In November, family- and Latina-owned business Porter Barber and Beauty Shop marked 10 years of service in New Caney.

The overview: The shop is owned by Emma Coronado, Jose Briseño, Ashley Briseño and Angel Briseño. Porter Barber and Beauty Shop offers men’s barber services, including hot towels, shaves and beard designs; women's haircuts, coloring and waxing; and children's haircuts.

What else? The family also owns a barber shop at 23830 FM 1314, Ste. E, Porter and will soon be opening a food truck.

• 20185 Hwy. 59, Ste. 76, New Caney

New Caney ISD's calendar for the 2026-27 school year—which features longer breaks and a later end date than the 2025-26 calendar—was unanimously approved by the district’s board of trustees during its Dec. 15 meeting.

In a nutshell: Under the new calendar, Aug. 6 is the first day of school and May 27, 2027, is the last day of school, according to NCISD’s website.

The details: Compared to NCISD's 2025-26 calendar, the 2026-27 calendar includes: 

• Two additional days off for students and three more days off for staff during winter break in December 2026 and January 2027
• One additional day off during fall break for students in October 2026
• One additional day off during Thanksgiving break in November 2026 for students and staff 
• A mid-winter break that falls one week earlier in February 2027
• A spring break that falls one week earlier in March 2027
• A last day of school that falls one week later in May 2027

Roman Forest City Council members authorized city officials to begin the bidding process for the city’s upcoming police department expansion project.

The details: Council members approved the measure during the Dec. 15 meeting. Roman Forest City Engineer Greg Phipps said officials will advertise the project for two consecutive weeks before opening the project to bid in January.

According to previous reporting, the roughly $350,000 project will consist of adding roughly 2,000 square feet of additional space to the city’s police department. 

A closer look: While the project’s design is complete, Phipps noted some aspects may be subject to change as work begins.

What’s next: While a start date for construction has not yet been determined, Phipps said officials are aiming to complete the project by the end of 2026.

The Texas power grid is expected to hold up this winter, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said Dec. 9. This is due in part to “tremendous supply growth on the ERCOT grid,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said, amid an influx of data centers coming to the state.

The overview: Since last winter, over 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity have been added to the ERCOT grid, Vegas said. That growth, which largely comes from battery storage and solar facilities, could be used to power about 2.8 million homes during periods of peak electric demand.

Zooming in: Under most weather conditions, there is a less than 2% chance of a grid emergency through February, ERCOT found.

However, Texas could be in trouble in the unlikely event that a repeat of Winter Storm Uri hits large parts of the state this winter, although ERCOT noted that the probability of such a severe storm happening again was "well under one percent." The February 2021 freeze devastated an unprepared power grid, resulting in nearly 250 deaths.