This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateThe sudden shutdown of Houston schools has sent educators scrambling for a highly-prized possession — and no, it’s not toilet paper.Wireless hotspots are in enormous demand — and short supply — as local school leaders look to help lower-income students connect to online learning amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, several district officials and tech leaders said.The hotspots, often about the size of a hockey puck or smartphone, deliver internet service to all laptops, tablets and other internet-ready devices within a limited...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateThe sudden shutdown of Houston schools has sent educators scrambling for a highly-prized possession — and no, it’s not toilet paper.Wireless hotspots are in enormous demand — and short supply — as local school leaders look to help lower-income students connect to online learning amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, several district officials and tech leaders said.The hotspots, often about the size of a hockey puck or smartphone, deliver internet service to all laptops, tablets and other internet-ready devices within a limited...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateDespite the best efforts of retailers large and small to jumpstart holiday shopping with discounts well before the traditional Thanksgiving start to the season, sales are projected to increase only modestly across the country compared to last year. In Houston, they are likely to be worse.While shoppers nationwide are expected to spend $1.15 trillion this holiday season, a 1 percent increase form 2019 levels, holiday spending in Houston is projected to plunge from last year’s heights, according to a survey from consulting firm...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateDespite the best efforts of retailers large and small to jumpstart holiday shopping with discounts well before the traditional Thanksgiving start to the season, sales are projected to increase only modestly across the country compared to last year. In Houston, they are likely to be worse.While shoppers nationwide are expected to spend $1.15 trillion this holiday season, a 1 percent increase form 2019 levels, holiday spending in Houston is projected to plunge from last year’s heights, according to a survey from consulting firm...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateA worker at Eastwood Post Office said when asked for a voter registration application Wednesday that she had been instructed not to distribute the forms.Until this week the Harris County voter registrar’s website listed post offices among the places to pick up registration materials, but it no longer suggests them since many post offices in the region are not offering the forms or have said they would only give them out upon request.In the final weeks of registration for the 2020, the League of Women Voters, a century-old...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateA worker at Eastwood Post Office said when asked for a voter registration application Wednesday that she had been instructed not to distribute the forms.Until this week the Harris County voter registrar’s website listed post offices among the places to pick up registration materials, but it no longer suggests them since many post offices in the region are not offering the forms or have said they would only give them out upon request.In the final weeks of registration for the 2020, the League of Women Voters, a century-old...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateThe city of Houston is prepared to ask for major changes in state plans to rebuild Interstate 45 that potentially could scale back the planned widening of the freeway and put a greater focus on transit lanes than making room for more cars.Getting the Texas Department of Transportation to focus more on moving people than automobiles, city officials believe, could quell some of the rancor over the region’s largest freeway rebuild in decades.“There is a lot of alignment to TxDOT’s goals and the city’s goals, but they are different,”...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateThe city of Houston is prepared to ask for major changes in state plans to rebuild Interstate 45 that potentially could scale back the planned widening of the freeway and put a greater focus on transit lanes than making room for more cars.Getting the Texas Department of Transportation to focus more on moving people than automobiles, city officials believe, could quell some of the rancor over the region’s largest freeway rebuild in decades.“There is a lot of alignment to TxDOT’s goals and the city’s goals, but they are different,”...WW…

The Texas Hill Country is a gift from Mother Nature. Sprawling over 986 square miles in the heart of the state, it is a wonder of rolling grasslands, pastures of pecan, mesquite, desert willow and oak. Fields of bluebonnet, the state flower, line the highways.The region is a pristine, bio-diverse ecological gem, one of the most treasured landscapes of the American Southwest. But the pride and lifeblood of this unique part of the world are the granite and karst features, the thousands of underground streams and aquifers that hold groundwater and course like veins.Recently however, a threat...…The Texas Hill Country is a gift from Mother Nature. Sprawling over 986 square miles in the heart of the state, it is a wonder of rolling grasslands, pastures of pecan, mesquite, desert willow and oak. Fields of bluebonnet, the state flower, line the highways.The region is a pristine, bio-diverse ecological gem, one of the most treasured landscapes of the American Southwest. But the pride and lifeblood of this unique part of the world are the granite and karst features, the thousands of underground streams and aquifers that hold groundwater and course like veins.Recently however, a threat...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateKate Gravell used to look at the toll lanes taking shape in the center of Texas 288 and long for the day they opened.These days, the X-ray technician’s trip to the Texas Medical Center from her Pearland area home happens so fast she does not have time to think much about the tollway, even as the opening day looms later this year.“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it, when the traffic comes back,” Gravell, 41, said. “I’m not celebrating it, with so many people isolated or out of work or both, but it is nice to not sit there.”COVID...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateKate Gravell used to look at the toll lanes taking shape in the center of Texas 288 and long for the day they opened.These days, the X-ray technician’s trip to the Texas Medical Center from her Pearland area home happens so fast she does not have time to think much about the tollway, even as the opening day looms later this year.“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it, when the traffic comes back,” Gravell, 41, said. “I’m not celebrating it, with so many people isolated or out of work or both, but it is nice to not sit there.”COVID...WW…

