North Channel Star • 5906 Star Lane, Houston, TX 77057 • Phone: 713-266-3444 • Fax: 713-977-1188 • Email: northchannelstar@gmail.com
By Allan Jamail
Galena Park ISD Stadium – Friday November 15, 2019 — The North Shore Mustangs, before thousands of fans, watched their team corral Pasadena’s Dobie Longhorns 54 to 0.
Perennial power North Shore was absolutely dominant in all their district games again this year. Having won the State Title in 2018 they’re attempting a BACK TO BACK title run this year too.
In 1994, Gilbert Hoffman and his wife Mei-ing bought the Highlands Star – Crosby Courier, fulfilling one of Gilbert’s lifelong dreams: to own a newspaper. This also marked the beginning of what would become a small publishing conglomerate, serving the greater Houston area with community papers such as the Star-Courier, Northeast News, and North Channel Star.
This week, Gilbert celebrates his 80th birthday. Upon such a significant milestone, it is worth looking back on his remarkable life, family, adventures, and many careers.
Harris County, Texas – November 15, 2019 – Today, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo joined business leaders, residents, and community leaders from across the region to deliver the first State of the County address of her term. During her remarks to about 900 attendees, Judge Hidalgo outlined key areas of progress in fostering a safer, healthier, and more equitable Harris County and announced a new initiative that will focus on improving early childhood development.
“The state of our county is strong,” said Judge Hidalgo. “But being strong is about much more than having a low unemployment rate or a strong bond rating. It’s about making sure that all of our residents enjoy equal access to the great opportunities available to them in Harris County. Over the past year we’ve made county government more transparent, made strides to reform our criminal justice system, and have begun to make up for lost time when it comes to investing in our flood control infrastructure. But there is much more to do, and we look forward to another year of ambitious, meaningful initiatives, including a focus on what we can do to improve early childhood development and education.”
Drawing from the “Talking Transition” initiative, Judge Hidalgo will kick off a community engagement series next year as the first step towards a larger goal of a meaningful early childhood development initiative in Harris County. Programs that focus on early childhood development have one of the strongest returns on investment for any type of public program. Children who benefit from initiatives like subsidized childcare and early education tend to have higher high school graduation rates, fewer arrests, lower rates of substance use, and higher rates of employment as adults.
During her remarks, Judge Hidalgo also provided updates on key priorities since her swearing in. Some key areas of progress include:
By Allan Jamail
November 8, 2019 – Members of the United Steel Workers Union Local 283-M at their union meeting presented Jacinto City’s Mayor Ana Diaz with their annual donation for the city’s needy kids at Christmas time.
USW Local 283-M President Scott Rowe said the union members have payroll deductions taken from their pay in order to make the annual Toys for Tots donation.
Union member working at Longhorn Glass Manufacturing a divisions of Anheuser-Busch Companies, provides various storage and packaging products, including beverage containers, bottles and cans. The company also offers a variety of services, such as packaging, distribution, marketing and inventory management. Longhorn Glass Manufacturing has one of its manufacturing facilities located in Jacinto City at 4202 Fidelity Street.
BAYTOWN – A grassroots citizen group is leading the effort to bring the Battleship Texas to a berth in Baytown, after it is repaired and restored.
The group is headed by businessman Jay Eshbach, with help from well-known historian Russell Hamman, Jake Daniel, Peter Piontkowski, and others.
The Battleship was originally built in 1912, and has seen service in both World Wars. Since 1948 it has been berthed at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Park in LaPorte.
The State of Texas has spent $85 million to preserve the ship and keep it afloat, but now wants to turn it over to a private foundation to maintain and operate. The new owner is the Texas Battleship Foundation, and wants a new site where it can attract 300,000 visitors instead of the 80,000 in LaPorte. Admission fees must pay for the upkeep of the ship, which will cost $2 million yearly.
Texas has voted to spend $35 million more to remove, repair, and relocate the ship. Several locations have indicated interest, including Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Baytown.
The world’s largest propylene oxide, tertiary butyl alcohol project shifts into new phase of construction
CHANNELVIEW, Texas – Nov. 14, 2019 – LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB), today announced construction on its propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) plant has surpassed 20 percent completion, with work shifting from foundation and infrastructure construction to vertical assembly. A key milestone of the project’s progress was marked by the recent delivery of a 25- story-tall, 601-ton distillation tower, which will be the tallest piece of equipment to be installed.
“We’ve moved another step closer to delivering our PO/TBA project, with construction taking place simultaneously at two of our sites,” said Dan Coombs, LyondellBasell executive vice president for Global Manufacturing, Projects and Refining. “This project creates a long-term value for our investors and we remain on track to bring our largest PO/TBA facility in the world online in 2021.”