Latest news with #Houston-area
Malaysian Reserve
a day ago
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Significant reliability improvements in 2025: CenterPoint Energy's Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative helps deliver 45% reduction in customer outage minutes across Houston in first half of year
Average customer outage minutes decreased every month in first half of 2025 compared to last year; outage minutes year-to-date are also significantly below the five-year average Number of outages related to trees, branches and other vegetation contacting lines down about 33% compared with the same time period in 2024 Actions taken to strengthen system and improve reliability included historic investment in more storm-resistant poles, automation devices, undergrounding power lines and clearing of hazardous vegetation across service area HOUSTON, July 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — CenterPoint Energy today announced significant improvements in reliability for its Houston-area customers, with the total electric service outage minutes reduced by approximately 45% through June 30, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. The reduction in outages or service interruptions follows the unprecedented series of resiliency actions taken by CenterPoint to strengthen the electric system, improve reliability and reduce the impact and duration of outages, as part of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI). Additionally, CenterPoint customers across Greater Houston have experienced about 33% fewer outages related to trees, branches, and other vegetation coming in contact with electrical equipment than it did in 2024 over the same time. 'Showing up for our customers is what drives our work every day. This is a significant improvement by any standard. The 45% decrease in outage minutes reflects the significant and real progress being felt by our communities across Greater Houston. Looking ahead, we remain laser-focused on building on the positive impact of our GHRI actions and achieving further resiliency and reliability improvements as we prepare for the reality of more extreme weather and more powerful storms,' said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint's Electric Business. Significant improvements in reliability across Greater Houston areaFrom January 1 through June 30, 2025, CenterPoint customers experienced shorter outages, including more than 20 million less outage minutes per month, and a 45% reduction in the duration of outages for individual customers. In addition, outages year-to-date have decreased by 41 million minutes compared to the five-year average since 2020. Since launching the GHRI in July 2024 with a goal of improving the reliability and resiliency of the electric system, CenterPoint has completed a series of critical actions and improvements, including: Installing 32,000+ stronger, storm-resilient poles built to withstand extreme winds; Clearing higher-risk vegetation near 7,000+ miles of power lines; Installing 5,150+ automation devices capable of self-healing; and Undergrounding 400+ miles of power lines. Working towards our goal: Building the most resilient coastal grid in the countryIn the coming months and years, CenterPoint will continue working to strengthen the system and further improve reliability through a series of long-term investments, including the company's $3.2 billion Systemwide Resiliency Plan (SRP). The SRP is designed to dramatically improve resiliency against more extreme weather of the future; increase reliability for Houston customers, with a goal of reducing outages by nearly 1 billion minutes into 2029; and achieve our public goal of becoming the most resilient coastal grid in the country. For more information about CenterPoint's work to strengthen the system, visit About CenterPoint Energy, Inc. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is a multi-state electric and natural gas delivery company serving approximately 7 million metered customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas. The company is headquartered in Houston and is the only Texas-domiciled investor-owned utility. As of March 31, 2025, the company had approximately $44 billion in assets. With approximately 8,300 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been serving customers for more than 150 years. For more information, visit Forward-Looking StatementThis news release, as well as the website pages related to the GHRI and SRP, includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release or the website pages related to the GHRI and SRP, the words 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'continue,' 'could,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'forecast,' 'goal,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'objective,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'predict,' 'projection,' 'should,' 'target,' 'will' or other similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which include statements regarding CenterPoint Energy's resiliency plans such as the GHRI and SRP, including with respect to timing, filings related thereto, anticipated benefits, and related matters, are based upon assumptions of management which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any statements in this news release or the website pages related to the GHRI and SRP regarding future events that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement contained in this news release or the website pages related to the GHRI and SRP speaks only as of the date of this release or the date that such statement is made, as applicable. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the provided forward-looking information include risks and uncertainties relating to: (1) business strategies and strategic initiatives, acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses involving CenterPoint Energy or its industry; (2) CenterPoint Energy's ability to fund and invest planned capital, and the timely recovery of its investments; (3) financial market and general economic conditions; (4) the timing and impact of future regulatory, legislative and political actions or developments; and (5) other factors, risks and uncertainties discussed in CenterPoint Energy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 and CenterPoint's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 and other reports CenterPoint Energy or its subsidiaries may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, contact:
