Mischer News

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The Vintage Harvest Festival wants to showcase the best of local AND regional artist talent.

For information on booths and application submission go here.

Deadline to sign up is Sept. 30, 2009.

Get a map to Vintage Park. Google Map

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By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press

Michael Conroy AP

WASHINGTON — Missed out on Cash for Clunkers? Congress has another deal for you: Buy a home before May 1 and collect up to $6,500 from the government. If you're a first-time homebuyer, get up to $8,000.

As part of the government's efforts to encourage people to spend money to help revive the economy, the House voted 403-12 Thursday to expand a popular tax credit for homebuyers. The bill, which also extends unemployment benefits and expands a tax break for money-losing businesses, now goes to President Barack Obama, who plans to sign it Friday.

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Houston's energy usage just got better, as Reliant Energy just received a $20 million fund from federal stimulus money to upgrade its electricity grid.

This stimulus is a response to the $3.4 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act grant intended to modernize the U.S. energy grid.

The investment boost means Houston will see the development of smart energy products and services so customers can manage their electricity usage, manage electricity efficiency and lower energy costs. Reliant Energy, a Houston electric company, is working in collaboration with Tendril Networks, Inc. to make this all happen.

Houston residents can look forward to lower electricity bills and a more energy-efficient, eco-friendly Texas in the future!

Source: Houston Business Journal

On October 31st HoustonWorks USA, a nonprofit organization who focuses on job placement, is awarding former Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire the Founder Award as a recognition of her assistance with continuing education and vocational training for displaced workers.

Whitmire will receive the award during HoustonWorks USAs 25th anniversary gala. Dan Rather will serve as master of ceremonies.

"Back in 1984, the idea was to combine public and private resources to create an organization that would be responsive to the needs of the business community by providing a place where unemployed or under-employed people could go to seek training and job placement," said Whitmire. She also added that "While it will always be a job training and placement organization, it has and continues to expand into a human services organization with more youth programs, scholarships, internships and now disaster relief. It is amazing what can happen when you have the entire community’s support."

Congratulations go to Whitmire, who served as mayor of Houston from 1982 to 1991.

Source: Houston Business Journal

Houston Community College (HCC) just received a $3.5 Million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, Education and Energy. This grant is intended to boost the renowned school's energy programs.

HCC plans to use the grant funds to create a network of industry, state, and educational partners who will explore solar installation training programs throughout Houston. This network will investigate its effectiveness and availability of these solar energy solutions.

This is an immense occasion for HCC, as out of the nine regions throughout the U.S. that received grants from the federal government, HCC received the largest portion. The school was also the only institute in Texas to receive a grant. Subsidized programs such as this may indicate a greener, cleaner Houston in the future.

Image courtesy of EcoWorldly.com

Source: Houston Business Journal

Children who have left over candy from Halloween don't have to let it go to waste. Fort Bend Dentist Dr. Lomonte, DDS is holding his annual candy drive on November 2nd. The candy drive will take place at Dr. Lomonte's office located at 12122 Murphy Rd., Stafford, TX 77477.

This one day candy drive is an effort to promote a safe and healthy Halloween for children. Dr. Lomonte will buy back candy from children for $1 per pound. All of the candy will be donated to troops serving overseas.

Children can also write personal messages to U.S. troops to include with their candy to add a truly heartwarming touch to troops overseas. For more information contact Dr. Lomonte at 832-969-6252 or email him at dr.lomonte@sbcglobal.net.

Image courtesy of Sugar Land Magazine

Source: Sugar Land Magazine

West Houston Medical Center officials have just announced a $70 million expansion project focusing on cardiovascular, surgical, critical care, and women's health services in the West Houston area.

According to Maura Walsh, president of HCA Gulf Coast Division, this new expansion will add over 95,000 square feet of new construction and renovate over 33,000 square feet. This includes a three story tower connecting the northeast side of the existing hospital. This new tower will house the new cardiovascular facilities, as well as more space for future expansion of telemetry medical/surgical beds.

"It's been 25 years since we opened our doors and we have had a huge increase in our population and patient volume," said chief executive officer of West Houston Medical Center, Todd Caliva.

$30,000 of the funds will go towards expanding women's services. This will include labor and delivery rooms, a newborn nursery, a level II neonatal intensive care unit, and post-partum rooms. "West Houston has developed a joint strategy with The Woman's Hospital of Texas to enhance the quality of our services," Caliva said.

The expansion is set to start before the end of this year, with renovations finishing by January 2012.

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Those Americans looking for a job should look no further than Houston. Forbes has just ranked Texas ranks number 1 for overall economic climate on its list of Best States for Business this year, up one place from last year.

Each of the 50 states is measured according to labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, costs, growth prospects and quality of life. Heavy importance is placed on business costs such as labor, energy, taxes, etc.

Texas also ranked 8th for Best state for business and 3rd for growth potential. It was reported earlier that Houston was a hot spot for tech jobs. This bump in placement from last year shows that the tech field isn't the only thing booming in Texas.

Source: Houston Business Journal

If you are looking for tech jobs, we are happy to announce that the U.S. News and World Report named Houston, Texas one of the best places to find tech jobs in the U.S.

According to the report, Houston is full of service firms serving the energy industry, with many of these jobs in the IT field. Houston's high tech industry has emerged from World War II, and currently remains on top. The report confirms its high status by stating that "Today, Houston ranks high for total tech job postings and has above-average ratios for tech job postings to employment in multiple occupations."

U.S. News gathered its findings by starting with a database of 2,000 cities, and by combining that with data provided by OnBoard Informatics. They looked at metropolitan areas that are large enough to support the tech field. This data was then sorted based on factors such as high rates of graduate degrees, etc.

While some industries have been hit hard economically in otherparts of the country, the Houston IT industry, such as engineering and software development, is faring much better. Given the richness of the industry within Houston, it's no secret as to why the city is continues bustling today.

The second quarter was a good one for the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area, which has been named as one of the nation’s 20 strongest metro areas by the Brookings Institute.

The Washington, D.C. company’s quarterly MetroMonitor ranks the nation’s 100 largest metro areas for their economic performance based on five key indicators — employment, unemployment, output, home prices and foreclosure rates.

Houston led the nation in housing prices, with a 4.9 percent increase over the 2008 second quarter, according to the report. That compared with a 4.4 percent average decline among the Top 100 metro areas as a whole and a 1.7 percent decrease in the national average.

Texas overall was considered strong, with Austin, Dallas and San Antonio all also included in the Top 20 markets.

As a whole, the Top 20 areas experienced average employment losses of 1.7 percent from their peaks, and 17 have seen home prices rise over the past year, according to the report. By contrast, the 20 weakest-performing areas have seen average employment declines of 8.2 percent, while home prices have dropped by an average of 11 percent in the past year.

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