Co-working center opening in NW Houston

Plans Being Made For Northwest Houston Coworking Center
Submitted by The Editor on Tue, 04/17/2012 - 06:43

NORTH HOUSTON, Tx - The Office Connexion is launching a coworking and business resource center in northwest Houston in an area that in is dire need of support and resources for entrepreneurs, startups and small business owners. “We plan to launch in June and have reached out to local organizations, like the City of Houston's One Stop Business Center and Houston Business Development, Inc., to team up with us to offer business development services and resources through our center” says cofounder Toni Hogan.

The center will offer more than just a workspace. It will be a membership-based community of startups, entrepreneurs, freelancers and other solo-workers who have the opportunity to collaborate, share ideas, and enjoy real-life social networking experiences. The center's members will have access to workshops, seminars and mentoring to help them build and grow sustainable small businesses.

Their membership also includes access to Internet, meeting rooms, office equipment, and free coffee.

President Obama's passing of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS act, this month could not have been more timely. Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and the passing of this bill should encourage an emergence of more startups by making it easier to raise much need startup capital.

Lack of capital is one of the primary reasons small businesses fail. Another contributing factor of small business failures is lack of support. The anticipated increase in business startups leads to the need for more support and resources for entrepreneurs and small business. Coworking, an emerging concept growing rapidly across the country, is just one of those support systems. While coworking centers have increased exponentially by 400% over the past two years, there are probably less than 10 in the Houston area.

Coworking is a communal-type workspace environment where independent professionals, entrepreneurs, small business owners and freelancers who share a common set of values come together to work independently, collaborate, create, and share ideas.
One of the major highlight of the JOBS Act is the crowdfunding provision.

Crowdfunding is a fundraising method that allows small businesses and startups to raise capital through receiving contributions from many individual donors. The contributions can be as small as one dollar. Co-founders of The Office Connexion, Fernell and Toni Hogan, have actually launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund the startup of the new coworking center on Indiegogo.com. Fernell says, “We can see how this funding source will be important to even the smallest startups in the near future.”

Toni Hogan can be contacted at: (832) 534-CONX(2669).

Tornadoes ravage Arlington/Dallas Ft Worth

Tornado-wrecked Dallas begins assessing damage
By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press –


ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The tornado hurtled toward the nursing home. Physical therapist Patti Gilroy said she saw the swirling mass barreling down through the back door, after she herded patients into the hallway in the order trained: walkers, wheelchairs, then beds.
"It wasn't like a freight train like everybody says it is," said Gilroy, who rounded up dozens to safety at Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "It sounded like a bomb hit. And we hit the floor, and everybody was praying. It was shocking."

The National Weather Service said as many as a dozen twisters touched down in a wrecking-ball swath of violent weather that stretched across Dallas and Fort Worth. The destructive reminder of a young tornado season Tuesday left thousands without power and hundreds of homes pummeled or worse.

As the sun rose Wednesday over the southern Dallas suburb of Lancaster, one of the hardest hit areas, it was clear that twisters had bounced in and out of neighborhoods, destroying homes at random. Vehicles were tossed like toys, coming to rest in living rooms and bedrooms.

At one house, a tornado had seemingly dipped into the building like an immersion blender, spinning directly down through an upstairs bedroom and wreaking havoc in the family room below before lifting straight back up and away. A grandfather clock leaned slightly but otherwise stood pristine against a wall at the back of the downstairs room that was filled with smashed furniture and fallen support beams.

Despite the intensity of the slow-moving storms, only a handful of people were hurt, a couple of them seriously, and no fatalities were reported as of late Tuesday.
The Red Cross estimated that 650 homes were damaged. Around 150 Lancaster residents stayed in a shelter Tuesday night.

"I guess 'shock' is probably a good word," Lancaster Mayor Marcus Knight said.
The exact number of tornadoes won't be known until surveyors have fanned across North Texas, looking for clues among the debris that blanketed yards and rooftops peeled off slats.
April is typically the worst month in a tornado season that stretches from March to June, but Tuesday's outburst suggests that "we're on pace to be above normal," said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop.

An entire wing at the Green Oaks nursing home in Arlington crumbled. Stunning video from Dallas showed big-rig trailers tossed into the air and spiraling like footballs. At the Cedar Valley Christian Center church in Lancaster, Pastor Glenn Young said he cowered in a windowless room with 30 children from a daycare program, some of them newborns.

Ten people in Lancaster were injured, two of them severely, said Lancaster police officer Paul Beck. Three people were injured in Arlington, including two Green Oaks residents taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Arlington Assistant Fire Chief Jim Self said.

Gilroy said the blast of wind through Green Oaks lasted about 10 seconds. She described one of her co-workers being nearly "sucked out" while trying to get a patient out of the room at the moment the facility was hit.

Joy Johnston was also there, visiting her 79-year-old sister.
"Of course the windows were flying out, and my sister is paralyzed, so I had to get someone to help me get her in a wheelchair to get her out of the room," she said.
In one industrial section of Dallas, rows of empty tractor-trailers crumpled like soda cans littered a parking lot.

