Tuesday, March 29, 2011

League City officials respond to accusations on watchdog website



by Hayley Kappes/ The Daily News
khou.com
Posted on March 24, 2011 at 10:43 AM

LEAGUE CITY, Texas — High-ranking city staff members have responded to allegations that have been circulating and were published by a website claiming to be a League City governmental watchdog.

The website berates the city for wasteful spending on projects, including the renovation of city hall. It also claims there’s a conflict of interest in city-awarded engineering contracts and that special preference was given to maintenance of Fourth Street, a public road leading to the Clear Creek Gun Range owned by the father-in-law of Mayor Toni Randall.

City Manager Marcus Jahns at Tuesday’s council meeting addressed some of the allegations, which have circulated before the website launched.

"In keeping with our values of being open and transparent, I thought it would be best to address council so they hear the same thing," Jahns said. "A lot of this is purely not true, and it’s starting to impact staff."

The site was registered Feb. 9 through Domains By Proxy, a company that allows users to anonymously launch a website.

A representative from the company could not be reached Wednesday.

The company website states that in special situations, it might be necessary for Domains By Proxy to reveal the name and some personal information of someone who has registered privately, including when required by law, or in "the good faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law."

The website accuses the city of awarding a couple of design engineering contracts to Aledo-based Wasteline Engineering because some of the company’s employees previously worked for Lubbock-based Oller Engineering, owned by Rich Oller, League City’s assistant city manager of public works.


READ THE REST AT KHOU

Last Space Shuttle moved to pad


Crews at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are preparing space shuttle Endeavour for the STS-134 crew's Terminal Countdown Demonstration test this week.

Endeavour's six astronauts are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility tonight at approximately 7 p.m. EDT to begin the dress launch rehearsal and other related training. The arrival will be shown live on NASA TV.

Once at Kennedy, STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Greg H. Johnson, will practice shuttle landings in shuttle training aircraft.

The crew members for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori.

During the 14-day mission, Endeavour will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields.

Monday, March 14, 2011

NORAD exercise tomorrow over Houston


The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will conduct exercise flights tomorrow morning as they practice intercept and identification procedures. Exercise flights will take place over Southeastern Texas. Although they are scheduled for mid-morning, the exercise flights could be delayed due to weather concerns.

Those living southeast of Houston, specifically near Ellington Airport, may hear and/or see NORAD-controlled fighter jets in close proximity to a military or military contracted aircraft, which will be taking on the role of a Track of Interest (TOI).

In order to test responses, systems and equipment, NORAD continuously conducts exercises with a variety of scenarios, including airspace restriction violations, hijackings and responding to unknown aircraft. All NORAD exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled.

NORAD has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout Canada and the U.S. since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.

Monday, March 7, 2011

18 charged in rape of 11 year old girl.


(CNN) -- Thirteen adults and five juveniles have been arrested as part of an investigation into the alleged rape of a Texas girl, police said.

Darrell Broussard, assistant police chief for the Cleveland, Texas, police department, said Monday that the investigation into the incident "is continuous," with more significant developments possible. Cleveland is about 50 miles northeast of Houston.

"There have been leads during our investigation that have alerted us to other possible persons of interest," Broussard told CNN. "The investigation is ongoing."
The 18 individuals charged thus far are between 14 and 27 years old, he said.

On Friday, the Cleveland police department announced that four students in the Cleveland independent school district had been arrested on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14.

They appeared Monday in a Liberty County court, in the town of Liberty, to face the charges.
Police noted that some but not all suspects are students at Cleveland High School, though all those named thus far are from the town.

Mike Little, the district attorney in Liberty County, said police would likely decide whether more people would be charged. He offered few other details, saying, "We are very careful about pretrial publicity."

The incident allegedly happened late last year in Cleveland. The case has sharply divided the community, according to CNN affiliate KHOU.

"It just seems like a dream," said Sherry Fletcher, whose 20-year-old son Devo Shaun Green is among those charged according to Cleveland police. "I just hope everything comes out well, because some of these kids are innocent."

Those adults arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony in Texas, could face 25 year to life in prison if convicted, according to the police department.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Life is wild at JSC!