Axios
3 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Houston ICE arrests of noncriminals skyrocketed
ICE arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions in Houston soared in June, per data compiled by the Deportation Data Project. Why it matters: The surge follows a national trend that coincides with the Trump administration's decision on May 21 to triple ICE's arrest quota. By the numbers: In January, ICE agents arrested 1,077 total people in the Houston Field Office region, which includes all of Southeast Texas and areas close to Waco. As of June 26 — the most recent data available — the monthly arrest figure increased 73% to 1,868. Zoom in: The monthly share of Greater Houston ICE detainees who had no criminal charges or convictions nearly quintupled. In January, 141 (13% of all arrests) of Houston-area ICE detainees had a no criminal charge or conviction. In June, 691 (37%) of ICE detainees had no criminal charges or convictions. The big picture: Nationwide, people without criminal charges or convictions made up an average of 47% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from about 21% in early May, before the quota increase. The other side: "The media continues to peddle this FALSE narrative that ICE is not targeting criminal illegal aliens," Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Axios. McLaughlin added that 70% of ICE arrests were for immigrants with criminal convictions or pending charges, but did not elaborate on that figure. Between the lines: " ICE has the authority to arrest immigrants who are suspected of violating immigration laws, regardless of criminal history," writes Austin Kocher, research assistant professor at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and immigration expert, in an analysis of the new data. "Nevertheless, the administration has gone to great lengths in the press and on social media to emphasize the criminality of people they are arresting. Both things can be true, of course." The bottom line: The Trump administration is casting a far wider net than initially promised — and San Diego is seeing an especially stark disparity in who is being arrested by ICE.
Axios
6 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Beyoncé's Houston Cowboy Carter tour stop brings $50M boost
Beyoncé didn't just bring the Texan flair to NRG Stadium — she brought a multimillion-dollar boost to Houston. Stunning stat: Queen Bey's June 28–29 Cowboy Carter Tour stop spurred more than $50 million in local spending, according to an analysis by Houston First Corporation. Houston was the only Texas stop on the tour, drawing fans from across the state — and as far as Mexico and the U.K. — to enjoy her hometown performance. What they're saying: "Beyoncé's concert stop here is the latest example of how major entertainment events of this caliber can be huge economic drivers for our city," said Michael Heckman, president and CEO of Houston First. "This type of mega-event is something we love to see because it not only generates buzz and excitement across town, it truly delivers for our economy." By the numbers: Hotel occupancy surged across the city compared to the same weekend last year — and so did revenue per available room and average daily rates. Hotels near NRG Stadium hit 79% occupancy, up from 61% last year. Downtown hotels reached 72%, up from 53%, and Uptown hit 78%, up from 58%. Plus, OpenTable reported a 43% increase in Houston-area reservations over the three-day stretch compared to the same period last year.
Axios
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- Axios
Houston-area family sues Tesla over deadly Cybertruck inferno
The family of a Houston-area man who last year died in a burning Tesla Cybertruck after a crash is suing the automaker over what it says are defective safety designs. The big picture: The wrongful death suit appears to be the first against Tesla involving a Cybertruck, but the company is facing several others related to its autopilot technology in different models. Driving the news: The lawsuit, filed June 13 in Harris County, alleges Michael Sheehan was driving his Cybertruck near Beach City, about 30 miles east of Houston, when his vehicle left the roadway and flipped into a ditch in August 2024. Zoom in: The family says the crash was survivable but that Sheehan died when the truck's batteries ignited and he became trapped in the mangled wreckage. The lawsuit points to Tesla's battery design and energy-absorbing features when the truck is involved in a crash. Attorneys also allege Sheehan was unable to open the doors from the inside once power was lost and that the outdoor handles didn't open properly. Plus, they say "alternate interior door handles are unreasonably difficult to locate in an emergency." The lawsuit is also against a nearby bar in Mont Belvieu that the family alleges overserved Sheehan prior to the crash. The other side: Tesla has not formally responded to the lawsuit and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Axios.
