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Katy, Texas

Katy, Texas

Katy is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area. Katy is located partially in the counties of Fort Bend, Waller, and Harris. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 11,775. Note: Census information, as well as other information on this page, are based on the actual city of Katy (Old Katy) and do not include the Unincorporated Houston part of Katy. Named for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (commonly referred to at the "Katy Railroad", now a part of Union Pacific) that ran through it in the 19th century, the Houston suburb's prime attraction is the Katy Mills Mall. A secondary attraction is an unusual outdoor museum of Chinese culture and history called the Forbidden Gardens. Actresses Renée Zellweger and Renee O'Connor were born in Katy. Country music performer Clint Black, Trading Spaces designer Frank Bielec, and American Idol contestant Kimberly Caldwell are from there as well. Comedian Janeane Garofalo

List Of Mayors

Dan Cox (1971-1979) John G. Morrison (1979-1983) Johnny Nelson (1983-1987) Ward A. Stanberry(1988-1991) J.W. "Skip" Conner(1991-1995) M.H. "Hank" Schmidt (1995-2001) Doyle G. Callender (2001-Present)

Geography

Janeane Garofalo Katy is located at 29°47'33" North, 95°49'21" West (29.792582, -95.822436). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 27.6 km² (10.7 mi²). None of the area is covered with water.

City of Katy vs. Katy Area

Katy residents often split the city into two informal sections: "Old Katy" (or Katy Proper) and "Katy Area". Old Katy is basically the actual City of Katy and lies for the most part north of Interstate 10. This is the original Katy from before the 1970s when Houston's Energy Corridor made its way west on I-10 and the development that came with it. Katy Area is made up of large sections of unincorporated Harris and Fort Bend counties and for the most part sits east of the City of Katy. This area is within the Katy Independent School District and nearly everyone in this area has a Katy postal address. Katy Area includes newer developments such as Cinco Ranch and Grand Lakes, while also encompassing developments from the 1970s and 1980s such as Memorial Parkway and Nottingham Country. All of "Katy Area" lies in the city of Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), not Katy's ETJ. This means that the areas of "Katy Area" are controlled by the city of Houston and the city has the ability to annex it in the future. The city of Katy can not annex this area unless the city of Houston releases the area's ETJ to Katy, which has occurred in several small chunks in recent years. The most recent instance of this was in 2001 when Houston ceded about 400 acres (1.6 km²) of ETJ to the City of Katy to allow the Katy Mills Mall and surrounding parking lot to be built entirely within the City of Katy. The Greater Katy region, which encompasses both the actual City of Katy along with the unincorporated subruban areas around the City, has approximately 175,000 residents total.

Hurricane Katrina Evacuees

The Katy region absorbed several thousand evacuees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. No attempt has been made to get an accurate count of how many evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi are in the region, however the Katy Independent School District reported on September 7, 2005 that they had received 1,161 new students in the district as a result of the hurricane. Mayor Doyle Callender in a Houston Chronicle interview on September 14, 2005 estimated there are 3,000 to 4,000 evacuees in Katy regional shelters while 500 of those are in shelters within the Katy city limits. There are likely thousands more in permanent housing units throughout the Katy region. One of the primary reasons why Katy absorbed such a large number of evacuees is its location on Interstate 10, the major east-west artery through the region and direct feeder route of evacuees from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi. Nobody in the mandatory evacuations in the aftermath of the storm was evacuated to the Katy region; everyone who is in the area reached the city and region on their own.

Sports

In 2005,it was announced that Katy would get its own indoor football team.It would be an expansion team for National Indoor Football League.The team's name would be called the Katy Copperheads,and would play at the Merrell Center.In the district's sports,the Katy Tigers of Katy High School have won the most state football titles.The Taylor Mustangs of James E. Taylor High School,have won the most tennis state titles.The Cougers of Cinco Ranch High School,have won two consecutive track state titles.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 11,775 people, 3,888 households, and 3,083 families residing in the city. The population density is 426.1/km² (1,103.7/mi²). There are 4,072 housing units at an average density of 147.3/km² (381.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 83.98% White, 4.24% African American, 0.56% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 8.65% from other races, and 2.03% from two or more races. 23.75% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 3,888 households out of which 45.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.9% are married couples living together, 10.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 20.7% are non-families. 17.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.00 and the average family size is 3.37. In the city the population is spread out with 31.5% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 33 years. For every 100 females there are 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 97.5 males. The median income for a household in the city is $51,111, and the median income for a family is $57,741. Males have a median income of $38,412 versus $33,004 for females. The per capita income for the city is $21,192. 8.4% of the population and 7.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 9.1% are under the age of 18 and 6.5% are 65 or older.