The long-running joke that TxDOT never stopped building Interstate 45 will live on a few more years as state officials this week issued construction contracts to widen the freeway toward Galveston Island.Wednesday in Austin, Texas Department of Transportation officials opened bids to widen the freeway north and south of the Texas City Wye, in La Marque. Houston-based Williams Brothers Construction was the apparent low bidder at $225.8 million. Williams Brothers also is the contractor on nearly $400 million worth of construction north of the Texas City Wye, where crews are rebuilding the...…The long-running joke that TxDOT never stopped building Interstate 45 will live on a few more years as state officials this week issued construction contracts to widen the freeway toward Galveston Island.Wednesday in Austin, Texas Department of Transportation officials opened bids to widen the freeway north and south of the Texas City Wye, in La Marque. Houston-based Williams Brothers Construction was the apparent low bidder at $225.8 million. Williams Brothers also is the contractor on nearly $400 million worth of construction north of the Texas City Wye, where crews are rebuilding the...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateBy the time Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo ordered residents to cover their faces in public April 22, Dallas, Bexar and Travis counties already had issued similar measures intended to blunt the spread of the novel coronavirus. Laredo’s mask rule, already 17 days old, also carried a potential $1,000 fine.Only Hidalgo’s order drew the ire of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.He as an abuse of Hidalgo’s authority. U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, another Republican, said potential fines of up to $1,000 for violators would lead to government tyranny. The...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateBy the time Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo ordered residents to cover their faces in public April 22, Dallas, Bexar and Travis counties already had issued similar measures intended to blunt the spread of the novel coronavirus. Laredo’s mask rule, already 17 days old, also carried a potential $1,000 fine.Only Hidalgo’s order drew the ire of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.He as an abuse of Hidalgo’s authority. U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, another Republican, said potential fines of up to $1,000 for violators would lead to government tyranny. The...WW…

A majority of Phillips 66 investors voted for a shareholder proposal that asked the Houston refiner to produce information about the public health risks of expanding petrochemical operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast.The proposal, which was , As You Sow, argued that building chemical facilities in areas more prone to climate risks such as frequent storms, flooding and sea level rise, could pose financial, health, environmental and reputation risks to the Houston refining and pipeline company.Some 54 percent of shareholders approved the proposal on May 6. The proposal requests the company...…A majority of Phillips 66 investors voted for a shareholder proposal that asked the Houston refiner to produce information about the public health risks of expanding petrochemical operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast.The proposal, which was , As You Sow, argued that building chemical facilities in areas more prone to climate risks such as frequent storms, flooding and sea level rise, could pose financial, health, environmental and reputation risks to the Houston refining and pipeline company.Some 54 percent of shareholders approved the proposal on May 6. The proposal requests the company...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateAfter more than three years of study, the city is poised to adopt new regulations aimed at fostering more “walkable” neighborhoods, easing Houston’s overwhelming reliance on automobiles and directing more residents toward a growing transit system.City council is set to vote Wednesday on a that would bring buildings closer to the street, force parking lots to the side or behind buildings, expand sidewalks, and require “buffer” zones between sidewalks and the road. The ordinances would apply to new buildings and redevelopment only...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateAfter more than three years of study, the city is poised to adopt new regulations aimed at fostering more “walkable” neighborhoods, easing Houston’s overwhelming reliance on automobiles and directing more residents toward a growing transit system.City council is set to vote Wednesday on a that would bring buildings closer to the street, force parking lots to the side or behind buildings, expand sidewalks, and require “buffer” zones between sidewalks and the road. The ordinances would apply to new buildings and redevelopment only...WW…