NASA Johnson Space Center employees have learned that if a fawn is curled under a tree, it doesn't need a blanket; it's not abandoned. They now know that orange cones on a parking lot may be protecting a killdeer's nest.
And if they give their lunch leftovers to the ducks, the birds will start going to the cafeteria around noon every day for more handouts.

Oh, and those eggs in the outdoor ashtrays? Left by muscovies. The JSC Safety Action Team's wildlife committee will take care of the awkwardly placed nests.

The 1,580-acre JSC site in the Clear Lake area, where engineers, astronauts and other personnel work on out-of-this-world projects, is also a wildlife refuge. Gulf Coast prairie and marsh grasslands fill the undeveloped areas, which are much the same as they were before JSC opened in the 1960s. A pond surrounded by green space also sits in the center of the campus.

White-tailed deer are easy to spot. Grazing along Avenue B at Gate 4, they barely acknowledge the traffic. On a recent tour, the chair of the wildlife committee noted that she needed to remind employees to watch for deer crossing the road, especially at dawn and dusk.

Stephanie Walker, who is also a wildlife rehabilitator, says fawns begin to appear around the buildings in June.

"We usually see four or five. You never know if you are seeing the same ones," said Walker, who estimates about 150 deer in four or five groupings make JSC their home. The mothers sometimes settle their young ones under bushes near a building or maybe even in a parking lot while they forage.
"We figured out that these deer are so acclimated to people that when they are taking their fawns somewhere safe, it is actually safer for them to leave them among all these people than out in the back area where there are coyotes and things," Walker said.

When Walker gets a call about lone baby deer, she checks to make sure the animal doesn't look dehydrated or have fire ants on it.
"But usually no. They are just sitting out there waiting for mom," Walker said.
Big, small problems

A few years ago the animals were part of a Texas A&M study to evaluate the effectiveness of a contraceptive in white-tailed deer population control.
Researchers estimated about 170 deer were on the property, which is surrounded by an 8-foot fence. When the three-year study ended in 2008, about a quarter of the females had been given the single-dose contraceptive, which stabilized the population, said Roel R. Lopez, associate professor of A&M's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences.
While deer are the biggest wild animals at JSC, Walker deals with everything from rabbits to geckos.

Her duties have including finding ways to discourage skunks from nesting under buildings, taking baby squirrels that have fallen from their nests to the Wildlife Rehab & Education Center in Houston and reminding everyone that it is not safe to throw sandwiches to alligators sunning in a canal.
"We don't want to encourage them to think of people as a place where you get food," Walker said.

If there is a bigger problem, Walker usually gets Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens involved because most of the wildlife is protected by federal and state regulations.

But that isn't always necessary. When Walker discovered a nest of great horned owls next to construction site, the workers started at the other end of the project to give the young birds time to fledge, she said.

"The guys there were very interested in the owls, so they were willing to coordinate their work in other areas until the babies had flown off," Walker said. "We had lots of people watching those babies."

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Breaking: Explosions rock Belvieu plant!



Multiple explosions, fire at Mont Belvieu plant

Credit: AIR 11
A fire at Enterprise Products in Mont Belvieu was burning out of control more than an hour after witnesses heard multiple explosions.

by Michelle Homer / khou.com
khou.com
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Updated today at 1:39 PM


MONT BELVIEU, Texas – Several explosions at a Mont Belvieu plant were followed by flames that could be seen from miles around.
The explosions happened at Enterprise Products at 135 Sun Oil Road around 12:25 p.m.


Witnesses reported seeing workers fleeing from the Chambers County plant. Other workers were being told to stay inside.
The company hasn't released any details about injuries. An employee, who didn't want to be identified, said at least one contractor has not been accounted for.


The employee said the explosion happened in a subsection of the plant.
Chambers County officials say there's no known threat to the public at this time.

They have not called for evacuations.
State Highway 146 is closed near the plant.

The fire was still burning out of control nearly an hour after it began. The flames could be seen 25 miles away in Houston.

A Houston caller named Pat said she was talking by phone to a relative inside the plant when the first set of explosions happened. There were three more explosions while they were still on the phone. "Anywhere from eight to 11 explosions," according to Pat.

