Catch the holiday spirit at local events - Page 7
Doña Leti’s provided a vibrant exhibition of flavorful Latin American cuisine during a recent vist. Read our review inside today's edition on Page 8. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
WEDNESDAY • DECEMBER 2, 2020
Visit www.FortBendStar.com
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 44 • No. 15
SMSD applying for remote learning reimbursement By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
We Cook! You Eat! Family Holiday Package Call for Details 9920 Hwy 90A Suite #D-120 Sugar Land, TX 77478 832-532-7816
Stafford MSD made an investment of $2.3 million to implement a 1-to-1 ratio with a goal of ensuring each of its students would have a device on which they could learn remotely. But the COVID-19 pan-
Rustika RustikaCafé & Bakery Rustika
Café Café & &Bakery Bakery NOWOPEN NOWOPEN Next to Corelli’s Italian NOW OPEN Next to Corelli’s Italian
CUSTOM CAKES + PASTRIES + COOKIES + COFFEE + SOUPS + SANDWICHES
Next to Corelli’s Italian
CUSTOM CAKES + PASTRIES + COOKIES + COFFEE + SOUPS + SANDWICHES
PLACE YOUR HOLIDAY ORDER TODAY!
demic necessitated that the district’s two-year technology rollout plan needed to shift to one that would be implemented in less than six months. “That speaks to the volumes of what coronavirus and this whole situation has caused districts to do,” said Jorge Rodriguez, the director of SMSDs’ Technology
Department. Now, the district will have an opportunity to be reimbursed for up to 75 percent of the money it spent on Apple iPads and WiFi hotspots. On Nov. 18, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced
SEE SMSD PAGE 4
Norman
Rodriguez
In their genes
CUSTOM CAKES + PASTRIES + COOKIES + COFFEE + SOUPS + SANDWICHES
RUSTIKACAFE.COM
281-494-4230
Cybersecurity expert offers shopping tips By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, online shopping is increasingly a part of the holiday shopping experience. Fewer people are choosing to venture out among crowds of people in malls and shopping centers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But with the convenience of one-click orders and scrolling through wish lists comes the responsibility to remain vigilant and safe online, said Rashmi Sheel, a cybersecurity expert in Sugar Land with CMIT Solutions, an Austin-based computer support company with four locations in Greater Houston and more than 150 across the U.S. and Canada. Sheel referenced a report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that recorded 15,000 online shopping complaints in April and nearly 19,000 in May. “Many of these consumers, they said that they responded to an ad, you know, on social media, and they ordered but the items never arrived,” Sheel said. “And 94 percent basically identified in their complaints that they were shopping through ads on Facebook or Instagram’s platform. Hackers are becoming very advanced in their methods to obtain compromised information. The tactics are constantly changing, especially with changes in our lifestyle habits. Hackers are taking advantage of the situation and they are very creative. So, again, a lot of people are spending time online. So are the hackers.” Another report issued by the FTC in October found that Americans lost more than $134 million on scams originating on social media in 2019, and through the first six months of 2020, that number had climbed to $117 million and the number of complaints of such scams has more than tripled compared to the previous year. Sheel said she generally works with manufacturing, engineering and financial institutions, but some of the
Liddie Owens smiles as she receives a hug from her granddaughter Liddie Elise, an 8-year-old Sugar Land resident who is using her skincare business to benefit underprivileged children in Antigua and her father’s homeland of Dominica. (Contributed photo)
Sugar Land youth uses skincare line to connect to roots By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Liddie Owens is a woman of ambition and action. The Rayville, Louisiana native grew up with 12 siblings and through her role as a senior pastor at Let’s Go Higher Ministries, has lived a life of service in the Greater Houston community and abroad. “I'm a country girl from the south,” Owens said. “And I always wanted to
Sheel
own a business. But none of us got to go to college or
anything.” The Sugar
Land
the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and her father’s homeland of Dominica, another small country in a cluster of Caribbean islands. The business, Owens said, began in earnest this spring because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe, particularly in smaller, developing countries in dire need of
SEE SKINCARE PAGE 4
Holiday Lights event aims to help nonprofits By Stefan Modrich
SEE TIPS PAGE 4
Shown is a sampling of Sugar Land resident Liddie Elise's skincare product. (Contributed Photo)
resident now has four grandchildren, including her namesake Liddie Elise, age 8. And the entrepreneurial spirit has been passed on from grandmother to grandchild. Liddie Elise has a kid-friendly skincare and fragrance business she markets through a Facebook page with upbeat video messages where she sings “This Little Light of Mine” and uses her platform to help underprivileged people in
SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The economic decline that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic has spared few organizations, and nonprofits large and small in Fort Bend County are among them. “We recognize that during this (pandemic) that all the nonprofits are struggling,” Deacon Jones said. “We’ve got over 2,000 (nonprofits) in Fort Bend County alone. No money’s
coming in.” What could Jones, a special assistant to Sugar Land Skeeters president Chris Hill, possibly know about that? It turns out, quite a bit. The former Houston Astros coach and Chicago White Sox first baseman, 86, said the annual Sugar Land Holiday Lights event at Constellation Field is continuing a digital tradition of allowing nonprofits to issue on-
SEE LIGHTS PAGE 3
Pictured are the Sugar Land Holiday Lights during last year's event at Constellation Field. This year's event began Nov. 20 and ends Jan. 3. (Contributed photo/Sugar Land Skeeters)