Education

Pupils who live in Katy are zoned to schools in Katy Independent School District. Pupils in the city of Katy are zoned to either Katy Elementary School or Hutsell Elementary School. All Katy pupils are zoned to Katy Junior High School and Katy High School. Katy is served by the Houston Community College System.

External links

- [http://www.katytexas.com Katy Texas]
- [http://www.katychamber.com/images/demographics/KCoutsideEPS4.pdf Master Plan Map of Katy Area / City of Katy]
- [http://www.cityofkaty.com/ City of Katy official web site]
- [http://www.katyisd.org Katy Independent School District web site]
- [http://www.katychamber.com Greater Katy Area Chamber of Commerce web site]
- [http://www.katyedc.org Katy Area Economic Development Council web site]
- [http://www.katytimes.com Katy Times web site--tri-weekly newspaper for the Katy region] Category:Cities in Texas Category:Fort Bend County, Texas

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty, in that an "American" is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of residence. The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms; the general idea is that by ratifying the Constitution, each state has transferred certain aspects of its sovereign powers to the federal government while retaining the remainder for itself. The tasks of education, health, transportation, and other infrastructure are generally the responsibility of the states. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did.

Legal relationship

At the time of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776, the 13 colonies became 13 independently sovereign states, which became fourteen in 1777 with the formation of the Vermont Republic; for a brief period, they were in effect legally separate nations. But upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law, empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations, albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via ratification of the United States Constitution, beginning in 1789. Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and - at the time - slave status. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic. The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual", and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union". In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of Texas v. White, established that states do not have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.
- Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. However, the United States has non-state areas called commonwealths (Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas) which do have a legal status different from the states.
- States are free to organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. See state supreme court for more information. For example, most lawsuits in the state of New York are filed in the Supreme Court, and then appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The highest court in New York is the Court of Appeals.
- The joint resolution which admitted the Republic of Texas to the Union as a state guaranteed Texas the right to divide itself up into up to 5 states. This clause may be redundant, however, as any such state would arguably require Congressional approval, just as when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; it may also be unconstitutional, as reducing the equal suffrage of the other states in the United States Senate.

List of states

The states, with their U.S. postal abbreviations, traditional abbreviations, capitals and largest cities, are as follows. For a complete list of non-state dependent areas and other territory under control of the U.S., see United States dependent areas. State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. (See the lists of U.S. state name etymologies and U.S. county name etymologies for more detail.)
- Southern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, take their names from places in the British Isles: New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York.
- Many states' names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Kansas, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, and others.
- Because they are on territories previously controlled by Spain or Mexico, many states in the southeast and southwest have Spanish names. They include Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, and Nevada.
- Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana is named after the Louis XIV (King of France at the time).
- The origins of the names of California, Oregon, Idaho, and Rhode Island are unknown, although various theories exist.

Trivia

Names

- "Georgia" can refer to either a U.S. state or to an independent country in the Caucasus.
- The name "New York" can refer to any one of three geographical levels: a state, a city in that state, or a county (coterminous with the borough of Manhattan) in that city.
- "Washington" is a state, a city corresponding to the District of Columbia (and thus not part of any state), and a number of cities and counties in various states. See the list of places named for George Washington.
- The state of Washington is the only state named after a U.S. President (or after a person born within the area now comprising the U.S., for that matter).
- The official name of Rhode Island is "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
- Only two states have state capitals named for the state (however, such name-sharing occurs commonly with states and provinces in some other countries, where the state or province actually often takes its name from a capital city): Oklahoma, with capital Oklahoma City, and Indiana, with capital Indianapolis (which means Indiana City). Iowa City, Iowa was the first state capital of Iowa but the capital was later moved to Des Moines, Iowa.
- Maine is the only state with a one-syllable name.