Business Journals
27-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Table of Experts — Artificial intelligence in enterprise: Houston Tech leaders on what's real, what's next, and what's at risk
On June 4, the Houston Business Journal gathered a panel of Houston-area CIOs and digital strategy experts for a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence. This group of industry leaders explored how AI is already being applied across business verticals, the risks and limitations they're navigating, and what leaders should be doing now to prepare for the exponential pace of change. Heather Orrico, Vice President, Comcast Business: What's one way your organization is using AI that sets it apart, but that also keeps you cautious as you scale? Atif Riaz, CIO/CTO, Murphy Oil Corporation: Besides general productivity use cases, one novel use case for my team was utilizing AI to pick high performing teams for different projects. We already had the personality assessment data, and AI helped us figure out who might be best suited for certain roles on a project. Of course you always have to watch out for hallucinations. AI has huge potential for building better teams, but you have to set boundaries. Randy Volkin, CIO, Perry Homes: It's not important that every step forward has to be an innovation. There are a lot of commoditized tools and practices in AI that we are adopting that can make us better. There's a sense of shared exploration across industries right now, especially at the corporate level. If you can tap into that, you can make a real difference without high degrees of risk. Ashok Kurian, AVP of Data and AI Innovation, Texas Children's Hospital: HIPAA has very rigid rules about data, but we're further along than many other healthcare institutions. We have many examples of AI uses that improve care, reduce administrative overhead and ultimately allow our world-renowned clinicians to spend more time with patients and patient families. That's why people come to Texas Children's Hospital, we explore every avenue to ensure our patients are treated with the best possible quality of care. Jeff Green, CIO, Strike, LLC: We use AI to speed up risk assessments on bids. That process used to be a six-week, five-figure engagement. Now we feed the info into our AI model and get what we need in a fraction of the time. That frees up time and employee resources to go fix problems rather than just diagnose them, and it has reduced our legal cost. Everyone's happy about those benefits. Keith Tomshe, Manager of Digital Video, KHOU: We're experimenting with AI for news production, automatically generating versions of a story for broadcast, digital, and social. It's helped in places like SEO tagging and repackaging content. But adoption is slow unless it's built into existing tools. If you tell people 'go try this on your own,' it rarely happens. Viet Dang, Director of Data Services, Houston-Galveston Area Council: We're still in the early stages of our AI journey. We created a safe space for staff to explore the potential and possibilities of three large language models—Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. As a public-serving organization, our adoption has been thoughtful and cautious. We're especially mindful of protecting sensitive information and ensuring that nothing is shared inappropriately. With most of our funding coming from the federal government, we see AI as an opportunity to improve efficiency, and we're exploring how these tools can complement and streamline the way we serve the region. Traci Pelter, President & Publisher, Houston Business Journal: What's a tech decision you've made recently that felt like a real turning point? Ashok Kurian: About five years ago we decided to move more of our workload onto the cloud. It's given us the scale and flexibility we need for AI. The GPU access alone is game-changing for our algorithms. Jeff Green: We're working on making our unstructured data more usable. Right now, we have documents all over the environments. This DLP project will allow us to get Microsoft Copilot deployed for the company, but we've got to clean up the document sprawl first. Randy Volkin: We view it as important to continuously improve processes in addition to adopting technology to position the company for continued growth. We recently undertook a major project to transform our ERP platform and felt like we were able to achieve both. It was a very large undertaking but we couldn't be happier with the result. Keith Tomshe: What's interesting is how some people at the station have gone full steam ahead with AI—like building their own apps to adapt content for different platforms—while others barely touch it. If it's integrated into a platform, people use it. Otherwise, it doesn't stick. Justin Galbraith, Senior Manager Enterprise Sales, Comcast Business: I've got a customer using AI in video monitoring to prevent theft — like catching suspicious activity before it happens. Anyone else doing things like that? Permit processes, inspections, medical procedures? Ashok Kurian: We're testing computer vision and image recognition in the field of pediatric radiology, to ensure our radiologists are focused on the most complex situations, and create efficiencies with the common ones. Atif Riaz: Oil and gas uses cameras for remote monitoring: detecting leaks, fires, or missing safety gear. And now, with software overlays, we don't need specialized cameras. Any video feed can become intelligent through use of AI software. Heather Orrico, Vice President, Comcast Business: How do you align with leadership on innovation