Convenience Big Store: Katy’s first master-planned community in city limits is about to sell out

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The worst of the freeze is over. How did you fare?

The worst of the freeze is over, according to the people who know these things, and I think it's safe to say we're all thanking our lucky stars that the power grid held.

I have to give our weather and breaking news team credit: while I was snuggled up under a heated blanket over the holiday weekend, they were tracking storms, watching for power outages and fielding a never-ending stream of information coming through the wire.

If you, like me, were here for the 2021 freeze, you're probably still traumatized.

I got lucky. I never lost power. I would later learn that I'm on a grid that supports both a hospital and water treatment plant, so the deadly outages didn't leave my family in the cold.

Still, my heart breaks for the suffering and loss of life that occurred in the storm.

We're not out of the woods yet, of course. We could still see devastating freezes in the next month or so. But for now, we weathered the storm.

It sounds self-serving to say, but please keep up with our weather coverage until spring rolls around. We'll be working around the clock to make sure you have the information you need, should inclement weather hit again.

Stay safe, Katy Insiders.

Claire Goodman, Katy reporter

claire.goodman@houstonchronicle.com

Growing Katy

Katy's Cane Island master-planned community

Photo by: Courtesy/Cane Island

Cane Island is about to sell its final properties.

Less than eight years after it opened as the first master-planned community within the city of Katy's boundaries, Cane Island is nearing close-out as its builders sell their final remaining home sites.

Need to Know

Construction is underway on an Advanced Regional Training Facility at West Fairground Road and Stella Road in Rosenberg.

Photo by: Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office

Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office training facility construction underway.

Construction is underway on a new regional training facility for the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.

Openings and Closings

A warm welcome goes out Padgett Hearing Aid Center, hearing aid specialists.

A thank you also goes out to the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce for tipping me off to this new business.

Shout out

Congratulations to Eric Robinson, who was recently named as the first ever head football coach for Freeman High School, Katy ISD's newest school.

"With an impressive coaching career and a proven track record, Coach Robinson brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Freeman High School's football program," the district said in a press release.

One last thing ...

This sandbar shark is apparently terrible at evading capture, my co-reporter Octavia Johnson writes.

San Antonio resident Tom Knapp at Padre Island National Seashore was stunned to find that a sandbar shark he caught had a scientific research tag, and had previously been caught nine years earlier.

Knapp snapped a photo of the not-so-elusive carcharhinid and chucked him back into the ocean where he can continue to fail to learn his lesson about fishermen.