READ MORE AT KHOU

Monday, February 7, 2011

Fiery wreck in Katy claims one - sends another to hospital.


Fiery Katy wreck leaves 1 dead, 1 hospitalized
by khou.com staff
khou.com


KATY, Texas – One person was dead and another in the hospital Monday after a driver crashed into a tree in Katy.

Police said an Infiniti was traveling north on Katy Hockley Road near Pecan around 2:30 a.m. when the driver failed to make a turn in the road, struck a curb and crashed into a tree.

Police said the car burst into flames, severely burning the passenger, who died at the scene.

The driver, a 26-year-old male, was found lying on the ground upon officers’ arrival. He was airlifted to the hospital in unknown condition.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the crash. It was not known whether charges would be filed.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Controversy surrounds teen beating by Houston police



(CNN) -- Houston's mayor and police department were on the defensive Friday, two days after graphic video came out showing several police repeatedly kicking and beating a 15-year-old burglary suspect as he lay on the ground.
An internal police investigation of the incident last March led to the firing of seven police officers, said spokesman John Cannon of the Houston police department.

Two successfully appealed and returned to their jobs, said Houston NAACP President D.Z. Cofield.

Five other officers were disciplined in other ways, Cannon said. And a Harris County grand jury indicted four of the officers this summer, based in part on the video.
Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos opposed the video becoming public and felt doing so might prejudice potential jurors and force the indicted officers' trials to be moved out of the county.

Quanell X, a local activist, got hold of the surveillance tape showing the scene outside a storage facility and gave it to the media.
He said he had every right to obtain the footage and make it public.

"I will show my people what they deserve to see, and let the public see what you don't want them to see," Quanell X said.
Mayor Annise Parker said the police leadership and city acted properly.

"I resent any implication that we were trying to hide the tape," she said.
After viewing the footage, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. fired the seven officers and a grand jury called for misdemeanor charges against four of them in June.

Lykos told reporters Thursday there was not sufficient evidence to pursue more serious charges, such as aggravated assault.
"Without revealing what was presented to the grand jury, in order to have aggravated assault you have to have serious bodily injury or impairment or use of a deadly weapon," she said. "None of that was apparent in this case."

The tape, first shown Wednesday on CNN affiliate WTRK, shows the 15-year-old boy -- being chased by police and falling to the ground after being upended by a moving police car. He then falls face first and places his hands on the ground.

A disciplinary letter from McClelland, dated June 23 and posted online less than two weeks later by CNN affiliate HTRK, says that the boy had his hands behind his head and neck area, in an obvious position of surrender.

Then, the letter adds and the tape shows, Officer Raad Hassan "then ran toward (the boy) and kicked him a total of 15 times," then later kicked him more times in the groin area even after he "was handcuffed and no longer a threat."

READ THE FULL STORY ON CNN

Controversy surrounds teen beating by Houston police



(CNN) -- Houston's mayor and police department were on the defensive Friday, two days after graphic video came out showing several police repeatedly kicking and beating a 15-year-old burglary suspect as he lay on the ground.
An internal police investigation of the incident last March led to the firing of seven police officers, said spokesman John Cannon of the Houston police department.

Two successfully appealed and returned to their jobs, said Houston NAACP President D.Z. Cofield.

Five other officers were disciplined in other ways, Cannon said. And a Harris County grand jury indicted four of the officers this summer, based in part on the video.
Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos opposed the video becoming public and felt doing so might prejudice potential jurors and force the indicted officers' trials to be moved out of the county.

Quanell X, a local activist, got hold of the surveillance tape showing the scene outside a storage facility and gave it to the media.
He said he had every right to obtain the footage and make it public.

"I will show my people what they deserve to see, and let the public see what you don't want them to see," Quanell X said.
Mayor Annise Parker said the police leadership and city acted properly.

"I resent any implication that we were trying to hide the tape," she said.
After viewing the footage, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. fired the seven officers and a grand jury called for misdemeanor charges against four of them in June.

Lykos told reporters Thursday there was not sufficient evidence to pursue more serious charges, such as aggravated assault.
"Without revealing what was presented to the grand jury, in order to have aggravated assault you have to have serious bodily injury or impairment or use of a deadly weapon," she said. "None of that was apparent in this case."

