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GHP: Regional economy poised for growth in ‘25 Staff Reports Editor’s Note: In its “Economy at a Glance” report for January, the Greater Houston Partnership - the regional chamber of commerce - summarizes its employment forecast for 2025 released December 12, 2024. The report also documents the recent increase in Houston’s gross domestic product. The main body of the report is presented here with permission. The U.S. is doing well despite earlier reports to the contrary. In the 12 months ending November ’24, the nation has created 2.3 million jobs. The unemployment rate has tracked 4.2 percent or lower in 11 of the past 12 months. And real gross domestic product (GDP) has grown 2.8 per-cent over the past 12 months. In fact, the U.S. has led all developing nations in recovering from the pandemic. U.S. GDP increased 10.7 percent since the end of ’19, versus 5.9 percent for Canada’s GDP, 3.9 percent for the Euro-zone, 3.0 percent for Japan, and 0.2 percent for Germany. Houston is no laggard, either. The region created 62,500 jobs in the 12 months ending November ’24. Our unemployment rate has averaged 4.4 percent over the year. Initial claims for unemployment benefits have fallen to pre-pandemic levels. Construction has picked up. And people and businesses continue to flock to the region. Both the U.S. and Houston are poised for growth in ’25. Whether that growth stalls or accelerates depends on the path of inflation, the level of U.S. interest rates, consumer confidence, and actions taken by Congress in the spring.
Inflation The annual rate of inflation peaked at 9.0 percent in June ’22 and has trended down since, slipping to 2.7 percent in November ‘24. Various surveys forecast inflation to track between 2.0 and 2.5 percent next year. The Partnership expects inflation at the low end of the range. A lower inflation rate is important for several reasons. For one, it affects consumer sentiment. The effective federal funds rate may be a difficult concept for most Americans to grasp, but everyone knows how much they pay for gas, bread, and blue jeans today versus three years ago. And when inflation declines, consumers feel better about the economy and open their wallets. Interest Rates To combat inflation, the Federal Reserve began hiking the federal funds rate in the spring of ’22. In the fall of ’24, seeing that inflation was nearing the Fed’s 2.0 percent tar-get, the bank began to lower the rate. Many business and consumer loans are pegged to the rate, so its decline should make buying a car, purchasing
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George arraigned on misdemeanor charge By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Fort Bend County Judge KP George was formally arraigned Friday, more than three months after being indicted on a single count of misrepresentation of identity of a political candidate, a Class A misdemeanor, alleging his involvement in a "fake hate" social media campaign. The indictment alleges that George knew that his former chief of staff, Taral Patel, was using fake social media accounts to post false, racist social media messages about George, who like Patel is Indian-American, during George's 2022 reelection campaign against
Republican Trever Nehls, a former Fort Bend constable. The indictment alleges that George may have directed Patel to add language to his own social media postings reacting to the false attacks. George arrived at the Fort Bend County Justice Center about an hour after the scheduled time for his arraignment. During discussion between his attorney and prosecutors, George remained in the courtroom without speaking, and a written not guilty plea was submitted. George did not answer reporters' questions as he left the courthouse.
