On Aug. 6, construction started on the 55-acre Commerce District in Valley Ranch in New Caney, which is being developed by The Signorelli Co., according to an Aug. 11 social media post from Valley Ranch.

Learn more: The Commerce District will feature 400,000 square feet of commercial development and a 600-unit luxury multifamily community, as previously reported by Community Impact. The district will be constructed in two phases: Commerce West, the first phase, and Commerce East, the second phase.

What else? Commerce West will be anchored by a new 120,000-square-foot H-E-B, as previously reported. Per the release, the new grocery store is expected to open in the fall of 2027.

• Opening date TBD
• Located southwest of the intersection of Hwy. 59 and the Grand Parkway, New Caney

Across the two ZIP codes that make up Community Impact's New Caney-Porter coverage area, data for July 2026 compared with data for July 2025 shows: 

• Approximately 12 more homes sold. 
• The median price of homes sold decreased in both New Caney and Porter. 
• On average, homes sold faster in New Caney and spent more time on the market in Porter. 
• Nearly 75% of homes sold in July 2026 were in the $200,000-$399,999 price range. 

Houston airport workers will receive a minimum wage increase of $5 for a new wage of $20 an hour, which will gradually rise to $23 an hour by 2028.

What this means: Mayor John Whitmire signed an executive order Aug. 12 alongside members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the labor union that represents airport workers, that would immediately begin the new wages.

Workers employed by air carriers, concessions and airport contractors will qualify for the raise.

“This helps, but this is just the beginning,” Whitmire said. “It's not going to be just wages. It's going to be working conditions.”

Before signing the executive order, the minimum wage was $15 an hour at Houston airports, including Hobby and IAH. This is the first salary increase for Houston workers since 2023, when former Mayor Sylvester Turner raised their minimum wage from $12 to $15 an hour.

One more thing: The increase is scheduled to go up to $21 in January 2027, $22 in October 2027 and by 2028 it will be $23 an hour.

Montgomery County commissioners heard budget requests from several department heads Aug. 12, while County Judge Mark Keough began the day's budget workshop calling for an economic development director to help bring tax relief to the county.

“The county is in desperate need of some tax relief,” Keough said. “Right now, 20% of our tax revenue ... comes in from commercial; the rest is from residential households.”

What was discussed: Department heads from emergency management, roads and bridges, courts, the sheriff and other offices presented their needs to the commissioners Aug. 12, but commissioners said no decisions would be made that day.

The sheriff’s department will see an increase in needs, Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said. Doolittle projected a 4.8%, or $5.8 million, increase in departmental needs, the majority of which—$3.1 million—is in salaries.

Commissioners said throughout the second day of the workshops that they were not making decisions.

Ahead of the 2026-27 school year, public school leaders in Community Impact’s coverage areas shuttered at least nine individual schools to respond to repeated state accountability issues and stave off state intervention. A new Texas Education Agency rule may make it harder for districts to do so in the future.

The details: Beginning Aug. 16, if a district closes a D- or F-rated campus and transfers the largest share of students from the closed campus to a school with a C, D or F rating, the closed campus’ rating will be assigned to the new campus. 

Districts will only avoid transferring a shuttered school’s rating history if they relocate a plurality of students to an A- or B-rated campus.

Stay tuned: The TEA is scheduled to release A-F ratings for the 2025-26 school year on Aug. 14. If a school receives five failing ratings in a row, the TEA is required under state law to close that campus or replace the district’s board of trustees with a state-appointed board of managers.