The tape, first shown Wednesday on CNN affiliate WTRK, shows the 15-year-old boy -- being chased by police and falling to the ground after being upended by a moving police car. He then falls face first and places his hands on the ground.

A disciplinary letter from McClelland, dated June 23 and posted online less than two weeks later by CNN affiliate HTRK, says that the boy had his hands behind his head and neck area, in an obvious position of surrender.

Then, the letter adds and the tape shows, Officer Raad Hassan "then ran toward (the boy) and kicked him a total of 15 times," then later kicked him more times in the groin area even after he "was handcuffed and no longer a threat."

READ THE FULL STORY ON CNN

Thursday, February 3, 2011

NASA mulling keeping shuttles in service until 2017



NASA is studying plans to keep the space shuttle Endeavour in flight-worthy condition after its last scheduled mission. The ‘what if’ NASA study comes as United Space Alliance proposes a plan to continue flying Endeavour and Atlantis as commercial space vehicles.


The story, reported by msnbc, says the review includes the potential for keeping Endeavour – the youngest shuttle in the fleet – in operation through 2017. The shuttle, along with its sisterships, is currently due for retirement later this year and eventual transfer to a museum.


Another lifeline study for Endeavour? (Guy Norris)

The proposal — called Commercial Space Transportation Service, or CSTS — would use Endeavour as well as a sister shuttle, Atlantis, to fly two missions a year from 2013 to 2017 at an annual cost of $1.5 billion. United Space Alliance, the contractor that currently manages the shuttle program on NASA’s behalf, has offered the proposal for the second round of funding from the space agency’s Commercial Crew Development initiative, also known as CCDev 2.

NASA could award as much as $200 million in the second round of the CCDev initiative. During the first round, the agency distributed $50 million in stimulus funds to five companies to advance the development of crew-capable replacements for the shuttles.
Some of the recipients of first-round funding — such as the Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. — have made proposals for second-round funding as well. The second-round competitors also include SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, which are already receiving NASA funds to build spacecraft for transporting cargo to the space station.
United Space Alliance is the only venture proposing to keep the shuttles operating rather than retiring them this year, as currently planned.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Bay City Substitute Teacher Arrested For Making Death Threats



by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on January 27, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Updated today at 11:23 AM


BAY CITY, Texas – A substitute teacher has been arrested and charged in connection with death threats made to students in Bay City ISD, the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

Paul Nolen May, 41, was arrested on Wednesday.
He’s charged with 12 counts of making a terroristic threat – all of which are third-degree felonies.

The threats began on December 28 when the district received a hand-written, profanity-laced letter, purportedly from the parent of a student.

In the letter, the sender expressed anger over their child being disciplined at school. The letter detailed new "rules" for the school to follow regarding discipline and threatened to "kill a random student" if the demands were not met.
About a week later, a second threat was sent via text message.

The message, sent from an anonymous source and forwarded among Bay City ISD students, said this: "Hey! Forward this to everyone…1 rule broken, two girls dies at the jr. high and 2 from high school, dnt go! The school will be on lockdown."

It was not clear if May was suspected in both threats. Investigators declined to release any additional information Thursday.

May was being held in the Matagorda County Jail on bonds totaling $240,000.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Shuttle cracks cause found ...


CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- NASA finally knows what caused the cracking in space shuttle Discovery's fuel tank, a potentially dangerous problem that likely existed on the previous flight, managers said Tuesday.

Discovery's final voyage has been on hold since the beginning of November. If the remaining repair work goes well, the shuttle could fly to the International Space Station as early as Feb. 24.

At a news conference, NASA officials refused to discuss the flight status of astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in Arizona last weekend. He's supposed to command shuttle Endeavour's last mission in April. His identical twin brother, Scott, is currently serving as the space station's skipper.
"Out of respect to the family, we really are not ready to answer those questions today. We're going to let Mark decide really kind of what he needs to do," said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA space operations. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the family, and we're really thinking about Mark in everything we do."

On the orbiting lab, Scott Kelly took a call Tuesday from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"There are no people in Russia who are not touched by this terrible news," Putin said through a translator.