and data security when there are competing priorities? Atif Riaz: I have learned to reframe digital and security initiatives in terms of exploration, production, or operational success. Once you link IT to business goals, alignment and funding follows. Randy Volkin: Reputation matters a lot at Perry Homes. But we also know there's no such thing as zero risk. Even the federal government gets breached. So we talk about making good, measured decisions rather than chasing everything shiny. You need to take calculated risks to progress any business but we won't make compromises with customer data or other matters that impact our reputation. Viet Dang: Our CEO is very much in tune with emerging technology and its adoption. He recognized the value of AI early on and established—and now chairs—our internal AI Governance Committee. We're focused on organization-wide implementation, encouraging our team to explore the best uses of AI, develop effective prompts, and understand how these tools can support their work. At the same time, we're committed to educating staff on responsible use and maximizing the benefits AI can offer. Jeff Baker, Chief Technology Officer, Socium Solutions: We always bring it back to opportunity cost. What's the ROI of this versus doing nothing? At a certain point, the next thing isn't worth the price. Traci Pelter, President & Publisher, Houston Business Journal: I'd love to hear a challenge or win from this year. Something that went wel l— or didn't. Atif Riaz: A few years ago, we made a very intentional decision to empower the business more—to encourage citizen development and give non-IT teams the tools and freedom to innovate. And it worked. More people started building solutions, bringing up ideas, and moving fast. This has been a big win for us. The challenge with democratizing technology, though, is that not everyone wants to follow the governance process. It's a double-edged sword. You want a technically literate business, but also want to make sure there's agreement for them to stay within the guardrails. Randy Volkin: Education will be reshaped. AI can personalize learning, give every student the exact input they need in ways that teachers can't. In one of my kid's university classes they had to use AI and show their work, keeping track of each prompt they used to get to the result. Another kid at a different university banned AI entirely. It's such a wild contrast Keith Tomshe: Copilot is useful, but it lags behind some other tools. That's part of the expectation gap. People think AI is magic. Casey Kiesewetter, Vice President, Houston Business Journal: What ripple effects are you seeing across your organization? Jeff Baker: We can respond to anomalies faster. Yesterday, we flagged a potential issue in real time. That kind of agility didn't exist a year ago. Ashok Kurian: We are exploring the use of natural language processing technology, which allows our clinicians to spend less time behind the computer, and more time with the patient. This also boosts provider satisfaction, as they are spending less time having to document, and more time with their families. Jeff Baker: Bias is a concern, but it's not unique to AI. It exists in human providers too. At least with AI, we can audit those biases and make better decisions. Heather Orrico, Vice President, Comcast Business: Fast forward 20 years: What does the balance between humans and AI look like? Keith Tomshe: I got a Tesla. The self-driving is amazing. I even talked to ChatGPT on the way here to prep for this conversation. It's part of my workflow now. Ashok Kurian: Artificial Intelligence has come a long way, but what's on the horizon is even more exciting. Innovations are being made today that will lead the world to potential Artificial General Intelligence, where AI will be able to learn on their own, with reasoning capabilities. The uses cases are endless, but we need to also ensure safety and protections with these new discoveries. Atif Riaz: Some estimates put Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) just 12 months away. That's AI smarter than the smartest human alive. Whether you believe that or not, the urgency is real. Heather Orrico, Vice President, Comcast Business: What does this mean for soft skills and people leadership in the future? Randy Volkin: Education will be reshaped. AI can personalize learning, give every student the exact input they need in ways that teachers can't. In one of my kid's university classes they had to use AI and show their work, keeping track of each prompt they used to get to the result. Another kid at a different university banned AI entirely. It's such a wild contrast. Jeff Baker: I teach a cybersecurity certificate course at UT. The best students aren't always the most technical. They're the ones who can communicate, think critically, and work without a prompt. I hope that skill set is still important in 20 years. Jeff Green: I hire for critical thinking, not credentials. We once hired an art major who couldn't use Excel, but she became our best business analyst because she was great at problem solving and critical thinking. She knew how to ask the right questions and interpret those answers to produce business outcomes. That is going to set you apart in the future of the job market. Atif Riaz: We see younger generation nowadays is losing social skills as they are glued to their devices. But if the argument is that robots will get more human-like, that means they'll want social interaction too. So relationships and social skills will still be paramount; that's how you 'get along' with AI. Moderators Panelists
