Traditionally with playoff games, it was left to the teams to agree on an available venue large enough and roughly between the two cities. For large metropolitan areas such as Houston and Dallas (which are frequently playing in those championships,) it was difficult to find a good venue which offered similar travel requirements. If you split the distance between Houston and Dallas, you are in Centerville which doesn’t have a stadium near large enough to accommodate the fans from both cities. The result was often that one team had a distinct advantage because the site was much closer to their fans.

Three years ago, there was a lot of talk about rotating the title games between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. For the last two years, the championships for 5A has remained in San Antonio because of contractual obligations. This year may be the beginning of that rotation.

In addition to a night of wrestling action, a special press conference will be held earlier in the day that will unveil a big announcement concerning WWE wrestling in the Bayou City. (Look for more on that to be posted tomorrow.)

Ticket prices range from $20 to $70
# Toyota Center Box Office
# Via Phone: 866-4HOUTIX (866-446-8849)
# TDD: 1-877-820-0008

Renewable energy production (from sources such as wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal) is coming on strong and mainstream for both utilities and smaller applications such as homes, neighborhoods, farms and ranches. Traditional power generation (from sources such as coal, gas, and nuclear) will be an important component for our baseline energy production for many years, but forward-thinking states are adopting (or increasing) Renewable Portfolio Standards (requirements to achieve specified amounts or percentages of power from renewable sources by particular dates).

Texas is host to the annual WINDPOWER 2008 conference this week. Everything in Texas is big and this conference is no exception with over 10,000 attendees and over 750 exhibitors. As we seek to transform Texas into the new energy capital of the world, it takes a number of different constituencies coming together to transition from the traditional ways we have been creating and delivering power.

Ohio’s Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher came to the conference to talk about the lessons they learned in passing their recent Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, and the challenges and opportunities they face in implementing the legislation through their Public Utilities Commission.

To build consensus across multiple groups for this initiative, Fisher said the state leaders “built a very powerful coalition made up of those in the environmental and renewable energy sectors, the manufacturing sector, and small business, as well as labor.” He said that “developing the broad based coalition at the outset ” and “keeping the coalition together by regular communication” was a key component to getting the legislation passed. He also noted there was bipartisan support in the legislature, and it “couldn’t have been done without a bipartisan consensus.” One of the challenges they now face is to track and make sure the “benchmarks have teeth and are enforced.”

These initiatives bring more jobs, too. Fisher noted their “manufacturing and agricultural base, combined with their strategic location and well-built infrastructure” gives them “home court advantage when it comes to growing and attracting a renewable energy industry.”

When we bring new energy companies to Texas, it creates jobs and increases our economic diversity. At the city, county, regional, and state level, we can work together to improve our energy situation, ensuring reliable availability and affordable pricing. But, our elected leaders need to hear from us, and our government bodies need to know this is important to us.

Start local, get involved, meet with your community leaders, and start talking about how we can bring new jobs and new companies, to our region. Get to know your legislators, find out where they stand on developing renewable energy, and encourage them to bring more supportive and actionable legislation into the light of day.

By STEVE HARVEY
Cleantegrity

The conference program includes 300 speakers and moderators, 150 poster presentations, and over 50 sessions on leading wind energy topics organized into tracks with policy, business, and technical focuses. Look for interviews and reports from the conference soon.

The Leones compete in the USL Premier Development League, a league made up of 67 teams that develops players for leagues such as the MLS (Major League Soccer). Fans of “futbol” can catch the squad Saturday at 6 PM for their match against the Mississippi Brilla.

SOCCER WORLD CENTER F.C.
6510 ROHAN RD. RICHMOND, TX 77469

Coming up out at HMS is

March 29th
TRUCKS DRIVE AMERICA “FREE NIGHT”
Free General Admission
ASA Pro Late Models, Pro Modifieds, Pro Stocks,
Allison Legacy Cars, Thunder Roadsters, Legends and Bandoleros

Katy, Texas – The 2008 Southland Conference Basketball Tournament is in full swing out West at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. Whether you’re interested in great women’s basketball or men’s, the tournament which started yesterday for the women and today for the men is sure to please.

The winner of the brackets will get an automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament featuring the top 64 teams in the nation. As sports values go, the ticket ($10-12) is well worth it for all the great roundball action.

Nick Shaw (#12) and Houstonian (Cy Creek) Matt Kingsley (#44) defend against Houstonian (Cy Falls) Devin Gibson in Stephen F. Austin’s 71-60 victory over UTSA.
Photo – J. Ronald Oswalt. Newstreamz.com

Registered Nurse, Machel Oswalt says, “We were blindsided by this because, unfortunately, the union works by gagging our management staff. This makes our managers unable to discuss anything about the union with us. They are unable to educate us in any way. So, several of us have done our homework and researched for hours to become educated about the union. We have discovered the union is making numerous verbal promises without written guarantees and nurses are falling for this. Many of the things they are promising us, we already have. We have made multiple attempts to meet in our hospital to educate staff about the union. These meetings were educational only, not anti-union. The union blocked these meetings. We feel that denying us the right to meet in our facility to educate staff about the union is a violation of our First Amendment Rights. They are taking away our voice and our freedom of speech.”

Congratulations to the gang at Metblogs headquarters for successfully making the upgrade to the new look. I can’t even remember how many cities they had to convert over, but it was pulled off without a hitch. What is your impression of the new look?

America’s Energy Future Symposium
featuring the top Presidential candidates
hosted by Opportunity Houston
February 28th

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