The Endeavour mission is the last on NASA's official shuttle flight lineup before the fleet is retired. The space agency hopes to add one last trip to the space station by Atlantis at the end of August to bring up extra spare parts, provided there's funding. Officials initially were targeting the end of June for the launch, but said Tuesday they would prefer more time between flights.

As for Discovery's prolonged grounding, shuttle program manager John Shannon said a combination of inferior material and assembly issues is to blame. Cracks occurred in five of the 108 aluminum alloy struts in the center of the tank, which holds instruments. The damaged struts have been patched. Technicians will reinforce the remaining struts as a safety precaution, using thin 6-inch strips of aluminum.
Shannon called it "a very simple, elegant fix to the problem."

"We're going to fly with a lot of confidence in this tank," he told reporters. "We've gotten rid of the uncertainty."
The tank is covered with foam insulation, and NASA was concerned the cracks could force pieces to break off during liftoff, with chunks possibly striking the shuttle.

A slab of foam doomed Columbia in 2003.
Engineers also worried that if four or more struts in a row failed, the entire structure could catastrophically buckle.

The cracking was discovered after an unrelated problem -- a hydrogen gas leak -- halted Discovery's launch countdown on Nov. 5.
Shannon said a batch of the material used for some of the 21-foot support struts, through heating, ended up more brittle.

In addition, weaknesses were introduced during assembly of the pieces.
The bad batch of material likely ended up on the fuel tank that launched Atlantis last May, Shannon said. Every indication is that the tank performed normally, even if cracks were, indeed, present, he noted.

The tank currently being prepared for Atlantis also has struts made of the suspect material and will need to be repaired. Engineers believe Endeavour's tank is unaffected, but extra tests are likely, which would push that mission into mid- to late April.

Once the 30-year shuttle program ends, the White House wants NASA focusing on expeditions to asteroids and Mars, rather than servicing the space station.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Death Threat Concerns Parents/FBI Investigating


BAY CITY, Texas -- A hand-written death threat letter to a South Texas school district prompted the parents of hundreds of students to keep their children home.

A message Wednesday on the Bay City Independent School District website says classes continue with increased emphasis on safety and security.

The FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety are investigating.
Parents on Monday were advised by Superintendent Keith Brown of the anonymous letter received Dec. 28. The letter to Brown contains profanity, misspellings and refers to the sender’s child getting in trouble. The sender included new "rules" on discipline and threatened to "kill a random student" if the demands were not met.

About half the students in the nearly 3,800-student district missed school Tuesday.
Bay City is about 70 miles southwest of Houston.

Michael Jackson's Doctor Clueless


Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- The pretrial hearing for Dr. Conrad Murray continues Wednesday as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge decides whether there is "probable cause" to try him on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the death of pop star Michael Jackson.

The hearing, which began Tuesday, is expected to last two or three weeks, with 20 to 30 witnesses testifying.
On Tuesday, Jackson's former security chief testified that Murray seemed not to know how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he waited for paramedics to arrive at the singer's house.
Faheem Muhammed said he and and guard Alberto Alvarez saw Murray crouched next to Jackson's bed "in a panicked state asking, 'Does anyone know CPR?' "

"I looked at Alberto because we knew Dr. Murray was a heart surgeon, so we were shocked," Muhammed said.

Jackson's doctor heads to court Murray faces court hearing Events surrounding Jackson's death

When defense attorney Ed Chernoff asked if perhaps Murray was asking for help because he was tired, Muhammed said, "The way that he asked it is as if he didn't know CPR."

Jackson appeared to be dead at that time, with his "eyes open and his mouth open, just laying there," Muhammed said.

Prosecutor David Walgren earlier said that Murray used "ineffectual CPR with one hand while the patient was prone on a soft bed." Two hands with the patient prone on a hard surface is the proper method, he said.
Muhammed, the third witness on the opening day of the hearing, said he never saw

Murray performing CPR on Jackson before paramedics arrived and carried him to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Jackson's mother, Katherine, sister La Toya and brothers Randy and Jackie sat in the second row of the courtroom during Tuesday's opening session.
Jackson's two oldest children, Prince and Paris, were at their father's bedroom door as the drama unfolded just after noon on June 25, 2009, Muhammed said.

