Fulshear girls' hoops heading to state tourney - Page 2
See our review of Johnny Tamales inside today's edition on Page 6.
WEDNESDAY • MARCH 1, 2023 JEANNE GREGORY REALTOR®, CRS, GRI, ABR
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 48 • No. 23 • $1.00
Area dignitaries make rounds at Texas Capitol By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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Former FBISD board member Jim Rice, left, current member Rick Garcia, FBISD superintendent Christie Whitebeck, and Lamar CISD superintendent Roosevelt Nivents walk to a legislator's office during Fort Bend County Day at the Texas Capitol. (Photo by Ken Fountain)
Lobbying lawmakers can by a hard day's work. That truism was on full display last Thursday as a large contingent of people from Fort Bend County and environs traveled to Austin to take part in Fort Bend County Day at the Texas Capitol. The event was co-sponsored by the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Bend Economic
Development Council, and the Central Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, the Katy Area Chamber, the Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Needville Chamber of Commerce, collectively known as the Fort Bend County Business Collaborative, along with a host of corporate sponsors. The event is a longtime fixture held every two years when the Texas Legislature is in session. A chartered bus set out at 6:30 a.m. from the Safari
Texas Ranch event center, filled with people who were set to meet with legislators on a set of topics that are the focuses of the collaborative's legislative agenda for the biennium: local control, public safety, economic development, healthcare, education and workforce, and infrastructure. Others traveled to the capital on their own. Winding through a fogshrouded central Texas landscape, the bus made SEE CAPITOL PAGE 5
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Char House construction given go-ahead By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The Sugar Land City Council voted 5-1 on Feb. 21 to approve an amendment to the city's Land Use Plan that will allow for the construction of up to 660 multi-family units in the Imperial Market District, one of the linchpins of a Houston developer's proposal to redevelop the area. The vote reached the super-majority threshold required after the city's Planning & Zoning Commission rejected the proposal with a tie vote at its February 14 meeting following hours of feedback, SEE CHAR HOUSE PAGE 4
Missouri City residents were out in droves last Saturday to participate in the Freedom Walk from Community Park to Freedom Tree Park to commemorate Black History Month. (Photo by Ken Fountain)
Missouri City residents turn out in force for Freedom Walk By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Missouri City pulled out the stops Saturday for its second annual Freedom Walk, a community walk from Community Park to the nearby Freedom Tree Park to celebrate the day enslaved people at the former Palmer Plantation were told they were free. The walk also served as
a one of the culminating events of the city's celebration of Black History Month. Hundreds of residents took advantageous of the warm, sunny weather to participate in the walk. Last year's inaugural walk was hampered by inclement weather. According to Mayor Robin Elackatt, this year's event drew about twice as many participants.
Led by the Houstonbased Drumatix drum ensemble and members of City Council, the procession of people of all ages and ethnicities made their way through the quiet suburban streets, along the way passing signs displaying photographs of prominent African-Americans throughout history. At Freedom Tree Park, artist Charis Kelley carefully painted a picture of
the namesake tree. The park is soon to undergo a massive renovation and expansion. As people gathered at the park's wooden deck, At-Large Position 2 Councilwoman Lynn Clouser kicked off the official festivities surrounding by young members of the Missouri City-Sugar Land chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., an organization that works to
improve the quality of life of children, particularly those of African-American descent. At Clouser's prompting, the children told the crowd on whose behalf they were marching. "Black history is American history, and it should be celebrated throughout the year, 365 days a year," Elackatt said in his own SEE WALK PAGE 5
Sugar Land student combines passion for science, journalism By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Shaivi Moparthi is a young girl with a lot on her plate. The 13-year-old Sugar Land resident has strong interests in both STEM education and journalism. A middle-schooler at the private Kinkaid School in Piney Point has long been interested in writing, and is the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, the Talon Times. Some people might think that's accomplishment enough. But Moparthi has
gone a bit farther. Last year, she applied for and was accepted as at TIME for Kids reporter, writing for the newsmagazine's content for young readers. The year-long assignment has already given her quite a bit of stories. Her first was an interview with Vanessa E. Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. In the interview (available at timeforkids.com/your-hotjob), Moparthi asks Wyche, the first Black woman director of the facility, about her career path, about NASA's
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plans to again send astronauts to the Moon (including the first woman the first person of color to achieve that milestone), and the need for young people to pursue STEM fields, something that's near to her heart as a self-described "aspiring scientist." "It was my dream interview," she says. But she's not done there. In one of her upcoming assignments, she will be interviewing the renowned Shaivi Moparthi interviews Vanessa E. Wyche, director of SEE PASSION PAGE 4
NASA’s Johnson Space Center, for a story for TIME for Kids. (Photo by David De Hoyos/NASA)