Several school districts in the Houston area reported problems Tuesday with the online version of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test.

In an email obtained by KPRC 2 Investigates, officials at the Texas Education Agency notified schools of technical difficulties with online STAAR testing.

“Our vendor, ETS, is currently investigating the reports,” the email read.

Later the TEA released a statement, “… We understand the frustration this has caused students, parents, teachers, and administrators. What happened today is completely unacceptable. ETS, the testing vendor, experienced problems with their database system, which are in the process of being corrected. The 2021 online administration of STAAR will be ETS’s last for the State of Texas. Beginning next school year, Cambium Assessment will be taking over these critical testing functions to ensure that users have a seamless online testing experience moving forward.

“All involved in public education in Texas should expect better than what they have experienced today; we are working to ensure that our students do not experience future testing issues.”

Officials at several school districts, including Spring Branch, Goose Creek, Needville, and Dickinson, confirmed some students are having problems accessing the online testing platform.

Officials at most districts said they are following TEA guidelines regarding how to proceed with testing, but some district officials said they have called off testing for Tuesday.

Officials at the Aldine Independent School District said they are only administering paper-based assessments, and testing is proceeding as planned.

Source: www.click2houston.com

A preliminary report released Tuesday by the agency overseeing most of the Texas power grid blames weather for most of the outages that happened during February’s winter storm, but it fails to explain why plants across the state were unprepared for the arctic cold.

The report issued by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas relied on responses to information requests sent to entities representing power generators or energy storage resources.

According to the report, the highest amount of unavailable power generation was between February 14 to 19. At approximately 8 a.m. Feb. 16 was the peak, with 51,173 megawatts of power lost. For context, 1-megawatt powers about 200 homes.

A little more than half (54%) of the power lost during that Feb. 16 peak was attributed to the weather, according to the report.

“This includes but is not limited to frozen equipment— including frozen sensing lines, frozen water lines, and frozen valves—ice accumulation on wind turbine blades, ice/snow cover on solar panels, exceedances of low-temperature limits for wind turbines, and flooded equipment due to ice/snowmelt,” according to the report.

That was followed by existing outages at 15%, fuel limitations at 12%, equipment issues at 14%, transmission loss at 2%, frequency-related at 2%, and miscellaneous at 1%.

The report does not provide information about which generators or energy storage resources experienced which types of problems.

More than 100 deaths have been attributed to the winter storm that blanketed much of the state in snow and ice and kept most of Texas below freezing for days.

The full report can be found below.

Source: www.click2houston.com

As customers return to restaurants as more people get vaccinated, the restaurant industry in the greater Houston area is dealing with a major staffing shortage.

“We are so severely depressed in our workforce. You are seeing restaurants operate at limited hours, you’re seeing them not opening at all, you’re seeing all types of things,” said Cameron James, the president of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association.

Cameron says pre-pandemic, the number of restaurant workers in his region reached 300,000. Now, he says those numbers have dropped to below 250,000 workers.

“You saw grocery stores coming in and poaching our employees,” said Cameron. “You saw Amazon, you saw third-party delivery drivers, so we lost a lot of our workforce over the last year.”

James says you also have to factor in unemployment benefits and stimulus checks to the loss of staff.

“It’s a really rough time right now, and honestly, it couldn’t come at a worse time to have these hiring issues because we are finally seeing a surge in business,” he said.

Longtime Houston restaurant owner Irma Galvan of Irma’s Original in downtown Houston says she’s missing half her staff.

“I get tired, but I have to keep on going,” said Galvan. “It’s very serious and very scary because we have nobody that wants to work.”

Galvan said she has posted employment ads, but no one responds.

“I go in the kitchen, I walk the floor, I take out plates, check my customers and I love doing what I’m doing, but it’s getting to the point where I don’t know what to do,” Galvan told KPRC 2.

Galvan’s restaurant sits right next door to Minute Maid Park. In addition to her lunchtime crowd, her restaurant fills up on game days. Thursday is the Astros home opener.

“Hopefully, when the Astros start playing, people will start looking for a job,” she said.

According to James, some restaurants are closed and others are operating with limited hours.

“The wait time on your order might be a little longer or you might not see your waiter or waitress as much as you typically do because that restaurant is hurting,” said James. “I will ask that the public show a little grace right now for restaurants.”

Source: www.click2houston.com

The City of Houston announced Monday that $11 million in federal disaster recovery funds will be allocated to build an affordable apartment community in the Heights area.

The city and Community Development Department will provide the new construction of Dian Street Villas, a mixed-income community of 108 rental homes. The funds were approved by Houston City County and Mayor Sylvester Turner.

According to a release, the development will offer low- to moderate-income families the opportunity to live near job centers and community amenities while adding affordable home options in the Houston Heights and replacing homes lost during Hurricane Harvey.

SuperUrban Realty and Texas Inter-Faith Development, a Houston-based development team, will receive the $11 million through the City’s Harvey Multifamily Program, according to a release. Housing credits will leverage through the development team from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and loans and investments from private banks to receive and build the property.

The Dian Street Villas community will provide a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments that feature individual HVAC, appliances, and in-unit washer/dryer connections, according to a release. Amenities will include outdoor recreation, a community room, a learning center, a fitness center, and a business center. All apartments will be elevated from future storm hazards and built with sustainable design elements, according to a release.

Costs at Dian Street will range from $340 to $1,098 per month, depending on family incomes and unit sizes. Rents reflect a discount of about $800 per month compared to market-rate properties in the area.

Source: www.click2houston.com