"Paris was on the floor on her hands and knees and she was just crying," he said.
The children would learn two hours later that their father had died when Murray and Jackson manager Frank Dileo talked to them in a hospital room.
"Frank blurted out and said, 'Your daddy had a heart attack and died,' " Jackson personal assistant Michael Williams testified.

At the start of the hearing Tuesday, the prosecutor said that Murray waited at least 21 minutes after he found Jackson unresponsive before calling for an ambulance.

"By all accounts, Michael Jackson was dead in the bedroom at 100 North Carolwood prior to the paramedics' arrival," Walgren said.
The coroner concluded Jackson died from "acute propofol intoxication" in combination with "the contributory effects of the benzodiazepines," Walgren said.
Propofol is a powerful anesthetic used to "put people under for surgery," and the benzodiazepines were sedatives Murray later acknowledged giving Jackson in the morning before his death, he said.

"Michael Jackson was preparing for one of the most important tours of his life" in the months before his death, Walgren said.
Murray's defense team has hinted it would argue that Jackson was under pressure from the concert promoter, which led him to demand treatments to help him sleep.
Kenny Ortega, who was directing what would have been Jackson's comeback concerts, was the first of about 30 witnesses the prosecution is calling.
Ortega described Jackson as "involved, active, participating" at his last rehearsal, which ended 12 or 14 hours before his death.
"He was in a delightful mood, and we had an absolutely fantastic day," Ortega testified.

But Ortega described a different, "scary" Jackson at the Staples Center rehearsal on June 19, six nights before his death.
"I just felt that he appeared, you know, really lost," Ortega said. "It was scary. I didn't know what was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it."


READ THE FULL STORY AT CNN

Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!


The old give way to the young. New thoughts sprout from fertile ground.

While the New Year beckons us with many promises, don't forget to give the old year its due.

Learn from past mistakes and carry the lessons of time with you.

This year resolve to laugh more, love more, forgive more, friend more and learn more.

May 2011 be your best year yet!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Clear Lake condos destroyed by fire


EL LAGO, Texas—A two-alarm fire destroyed part of a Clear Lake-area condominium complex just hours before the owners were scheduled to appear in court Monday, according to investigators.

The fire broke out at The Landing condominiums, located on NASA Parkway at Kirby Blvd, around 12:15 a.m.

The Seabrook Fire Department arrived to find parts of the property fully engulfed in flames. They pulled a second alarm and immediately went on the defensive.
Nine departments battled the blaze, with firefighters even using water boats. Firefighters initially had water issues and had to string a long stretch of hose to get to the fire.

Three out of six buildings caught fire. One was completely destroyed and the other two sustained major damage.
Investigators said there are suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire.

Read the full story at KHOU

Monday, December 6, 2010

Discovery now postponed until February




NASA managers have targeted space shuttle Discovery's launch for no earlier than Feb. 3 at 1:34 a.m. EST. Shuttle managers determined more tests and analysis are needed before proceeding with the launch of the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station.

The Program Requirements Control Board met Dec. 2 and reviewed engineering evaluations associated with cracks on two 21-foot-long, U-shaped aluminum brackets, called stringers, on the shuttle's external tank. NASA repaired the cracks and reapplied foam to the exterior of the stringers. Managers decided the analysis and tests required to launch Discovery safely are not complete. They are planning to conduct an instrumented test on the external fuel tank and structural evaluations on stringer test articles to determine whether the analysis is correct. Details and timelines for the tanking test are in work, but plans call for temperature and strain gauge measurements in the intertank region near the top of the tank during the test.

NASA will review and analyze the data from the tests before setting a launch date. Because of Discovery's delayed launch, the earliest opportunity for the liftoff of the final scheduled shuttle mission, STS-134 on Endeavour, is April 1.

Today at NASA's Johnson Space Center, the STS-133 crew is conducting an integrated entry simulation today in the motion base simulator and will review spacewalking procedures.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Space Shuttle Discovery flight rescheduled for Dec 3


If all goes well, Discovery should be ready to launch on Dec. 3 at 2:52 a.m. EST (0752 GMT), NASA officials said in an update. A series of safety reviews is still ahead before the shuttle is completely cleared for flight, they added.

