ENVIRONMENTAL HEADLINES, JANUARY 12 – 18

GREAT NEWS: DEVELOPERS FORM PAC
Houston Chronicle 1/12/08
Great news! Houston’s major developers are organizing a political action committee to influence City Hall!

DEVELOPERS PREPARING FOR POST-MAYOR WHITE ERA

DEVELOPERS FUNDING COUNCIL CAMPAIGNS

HARRIS COUNTY ENFORCING STATE BANDIT SIGN BAN
Houston Chronicle 1/14/08
Harris County has sued a homebuilder over advertising signs placed along public rights of way, the first time the county has tried to enforce the state’s new bandit sign law.

DOWN THE HOMESTRETCH ON KATY FREEWAY WIDENING
Houston Chronicle 1/14/08
Developers and businesses in the western suburbs love it. Those in the path of the bulldozers hate it. Motorists caught in the shifting maze of orange barrels and cones curse it.

COUNTY WANTS GRAND PARKWAY
Fort Bend Herald and Texas Coaster 1/16/08
Fort Bend County Commissioners say they want to control the future of Grand Parkway, and they agreed Tuesday to ask state officials for ownership of the highway, albeit in an indirect manner.

TXDOT MEETINGS TRAVEL THROUGH EAST TEXAS

LAND FOR HOUSTON SOCCER VENUE IN ‘HOT’ LOCALE
Houston Chronicle 1/14/08
The city could spend up to $20 million to buy six downtown blocks for a Dynamo soccer stadium, and it remains unclear if the team would reimburse the costs.

CITY DROPS CHARGE AGAINST CAT-FEEDER
Galveston County Daily News 1/15/08
The city dropped a misdemeanor charge against a toll bridge worker who has fed feral cats near the bridge for about five years.

2007 WAS TIED AS EARTH’S SECOND WARMEST YEAR
environmental News Network 1/17/08
Climatologists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City have found that 2007 tied with 1998 for Earth’s second warmest year in a century.

RETAILERS GO GREEN TO CUT COSTS
Reuters 1/18/08
For retailers, going for the green means going for the greenbacks