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Fort Bend County Judge KP George waits inside a county courtroom before his arraignment on a misdemeanor charge on Friday. Photo by Ken Fountain
Missouri City’s Maroulis departs, Ouderkirk steps in By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
It was a celebratory and bittersweet evening at the City of Missouri City city council chamber Monday as longtime District C Council member Anthony Maroulis bid farewell and his newly elected successor, Joanna Ouderkirk, was sworn into office. Maroulis, who was first elected to the Council in 2015, spoke about his long service with the city, which preceded his time on Council. Mayor Robin Elackatt led his Council colleagues in a send-off that included testimonials by Council members and others and the presentation of some gifts. Earlier in the meeting, Ouderkick was sworn in by U.S. Army Brig. Gen. (Ret.) David Van Kleeck, a Fort Bend County resident. Both are actively involved in the local Scouting community, many of whom were present along with Ouderkir’s family members for her swearing-in. Ouderkirk, a real estate agent who also has served on city boards, defeated Shad Bogany by a wide margin in a December runoff after the two emerged as the top two candidates in the November
Missouri City Mayor Robin Elackatt, far left, presents outgoing District C Council member Anthony Maroulis with a city street sign emblazoned with his name and years on council during Monday’s meeting. Photo by Ken Fountain
election that included four other candidates. “I want to say thank you so much for the outpouring of support that I’ve had in the election,” said. Ouderkirk.” It was definitely interesting, especially for someone who was running for the first time.” Following Ouderkirk’s swearing-in, Elackatt led a very emotional farewell to Maroulis. He spoke of a constituent who told the mayor about meeting Maroulis at
the city’s recreation center, which had served as a staging ground for donations of supplies in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The constituent said that Maroulis only identified himself by his first-name, never indicating that he was a council member. This was emblematic of the humility that Maroulis brought to his service to the city, the mayor said. Maroulis next spoke about his time with the city. He and
Elackatt, who had previously served as the council member for District C, traded barbs about which of them first used the tagline, “District C is the place to be.” E l a c k at t pr e s ent e d Maroulis with a Missouri City street sign, with the signature red-and-blue color scheme, reading “A Maroulis, 2015-2024,” referring to his years on council, a framed photo montage of Maroulis with his family and members of council and staff, and a
rocking chair with the city seal so that Maroulis could pursue his future ambition of “kicking back.” Elackatt next introduced a video that included testimonials to Maroulis from his fellow Council members, city staff, family members and others. Maroulis followed with remarks that were by turns tearful and humorous as he discussed his decision not to seek reelection after the death of his father last year, and his commitment to his family and faith. The son of Greek immigrants, Maroulis is very involved with the Orthodox Church. He said after every time he said the Pledge of Allegiance at council meetings, he privately prayed to God to help he and the council make good decisions. “And guess what, we made some damn good decisions,” he said. Among those were the opening of the city’s fifth fire station, the opening up the Amazon distribution center, the building of the city’s Veterans Memorial, the opening of a police substation, as well as the council’s efforts to attract new business developments such as
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Whitbeck drops defamation claims against trustees; breach of contract claims remain By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Former Fort Bend ISD superintendent Christie Whitbeck has dropped defamation allegations against three trustees in a lawsuit filed last month, but her breach of contract allegations remain ongoing, according to a filing in the case last week. In the lawsuit, filed December 3, Whitbeck alleges that the district and three trustees – Sonya Jones, David Hamilton and former trustee and board president Judy Dae – made numerous disparaging public and social media comments about her, in violation of the voluntary retirement agreement which ended Whitbeck’s tenure in December 2022. The agreement includes a clause stating that the district and board members would refer all third-party inquiries to a press release that praised Whitbeck’s accomplishments during her tenure, which began in
September 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a “notice of non-suit” filed Friday, Whitbeck’s attorney, Chris Tritico, notes that the district on December 9, six days after the lawsuit was filed, itself filed a motion seeking to dismiss Whitbeck’s defamation claims against the three trustees. The district argued in the filing that under a provision of Texas civil law, Whitbeck cannot sue both the district as a governmental entity and the board members as individual defendants for defamation, and that the court should dismiss those claims against the trustees. In his own filing, Tritico writes that the provision cited by the district “provides when a suit subject to the Texas Tort Claims Act is filed against both a governmental unit and a governmental employee, the governmental unit may [emphasis in the original] file a motion seeking dismissal of the employee and the
employee shall be dismissed. The governmental unit does not have to file the election but if it does, the election constitutes a judicial admission that the governmental employee was acting within the course and scope of their employment.” Since the district did file such an election, Triticio writes, it has admitted that the alleged comments by the trustees were made by the trustees. “Even though the statements made by [the trustees] are defamatory, and meritorious,” Tritico writes, Whitbeck is non-suiting her defamation claims against them. The district’s filing, he writes, “constitutes an irrevocable judicial admission by [Fort Bend ISD] that the statements made the basis of Plaintiff’s original petition were made by the Trustees in the course and scope of their duties as Trustees.” In the district’s official answer to the lawsuit, filed December 30, it makes a general denial of all of
Whitbeck’s claims against both the district and the individual trustees. It also offers several affirmative defenses against the allegations, including governmental immunity, professional immunity, and that Whitbeck failed to exhaust some of her claims. The breach of contract claims in the lawsuit remain live. A hearing on the district’s motion to dismiss is set for January 8.