Houston

Houston is unlikely to meet its climate action goal of phasing out gas-powered vehicles, with just 49 electric and hybrid cars added to its 13,000-vehicle fleet over the past two years, an official said.

The Biden administration released new rules governing tax credits for clean hydrogen projects, seeking to strike a balance between environmental stewardship and a new, untested industry.

Houston Independent School District ended its agreement for free laptops and Internet access from Verizon over a disagreement about professional development. Now lawmakers are saying students will be negatively impacted.

A dozen Houston-area state lawmakers sent a letter to Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles asking him to restore a partnership with Verizon that provided free laptops and Internet access to thousands of students.

The city has been collaborating with the nonprofit The Recycling Partnership since Oct. 23 to study the way people recycle and throw away their trash via a look at 160 randomly selected households.

Verizon has reached out to Houston Independent School District to extend the terms of the Digital Promise program by which students and teachers get free devices and data plans, but the district has not responded.

City Council District H candidates addressed making city communications accessible in multiple languages, including redesigning the city's website, at a forum held earlier this week.

Despite years of work to distribute, install and integrate the signs into Houston's internationally acclaimed traffic management system, officials have brought only 36 of the 91 dynamic message signs online.

Plus, Houston is hiring a broadband director; more governors issue comments on the federal BEAD funding for high-speed Internet; and U.S. senators are fighting for a broadband strategy.

In a sign of yet another demand placed on already busy curbs, officials at the recent CoMotion Miami conference weighed in on the placement of urban EV chargers. Spoiler alert: they don’t like the idea of a single-use curbside.

Colleges and universities are convening working groups, rewriting academic integrity policies and preparing to use plagiarism checkers while professors think of ways to integrate generative AI into their curricula.

Flock Safety, the company behind Houston’s array of automated license plate readers, says its technology is helping police curb crime, but privacy and civil rights advocates say the tech raises other concerns.

The next generation of Internet is being deployed in communities across Houston and nearby rural areas. In Lake Houston, providers such as Tachus and Comcast are already installing equipment to bring 10G to the area.

The $3.5 million gunshot detection system from ShotSpotter Technology Inc., now two years old, continues to be a controversial issue among city leaders, community members and law enforcement.

Nearly three years after the pandemic sent many employees of Greater Houston businesses home to work remotely, workers are returning to their offices at one of the highest rates in the country, according to recent data.

Since Gov. Greg Abbott banned the app on government-issued devices, the UH system has scanned 15,000 devices across its four universities, finding only six devices with the app installed, which was then removed.

Drivers will drive the Lone Star State's inaugural hydrogen-powered freight truck route, delivering plastic resins from Mont Belvieu to the Port of Houston for Exxon Mobil as part of a two-week pilot.

Local government agencies like Houston METRO look to make wise use of funding coming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to strengthen existing assets while innovating for the future.