 260 / Clemson: The Bucs coveted WR Calvin Johnson, but'll settle for a new defensive edge-rusher to succeed the aging pass-rushing DE Simeon Rice.

* 05 / Arizona / Brown, Levi / OT / 6-4 / 328 / Penn State: Must protect pretty QB Leinart. So, they got this guy.

* 06 / Washington / Landry, LaRon / FS / 6-2 / 205 / Louisiana State: Sure must suck to be a Washington fan. After wasting a bunch of money on free agent safety Adam Archuleta last season, Washington spends its first-rounder on another safety.

* 07 / Minnesota / Peterson, Adrian / RB / 6-2 / 218 / Oklahoma: A speedy power-back with a history of injuries, this guy is the new Priest Holmes. What that means is this caveat: sure he's great; but how long will he last?

* 08 / Atlanta (from Houston) / Anderson, Jamaal / DE / 6-6 / 279 / Arkansas: The Falcons have been trying to buy or draft a pass rush for the past couple years. Maybe this'll do'er.

* 09 / Miami / Ginn Jr., Ted / WR / 6-0 / 180 / Ohio State: Surprise! On her couch in Chicago, Jessica shouted at her television in disbelief. We don't blame her. The Dolphins needneedneedNEEED a quarterback above all else! Yet instead of picking up ND's uber-touted QB Brady Quinn, Miami picks up a speedster receiver coming off a debilitating leg injury. Who-the-wha-now? Hmph. Extremely high-risk, with poor odds of good results. This pick will determine how the the history of the 2007 NFL Draft is remembered.

* 12 / Buffalo / Lynch, Marshawn / RB / 5-11 / 217 / California: Cal's own Marshawn goes to Buffalo to replace Willis McGahee at running back, and appreciate the musical canon of Ani DiFranco.

* 13 / St. Louis / Carriker, Adam / DE / 6-6 / 292 / Nebraska: A big, meaty defensive end from Nebraska, Carriker's name is a lot more fun if you imagine Homestar Runner saying it out loud. Try!

Photo of Patrick Willis via sf49ers.com

All the rest from round one after the jump.

Valentine's Day is only a few days away, and we here across the Gothamist network wanted to express would like to tell you, in the spirit of the holiday, just how much we love you, our readers. Don't let it get to your heads, though. There are plenty of things we love, you included. Just be glad you're not amongst the things we hate.

In New York, Gothamist isn't sure whether to love or hate a sorta-stroller-ban at a local Barnes & Noble. They do, however, hate the idea of a law that would fine people for crossing the street while listening to their iPod or talking on their phones (people ♥ gadgets!). Who doesn't love ideas for hangover coffee suggestions? They are especially needed after seeing pictures of Rudy Giuliani and his wife mack - it's nice they love each other, but Gothamist doens't think anyone needs to witness it. And Gothamist loves that Orthodox Jews need to incorporate Hebrew graffiti into their billboards so people won't get upset.

SFist saw their beloved mayor enter rehab, and they the opportunity to gossip about it. Of course, that doesn't stop local Facebook users from totally crushing on him. Meanwhile, they asked their readers which MUNI line they hated the most, and got a conclusive answer.

Phillyist loves its local Billy Bob Thornton, and cars. Also on its good side are pretty sunsets over the city. On its hate list right now, though, are law-flaunting smokers, and the hearts-and-flowers holiday itself.

Austinist is blissfully in love with the upcoming SXSW lineup, and more than a few bands playing in it. When not with their musical crushes, they're romancing giant bunnies and bloggers with a good bottle of vino. Of course, it's not all hearts and flowers for Austinist. They hate the lack of quality street food downtown. And, don't you hate it when you find glass in your soda bottles, too?

Shanghaiist positively hates that they're sinking into the ocean. And everyone seems to hate Chinese footballers. But lest you should worry that Shanghaiist is bitter, you should know how much they love sandwiches, technological innovation, and their city's top tourist destinations.

Meanwhile, Londonist doesn't hate anything. They're all about Valentine love for the guy who gives out free iPods, highly-skilled bees, being invited on private tours, their city in Lego, and giant snowmen.

Torontoist wasn't feeling as lovey-dovey as Londonist: they had plenty of hate to go around. Torontoist hates angry jewelry store owners who harass local TV celebrities,
"independent" teenaged girls, and punk kids messing with change on the subway. But they weren't without some love, for its local basketball team (whom they want them taken off notice by Stephen Colbert), and for continuing to solve the Bridezilla mystery, and for cute misspellings.

Bostonist is hating the Celtics' losing streak. But they totally love screwing around with said team's logo and the new hit song 99 luftbaloons 99 Mooninites.

LAist wasn't really about love or hate this week. They were more about the ambivalence, especially toward the Colts' reactions to that Snickers commercial and John Waters. They do, however, know where to send you if you're lookin' for love, yourself.

Seattlest totally loved this pro-breeding story, fist fights of the past and present, and ironic content matching. Of course, they kinda hate Canada (kind of) and the local buildings that everyone else seems to love.

Chicagoist gave its readers some love, and got some love from local TV. And then they got some hate on a somehow-controversial post. The honeymoon, apparently, is over.

Parisist reports that Parisians who love the NFL have options—if they are willing to watch a game that kicks off at midnight, that Parisians who love each other can leave Valentines messages on electronic traffic signs, and that Parisians who love indie bands with awesome dance numbers were able to catch OK Go! live in concert. No hate in Paris, though. It is the City of Love and all...

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost.

Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into a bit of an argument about whether gridiron—that's American football—is "rubbish".

