A lot can happen in a week. Some of it good. Some of it bad. Some of it downright ugly. When faced with intriguing developments in the week’s news, we turn to a rotating panel of “non-experts” to parse The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of it all.

This week, our panel weighs in on these stories:

• A new poll suggesting Americans agree on just a little bit more than we thought...maybe
• A quiet year for Houston restaurants and chefs in the James Beard awards
• TxDOT paying through the nose to buy back the 288 toll lanes

Our panel of non-experts this week includes:

• Charles Kuffner, who writes the political blog Off the Kuff
• Raúl Ramos, associate professor of history at the University of Houston