Texas Roots Furniture & Mattress opened its doors in early March and is now offering its services in New Caney, according to a company Facebook post. 

What they offer: The family-owned furniture store offers various furniture from bed sets and living room furniture to dining tables and chairs.

• Opened in early March
• 21227 Hwy. 59, New Caney

Emergency service departments serving the New Caney and Porter areas have either recently built or are considering building additional fire stations to keep up with rapid growth in the area.

The overview: The New Caney- and Porter-area population grew by roughly 30.9% over five years, rising from 64,176 residents in 2020 to 84,010 residents in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

What they're saying: Howard Rinewalt—chief of the East Montgomery County Fire Department, which covers roughly 144 square miles, including New Caney and Roman Forest—said the biggest challenge his department has faced has been staying ahead of growing call volumes.

“It’s not just about hiring more firefighters—it’s about expanding stations ... ensuring we have the infrastructure to maintain fast response times,” Rinewalt said.

Porter Fire Department Chief Carter Johnson expressed similar concerns.

“When you have a growing population, now you have [traffic] congestion, so it’s harder to get to places,” Johnson said.

Walmart on July 23 announced a multiyear workforce development grant in Houston aimed at helping workers in several communities prepare for higher-quality career opportunities over the next five years, according to a news release.

Walmart and Walmart Foundation announced an initial $250,000 grant to the Greater Houston Partnership to expand the workforce priorities of the Houston Economic Mobility Coalition, while United Way of Houston, Houston City College and San Jacinto College will also be partners in the effort, according to the release.

Another detail: The announcement was made at the Walmart location at 3040 College Park Drive, Conroe, which is also the location of the Walmart Academy in the area, officials said. The grant coincides with the 10th anniversary of Walmart Academy, a private training program that has seen over 4 million training completions since 2016, according to the news release.

At least 85,000 students will use Texas' new education savings accounts during the 2026-27 school year, an Aug. 3 report shows. Enrollment may grow as the school year kicks off and more families opt in to the program.

The overview: The Texas Education Freedom Accounts program gives families state funds to send their children to private schools or homeschool them, with priority going to students with disabilities and children from low-income households.

About 24% of students participating in the TEFA program have a disability, according to state data, and 80% of participants are from low-income families.

Zooming in: The largest numbers of students participating in the program live in Texas’ largest school districts, data shows. The report lists that 3,327 participants live in Houston ISD’s boundaries, followed by 2,645 participants from Dallas ISD, 2,271 participants from Northside ISD and 2,024 participants from Fort Bend ISD.

Previous state data showed that about 43% of students selected for the program had previously attended a Texas public school, although the Aug. 3 report did not include that information.