Chicagoist sounded a cautious note about the supposed declared candidacy of Barack Obama this week. The staff were much more optimistic about the plans to put organic food into the public school system, even if they usually start their mornings with a can of pop (they don't call it soda in the Windy City). Finally, Chicagoist took a moment to remember when Martin Luther King, Junior's journey brought him to Chicago, and talked with some experts to compile a list of the biggest sins in sketch comedy.

Torontoist had some serious skunk in the trunk. But, after taking a dip in a tomato-juice filled tub, they were able to look at ugly condo branding, get excited about mascot heads, and even move snow.

Austinist reported that last week's bird deaths weren't caused by poisoning. Texas Governor Rick Perry seems to have mastered the musical art of the "not" joke by inviting Ted Nugent to his inauguration, but Austinist is taking its music seriously. A new upscale Austin restaurant is trez disappointing, but the heroics of a UT grad student and his brother definitely are not. And, um, ice storms in Texas? Seriously?

Houstonist discovered why some people shouldn't be mothers: they misplace their babies. They also cooked up some dumplings (that's dumplins, in Texan), and taught their readers how to pick up men in the gym. A guy is cashing in on Houston's mini-ice storm by selling a chunk of ice on eBay, and some Houstonians decided who's to blame for sex offenders molesting kids they meet on MySpace... it's MySpace!

SFist was smokin' this week! David Cross responded to a review and all hell broke loose. "Gleegate" continues to heat up, and a town hall meeting went to the birds.

Phillyist is mourning another Eagles-free Super Bowl, but is making up for it by talking about sex, baby, getting high, loving on cheesesteaks, and appreciating optical illusions.

LAist interviewed LA's new all-sports radio afternoon-drive hosts and Chaunte of Maui Fever, and discussed a sexual holy grail: female ejaculation.

Gothamist reported that if you have a French accent, you might automatically be charged a tip. Which, you know, makes perfect sense. A Manhattan antiques dealer is suing the homeless people who live outside his store—which makes even more sense. A neighborhood power station might just be possessed, but there's nothing that some good brisket and projected art can't fix.

Seattlest discussed who's to be blamed for the death of James Kim and PDX bumper cars that look more scary than fun. They found themselves completely tongue tied as they learned about Pearl Jam's coffee drinking habits, disappointed with David Lynch's new film, and able to blog about all it from public transit seats.

Parisist was taunted by the idea of late-night Metro service every night of the week. Too bad it's not terribly easy to take babies on mass transit! But of course, why would you want to take your babies with you on a tour of a chocolate factory, or as you follow a day in the life of The Legendary Tiger Man, anyway?

Shanghaiist wished that Tommy Lee Jones would make Chinese commercials, too. Meanwhile, it's no surprise that China is full of knockoffs and bootlegs, but more surprising that there might be a mainland smoking ban by the end of the year. Meanwhile, both bubble tea houses and taxi drivers really need to keep it clean. It's for the children.

Bostonist would take this episode of Vendetta and Gunn over Miami Vice any day. They've fallen back in love with Allston, and might just have a crush on the subway knitter on top of that. But local newscasters are trying to steal Bostonist's heart with some mechanical bull riding that may not quite be up to sexy snuff.

And last but not least, DCist guided its readers through the explosion of new local businesses on 18th Street NW, wondered what the arrival of paper copies of The Onion would mean for the local media landscape, scolded the Washington Wizards for having ugly fan apparel for women, and reviewed a recent monster truck rally.

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Top photo by Londonist M@. Second photo by Ted Adams.

Hey, here's a couple of news flashes for you: on Wednesday night the Warriors won, on the road, by holding a fourth-quarter lead.

That's right, the team's road losing streak of eight games is over after a less-than-convincing 96-95 escape in Boston. Baron Davis carried the Warriors with 31 points and 8 assists, but the Warriors did everything they could to give the game back; it was really an assist from Celtics coach Doc Rivers that gave the Warriors the game. With 24 seconds remaining, timeouts in hand, down by one point, and with the ball, Rivers elected not to call a timeout. Instead, the Celtics ran the only play in their playbook: give it to Paul Pierce and hope for the best. Pierce is a great player, but everybody in the building knew he was going to get the ball, including the five Warriors on the court. They surrounded him and forced a jump ball with just 0.6 seconds left. Game over baby.

So that puts a tiny band-aid on the 1-3 road trip and slightly daubs the road bleeding this year (2-9), but it does nothing to address the Warriors number one problem: REBOUNDING!

It could be a whole new ball game for the Warriors if they'd quit with the little-man's complex and play some size to get rebounds. Graphic from Atarimuseum.com.

This team is getting killed on the boards and it's making every game against every opponent an uphill battle. The Warriors are 24th in the league in rebounding, pulling down a paltry 39.6 boards a game. With opponents averaging 46.3 rebounds per game (rpg), their rebounding differential is by far the worst in the league at -6.7. It's so bad, the next closest team to them in rebounding differential is the Milwaukee Bucks at -5.1. (Side note, the Bucks outribbied the Warriors by 10 boards and won the game when the two teams met earlier this month.) Last year, the Warriors were fifth in the league in boards, collecting 42.3 rpg. They still had an operating deficit, but it was only -2.2 rpg

It gets worse. In losses, the War's are getting out-glassed by almost 8 rips a game; in wins, by nearly 6 per. In December, opponents have averaged 8 boards more per game. Against the Houston Rockets on December 14 in the O-rena, a game they won at the buzzer, the Warriors were outboarded 53-33. Do you think if maybe they had a couple of extra possessions in that game by virtue of a few more rebounds, they mightn't have had to rely on a last-second jumper for the win? Ya' think? On their current road trip, the team has been outrebounded 200-162 and has not grabbed more rebounds than their opponents in a game yet. A 1-3 road trip and 4-7 record for the month are no coincidence.