Discovery has been stuck on Earth since Nov. 5, when a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak on the shuttle's external tank forced NASA to stand down for repairs. Foul weather and other glitches thwarted several earlier launch attempts that week.

Since then, NASA engineers have replaced a misaligned seal to plug the hydrogen leak and are now working to reinforce metal ribs on the external tank where cracks were discovered while the leak repairs were being performed.

The cracks are on two of 108 metal ribs around the upper middle portion of the tank that provide structural support. There are two cracks on each of the ribs. NASA shuttle technicians are installing double-wide ribs – called doublers – to reinforce the cracked areas.

Another crack, this one in the exterior foam insulation on Discovery's fuel tank, will also be repaired.

While the fuel tank rib repairs are under way, NASA shuttle program managers plan to review their rationale for flying Discovery with the repairs. If during that meeting, slated for Nov. 24, shuttle officials agree that Discovery is ready to fly, the space agency will hold a final review on Nov. 29 to clear the shuttle for liftoff, NASA officials said.

NASA's upcoming STS-133 shuttle mission will be the final flight of shuttle Discovery before it is retired along with the rest of the U.S. orbiter fleet in 2011.

The 11-day mission will send a crew of six astronauts to the International Space Station to deliver a storage room for the orbiting lab, as well as a humanoid robot built designed to help astronauts with work in space. Two spacewalks are planned.

NASA's upcoming window to launch Discovery opens on Nov. 30 and will close around Dec. 6 to avoid heating concerns caused by unfavorable sun angles at the space station after that, agency officials have said. NASA's shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to fly to the station during the next available window, which opens in late February.

NASA is retiring the space shuttle fleet to make way for a new plan aimed at sending astronauts to visit an asteroid by 2025. After Discovery's flight, NASA has only one more mission – Endeavour's – scheduled before the fleet is retired.

READ MORE HERE

Dead deer found in Clear Lake

by Hayley Kappes / The Daily News
khou.com
Posted on November 18, 2010 at 9:49 AM
Updated today at 11:00 AM


Related:
Galveston County Daily News website
KEMAH, Texas — John Blakeway often notices deer grazing in a field across from the boatyard where he works.

He said he never expected to see one floating in the water near the boat slips.

An employee on Monday told Blakeway, manager of South Texas Yacht Services, 1500 Marina Bay Drive in Kemah, that a boater had tied the body of an 8-point buck to pilings at the boat yard.

Blakeway said he called a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden, who told him to dispose of the carcass in a Dumpster.

Workers at the boat yard had to use a crane to remove the animal from the water. The buck weighed about 170 pounds, said Blakeway, who hunts deer. There were no wounds on the animal.

Blakeway said he didn’t know who tied the deer to the boat slip.

It is breeding season for whitetail deer, and the animals move more frequently this time of year, Debbie Quebe with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said.

People should call the city or county animal control to remove the body of any dead animal on land or in the water, Quebe said.

This story was brought to you thanks to khou.com’s partnership with The Galveston County Daily News.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

What's that smell?


TEXAS CITY, Texas — A smell similar to rotten eggs enveloped Texas City about 5 p.m. Monday afternoon after a leak from a subunit at BP’s Texas City refinery.

Workers were doing maintenance work on a sour water compressor on the refinery’s Power 2 unit when workers noticed a smell after a piece of equipment failed, company spokesman Michael Marr said. The odor, which forced some businesses on Palmer Highway about 13 blocks from the refinery to shutter their doors and close windows, lasted more than an hour.

The smell is believed to come from liquid in the subunit that contained hydrogen sulfide, which is a hazardous chemical that has a strong smell of rotten eggs, Texas City Homeland Security Director Bruce Clawson said. The Texas City Fire Department and BP industrial hygienists conducted ground-level air monitoring and did not find any readings of hazardous chemicals in the air, Clawson said.

Between one and two barrels of sour water — which is waste water that contains hydrocarbons and is pumped to an enclosed sewer system for disposal — spilled, causing the offensive odor, officials said.

There was not a shelter in place order for the city, but Clawson issued a phone and e-mail alert to residents notifying them of the situation.

There was a brief shelter in place order within the refinery for areas downwind of the leak, Marr said. BP set up an incident command center and the leak was contained at about 9 p.m.

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