05.05.08
Posted in News at 11:57 am by Paloma Cruz
Houston honored as most accessible city for people with disabilities
– Houston Business Journal
While some recent surveys point to Houston being among the fattest
and the dumbest cities in the nation, Mayor Bill White on Friday
accepted with pride his city’s designation as the most accessible to
handicapped people.
The National Organization on Disability presented a $25,000 check
to White at the Vale-Asche Foundation Playground in Memorial Park.
Houston earned the seventh annual Accessible America Contest
because of its “focus on disability issues and successful design of
programs, services and facilities that are accessible for citizens and
visitors who have disabilities,” according to NOD.
[snip]
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Posted in News at 11:10 am by Paloma Cruz
Houston gets schooled in ’smart’ survey
Bayou City ranks near the bottom of the heap in education-based listing of 100 smartest U.S. cities
– Houston Business Journal
Houston has landed near the bottom of a new ranking of the 100 smartest cities in the U.S., according to a recent study by Bizjournals.
Houston ranked 83rd on the list — which identified metros with the highest levels of collective brain power based on education levels — with an index of 41 on a 100-point scale. The study found that only 9.2 percent of Houstonians have a graduate or professional degree; 20 percent did not complete high school; and 25 percent stopped their education at a high school diploma.
Local economic and education experts don’t dispute Houston’s ranking, saying that the study brings to light some alarming statistics.
Steven Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University, says Houston’s numbers represent an “incipient crisis” among the city’s demographics.
[snip]
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Posted in News at 11:06 am by Paloma Cruz
Evening commuters could get reprieve from rains
– Houston Chronicle2
Heavy rains are expected to continue across southeast Texas late
this morning and into the afternoon, but evening rush-hour travelers
could get a break, forecasters said.
“We think the rain will diminish beginning late this afternoon,
probably between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.,” National Weather Service
forecaster Charles Roeseler said today.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
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Posted in News at 10:56 am by Paloma Cruz
If you didn’t watch Iron Man this weekend, you’re in the minority. I went to see it on Saturday and was a bit disappointed. Robert Downey, Jr. was great, but the movie was a bit… lacking. Just my personal opinion.
Ticket sales cast in iron
– Houston Chronicle2
Iron Man was pure gold at the box office.
The Marvel Comics adaptation, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the guy in the metal suit, hauled in $100.7 million during its opening weekend and $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a nonsequel, according to studio estimates.
The film’s debut was the 10th-biggest opening of all time and the fourth-biggest for a superhero movie.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
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05.01.08
Posted in News at 10:58 pm by Paloma Cruz
Rally calls for immigration reform, end to raids
– Houston Chronicle2
More than 200 supporters of immigrant rights rallied in downtown Houston on Thursday, calling for an overhaul of immigration laws and an end to a recent spate of workplace raids.
The afternoon march and rally at downtown’s Antioch Park coincided with national protests in major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. The Houston protest also drew a few dozen counter-protestors, who gathered across the street from the rally, yelling through bull horns and carrying signs that read “Stop the Invasion.”
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
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Posted in News at 10:31 pm by Paloma Cruz
Houston OKs ‘green’ energy code for new businesses
Mayor says cost hike for builders will be offset by utility savings
– Houston Chronicle2
Starting Aug. 1, new commercial buildings will have to meet
energy-efficiency benchmarks through the use of “green” design, under a
new energy code approved Wednesday by the City Council.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
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03.18.08
Posted in News at 10:25 pm by Paloma Cruz
It’s no surprise that Houston is a good ol’ boys city. One more thing to prove it:
Houston straggling on female board representation
– Houston Business Journal
Houston companies still lag behind their national peers in appointing females to their board of directors, according to a report.
Only 40 percent of Houston’s top 100 companies have female director representation, compared to 91 percent of the boards at the S&P 500 companies, according to the report compiled by the Houston office of executive search firm Spencer Stuart.
Although there was one more woman on the boards of companies surveyed now versus 2006 — bringing the total to 51 — the percentage declined from 43 percent in 2006 due to a different mix of companies used for the survey.
[snip]
One other thing worth noting, also found through the survey:
Over the past 12 months, three more Houston-area companies instituted
mandatory retirement ages for directors, ranging in age from 62 to 75.
Fifteen of the 26 companies have director retirement ages of 70 or 72.
Oh, joy!
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03.04.08
Posted in General at 1:38 am by Paloma Cruz
In case you missed the trail rides, the news stories and Go Texan Day… it’s rodeo time in Houston, once again. Are you going?
Resources:
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Posted in News at 1:27 am by Paloma Cruz
Find out in a workshop given by the Small Business Development Center:
Small-business resources
– Houston Chronicle2
[snip]
Tuesday
Do You Have What It Takes to Start a Business? 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., UH SBDC, 2302 Fannin, Suite 200. Cost: no fee. Registration: www.sbdc.uh.edu.
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
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02.27.08
Posted in News at 12:29 am by Paloma Cruz
Boom and bust may be a relic of city’s past
Experts consider oil-driven ups and downs unlikely to be repeated
– Houston Chronicle2
[snip]
“There is a whole lot more stability than there was in the 1980s,” said Hankamer, whose commercial real estate brokerage specializes in hotel properties. “There is lot more discipline by lenders and builders and equity investors. People are real careful not to build something that is not fully needed.”
The hotel industry learned a lesson, he said, as did the city’s entire business culture. To rely on oil was to play Russian roulette with three loaded chambers. Houston not only had to change its way of doing business, it had to change what business it did.
And so was born the Houston Economic Development Council, established to broaden the economic base.
How well it succeeded, as well as the Greater Houston Partnership which absorbed it along with the Chamber of Commerce, is a matter for historians to debate.
There is no doubt that some active efforts, such as the expansion of the port facilities and the Texas Medical Center, had an effect. But so did the ongoing waves of immigration, much of it unanticipated.
A consistently affordable cost of living also has helped Houston keep growing despite oil’s ups and downs.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
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