03.28.07
Posted in News at 10:44 pm by Paloma Cruz
League City OKs $401,000 for Butler Longhorn Museum
Despite setbacks, facility expected to open next summer
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
League City officials approved spending $401,000 Tuesday night for a trio of Houston-area companies to finish the city’s long-delayed Butler Longhorn Museum.
[snip]
The approved funding is about $50,000 more than the original estimate submitted by the three companies in October.
Excluding the new funding, the city has already spent $1.5 million to purchase and refurbish the three-story, 8,000-square-foot museum, which is located at 1220 Coryell.
[snip]
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03.26.07
Posted in News at 10:39 pm by Paloma Cruz
I was just telling someone that Houston has fared better in the slowdown than any other city in the US. That may not be exactly correct, but, according to this story, it’s close.
Houston area leads in job creation
– reported by the Houston Business Journal
More jobs were created in Houston between January 2006 and January 2007 than in any other metropolitan area in the nation, new figures show.
Statistics released on Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the Houston metropolitan area gained 99,100 jobs in the 12-month period.
[snip]
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03.25.07
Posted in News at 10:16 pm by Paloma Cruz
from the Houston Chronicle:
The Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department is planning a free cardiopulmonary resuscitation class for March 31.
The class will be from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Station No. 1, 1000 S. Friendswood Drive, according to a news release.
The class covers adult and infant CPR and includes the American Heart Association’s “CPR for Friends and Family” program.
Call 281-996-3360 to reserve a space in the class.
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Posted in News at 10:11 pm by Paloma Cruz
For those of us who live in Pasadena, this isn’t news. For all of you who don’t, here’s a neat little front-page story by the Houston Chronicle.
Pasadena’s culture shifts with growing Latino majority
In just a few decades, a growing Latino majority has reshaped the home of Urban Cowboy
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
[snip]
But Pasadena, ever the chameleon, is undergoing its most profound shift to date as the old Anglo culture gives way to a new and growing Hispanic majority.
Though the trend started decades ago, Hispanics’ majority status was first recorded in the 2000 Census. Mostly new immigrant families with children, they are filling the schools, propelling the economy and transforming the landscape.
[snip]
Now nearly 60 percent Hispanic, Pasadena was chosen as the pilot site for H-E-B’s pioneering Mi Tienda, a supermarket directly aimed at Spanish speakers. The old Elks Lodge has become El Palacio Real for quinceañeras and other galas.
The Denver-based Cinema Latina chain’s first theater in Texas offers up U.S. blockbusters dubbed or subtitled in Spanish and chili on the popcorn. The local Wal-Mart has made room for an in-store health care clinic called Mi Acceso Soludable, or My Healthy Access.
St. Pius Catholic Church rubs shoulders with Templo Apostolico and other immigrant-favored evangelical congregations.
[snip]
Hispanics, however, haven’t similarly penetrated the body politic.
Garcia has represented Pasadena on Commissioners Court since January 2003. But for decades, the Precinct 2 office was held by Jim Fonteno and, before him, John Ray Harrison, who was quintessential “old Pasadena.” His daughter, Nikki Harrison Caffee, is Garcia’s Pasadena liaison.
Mayor John Manlove, who was adopted as a baby by white parents, is half-Hispanic. But the City Council always has been all white and mainly male.
[snip]
The inexorable Latinization of Pasadena is most evident in the schools, ever the demographic barometer of the future.
Kirk Lewis, who became superintendent of the Pasadena Independent School District in April, has worked at the district since 1986.
When he started, the student population was 60 percent Anglo and 31 percent Hispanic. Today, it’s 73 percent Hispanic and 14 percent Anglo.
Enrollment has soared from 35,000 students to more than 50,000; 26 percent are limited-English-proficient.
The story is definitely a good read.
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03.22.07
Posted in News at 11:04 pm by Paloma Cruz
Clear Creek ISD student Brian Ajieren won the Houston Chronicle spelling bee.
13-year-old takes spelling crown
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
Round after round, the two Houston-area middle-schoolers kept the audience spellbound Wednesday as they carefully sounded out the obscure words they were given and put all the right letters in all the right places.
But after 30 hard-fought rounds, it was the three-year champion, 12-year-old Anjay Ajodha, who sat down in tears while 13-year-old Brian Ajieren was crowned the area’s best student speller of the year.
Brian, a seventh-grader at Westbrook Intermediate in the Clear Creek Independent School District, could hardly believe his fortune after correctly spelling the word “peripteral” to win the Houston Chronicle Spelling Bee.
[snip]
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03.21.07
Posted in News at 10:58 pm by Paloma Cruz
Residents seek public transportation in Pasadena
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
[snip]
After Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor John Manlove said that although Pasadena opted out of funding Metro through a local sales tax, it still may be eligible for service because Metro receives county funding, which is drawn from all parts of the county.
Even with funding, it’s not easy to provide bus routes for Pasadena because of its elongated shape, Manlove said.
[snip]
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03.07.07
Posted in News at 10:41 pm by Paloma Cruz
English initiative won’t be on Friendswood ballot
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
Voters here won’t be deciding the controversial issue of making English the official language of their city anytime soon.
In a 5-2 vote, the City Council decided Monday not to place the proposed city charter amendment on the city’s May 12 ballot.
[snip]
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