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Houston City College is working to provide opportunities for high-demand fields with its Connect 2 Workforce Program.

What’s happening: The program offers scholarships for dozens of short-term training tracks in construction, digital technology, health sciences, manufacturing and transportation, which can all be completed in less than 16 weeks, officials said.

Following program completion, graduates may qualify for technician jobs in several fields including air conditioning, plumbing, electrocardiography, phlebotomy, patient care, welding, commercial truck drivers and data analysts.

Zooming out: The college also launched its Houston Reconnect Initiative, a scholarship program aimed at supporting students financially by paying tuition and fees for those who are interested in finishing their degree at HCC.

In their own words: “Both of these programs allow HCC to make a profound difference for people who may wish to quickly earn a credential or move on toward an academic degree,” Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher said.

The total number of homes sold in six Katy-Fulshear area ZIP codes decreased in January year over year.

What you need to know: There were 406 homes sold in six local ZIP codes in January versus 415 homes for the same month in 2025.

Three of the six local ZIP codes saw the number of homes sold grow year over year, with ZIP code 77423 seeing the largest increase at 95.24%. Home sales in ZIP code 77493 were the highest, with 181 homes sold.

The details: The median home sales price increased in four of six ZIP codes year over year. ZIP code 77094 saw the largest year-over-year increase at 28.8% and saw the largest median home sale price at $737,944.

Also of note: Homes sold quickest in ZIP code 77094, with an average of 68 days on the market. Homes spent the longest on the market in ZIP code 77423 for an average of 123 days.

Houston Methodist will contribute $10 million to expand medical and mental health care resources for more than 73,000 uninsured or underinsured people within Greater Houston, officials announced in a Feb. 4 news release.

The funds—a part of the organization’s 2026 Health Care Access Grant Program—will support 29 authorized health care centers, charity clinics, nonprofit agencies as well as strategic critical health initiatives, per the release.

The details: The program will be split into several grants, including the:

• Health Care Access Grant, which will dispense $2.1 million in funding and $1.3 million in in-kind lab support to administer essential primary care and preventive services
• Mental Health Care Access Grant, which will allot $2.2 million in funding for counseling, psychiatric care and substance use disorder treatment

With a few days left to vote early in the March primaries, more Texans have turned out to the polls this year than in recent primary elections.

The gist: The increase is particularly pronounced among Democratic primary voters, state data shows, with more than twice as many Democratic votes cast by Feb. 24 than in Texas’ last gubernatorial primary.

Zooming in: Statewide, nearly 1.3 million Texans, or about 7% of the state’s 18.7 million registered voters, cast early ballots through Feb. 24, the eighth day of the 11-day early voting period. This is up from about 6% turnout at the same point in 2024 and about 4% turnout in 2022.

In interviews with Community Impact, election analysts attributed Texas’ rising primary voter turnout in part to a slate of competitive, high-profile races on each party’s primary ballot.

At the polls: Early voting in Texas’ Republican and Democratic primaries runs through Feb. 27, and primary election day is March 3. During early voting, registered voters can visit any polling location within their county of residence.