"The officers were watching the tornadoes form and drop," Kennedale police Chief Tommy Williams said. "It was pretty active for a while."

Most of Dallas was spared the full wrath of the storm. Yet in Lancaster, television helicopters panned over exposed homes without roofs and flattened buildings. Residents could be seen walking down the street with firefighters and peering into homes, looking at the damage after the storm passed.

Hundreds of flights into and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field were canceled or diverted elsewhere Tuesday. About 500 flights remained grounded Wednesday, airport officials said.

The storms knocked out power for thousands. Utility Oncor said nearly 14,000 homes and businesses, mainly in the Arlington area, still had no electricity early Wednesday.
Meteorologists said the storms were the result of a slow-moving storm system centered over northern New Mexico.

Dixon reported from Lancaster. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant, Terry Wallace and David Koenig in Dallas, Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth and Robert Ray in Lancaster contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Suspect arrested in 2011 armed robbery in NW Houston

The CHRON: A Harris County man has been arrested for allegedly tying up two women and robbing them at gunpoint, court records show.

Deroderick Stephens, 25, has been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, according to court records filed with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. He was being held Tuesday in the Harris County Jail on $50,000 bond.

A woman told Houston police that a man knocked on the door of her northwest Houston apartment in May 2011, and he asked if someone lived there whom she did not know, court records show. The woman said no and the man left.

The man returned later and pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the woman, and he ordered her on the ground, a criminal affidavit filed in the case states. Two other men entered the apartment, and the suspects awoke the woman’s mother who was visiting.

They tied both women’s hands with a phone charger cord and a clothes iron cord, prosecutors said.

During the robbery, one of the men stuffed a T-shirt in the daughter’s mouth and threatened to shoot her, according to an arrest warrant filed in the case. Police said the suspects’ faces were not covered during robbery.

A witness later came forward to say the the suspect had borrowed his cell phone to make a call just before the robbery, records show. Police called the two numbers to track Stephens down.

The women identified Stephens in a photo lineup. Police are looking for two other suspects in the case.

One killed in sports car crash in NW Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The driver of a Dodge Viper died after he crashed into a pole overnight in northwest Houston, investigators said.

Officials said the driver was speeding south down Cunningham near Little York when he lost control and skidded sideways off the road.

The car slammed head-on into a telephone pole, which then split in half and fell over.

Authorities said the car flipped, killing the driver.

A passenger in the car was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in serious but stable condition.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

2 bodies found in apartment complex rubble.

HOUSTON - Two bodies have been found in the rubble of an apartment building that burned down last week.

The Harris County Medical Examiner was called out to the complex in the 13900 block of Ella Blvd on Monday morning. The complex is located north of Houston in a northern part of the county.

A family member tells FOX 26 News the bodies are that of his son-in-law and daughter, both of whom were reported missing since the time of the fire last Wednesday.
It's not yet known how the bodies were discovered.

Aerial views from SkyFox showed several county vehicles at the scene.

2 Bodies Found in Rubble of Burned Apartment Building: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

Another cyclist killed in NW Houston - hit & run

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A bicyclist who was hit by a car in northwest Harris County has died.

Sheriff's deputies say the man was riding across FM 529 near Jackrabbit last night. He was struck by a car and left in the middle of the road. Another person saw the bicyclist in the street and called for help.

The victim died at the hospital. Police are now searching for the driver.

Child may have started fire in NW Houston home ...

by KHOU.com staff
khou.com

HFD: Child found hiding in burning home was playing with lighter on couch
HOUSTON – Investigators are trying to determine if an 5-year-old boy accidentally started a house fire in northwest Houston Tuesday morning before he panicked and hid, according to the Houston Fire Department.
HFD responded to an emergency call at a home on East 43rd Street and Arlington around 9 a.m.

A father standing outside the home when firefighters arrived told them he could not find his son.

Firefighters went inside and found a couch on fire. They extinguished the flames, then searched for the missing child.

The boy was found hiding behind a recliner and was brought to safety. He was crying, but was not harmed. He was transported to the hospital as a precaution.
Investigators said the child may have had something to do with the fire.
“We’re assuming the kid might have started it, but at this time it is under investigation,” said District Chief Thomas Ponce.

Chief Ponce said the child did what most children do when they are faced with danger.
“He immediately hid and was very scared, that is what they do. They hide right away,” Chief Ponce said.

The child's aunt said he may have been standing too close to a space heater while wrapped in a blanket.

"You know how they play with the blanket and stuff and it (the fire) probably caught onto the blanket and he didn’t know what to do," Margo Jordan said.
Officials said parents should teach children to do the opposite in the event of a fire. Children should be taught to never hide indoors; they should immediately search for a clear exit. They should be taught the key word is “outside” in the event of a fire.

Parents should have regular drills at home and help children find routes to safety. They should also should be shown the "red alert" spots, or the places they should never go: under the bed, in the closet or any rooms where there are no windows.
Children should also know where fire extinguishers are located and should be able to recognize the sound of a smoke detector. They should also know the outdoor rendezvous spots if the family is separated.