Geography

- Colorado and Wyoming are bounded by two circles of latitude and two meridians each, i.e. they appear to be rectangles in a cylindrical map projection.
- Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are the only states whose borders are made up of only straight lines (taking meridians and circles of latitude as straight lines) and, thus, the only states whose borders completely ignore natural features.
- Every state—except Hawaii, which has no land boundaries—has straight lines as at least part of its boundaries. These are usually combined with rivers (see river borders of U.S. states), ridge lines and other natural boundaries. Pennsylvania and Delaware are unique in that their common border is an arc of a circle, see The Twelve-Mile Circle.
- The lower peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; Louisiana is shaped like a boot.
- Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia have panhandles.
- Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico and Mississippi have bootheels.
- Alaska and Hawaii are the only states that are not physically connected to other states; Maine is the only state that borders only one other state. Missouri and Tennessee each border eight other states, the most for any state.
- Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah are the only four states to share a common border, known as the "Four Corners."
- Appearances given by the stereographic projection to the contrary, Minnesota is the northernmost of the forty-eight contiguous United States, as a northern spur of the state contains a portion of Lake of the Woods. At one time it was thought that Lake of the Woods contained the headwaters of the Mississippi River (now known to be at Lake Itasca).
- Alaska is the northernmost state and the westernmost state. Some would argue that it is also the easternmost state, as the Aleutian island chain crosses the 180º line of longitude.

Grouping of the states in regions

Alaska, The South and The Northeast. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

State lists

References

External links

- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_US9S_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)]
- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_US9_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org US Newspapers by State]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html Origin of State Names] United States, States of the Category:Subdivisions of the United States
- U.S. State ja:アメリカ合衆国の地方行政区画 ko:미국의 주 simple:List of U.S. states th:มลรัฐของสหรัฐอเมริกา zh-min-nan:Bí-kok ê hêng-chèng-khu

Houston Metropolitan Area

The Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, is the seventh largest and most diverse metropolitan area in the United States and consists of ten counties within the state of Texas. Its former title was Houston–Galveston–Brazoria. The area is colloquially referred to as either the "Houston metropolitan area" or the "greater Houston area" and is situated in the region of East Texas. The Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolital statistical area (MSA) has a population of 5.2 million as of the 2004 U.S. Census estimate. The metropolitan area comprises ten counties, centering in Houston. Houston was named a "Gamma World City" by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC). The population of the metropolitan area grew 25.2 percent between the 1990 and 2000 censuses while the nation's population increased 13.2 percent over the same period. Among the largest United States metropolitan areas, the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown MSA ranks fifth in Hispanic population and 8th in Asian and Pacific Islander.

Economic activities

The area's economic activity is centered in Houston, the county seat of Harris County. Houston is a major port and financial center for oil companies. Sugar Land is home to the second-largest economic activities and third largest city in the metropolitan area. Sugar Land has the most important and booming economic center in Fort Bend County. Baytown and Galveston also have ports. Galveston also has the largest cruise ship terminal in Texas (and the twelfth in the world) and is a recreational area for people in the region. Sugar Land holds the Nalco/Exxon and Western Airways headquarters. Engineering firms and other related industries have managed to take the place as an economic engine. Houston's largest airport (and Texas' second-largest), George Bush Intercontinental Airport, is located in north Houston. Continental Airlines is headquartered in Downtown Houston. The southeast of Houston has William P. Hobby Airport, the second-largest commercial passenger airport. Houston's third-largest airport is Ellington Field, which houses several National Guard and Air National Guard units, as well as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center's fleet of jets that are used to train astronauts. Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, has the Sugar Land Regional Airport. Sugar Land Regional is the fourth largest airport in the metropolitan area and the only general reliever airport in the southwest sector.

Counties

Sugar Land Regional Airport There are ten counties in the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan statistical area (MSA) defined by the U.S. Census as of 2003. They are listed below with population figures as of the 2004 U.S. Census estimates.
- Harris County — 3,644,285
- Fort Bend County — 442,620
- Montgomery County — 362,382
- Galveston County — 271,743
- Brazoria County — 271,130
- Liberty County — 74,821
- Waller County — 34,757
- Chambers County — 28,227
- Austin County — 25,800
- San Jacinto County — 24,678

Cities and towns

Principal cities

There are four principal cities defined by the U.S. Census as of 2003. Population figures are within the city limits as of the 2005 U.S. Census estimates.
- Houston — 2,553,362
- Sugar Land — 73,721
- Baytown — 67,321
- Galveston — 57,355

Waller County, Texas

Waller County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the population is 32,663. Its county seat is Hempstead ⁶.

Image:Map of Texas highlighting Waller County.png

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,343 km² (518 mi²). 1,330 km² (514 mi²) of it is land and 13 km² (5 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.94% water.

Adjacent counties

- Grimes County (north)
- Montgomery County (northeast)
- Harris County (east)
- Fort Bend County (south)
- Austin County (west)
- Washington County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the census ² of 2000, there are 32,663 people, 10,557 households, and 7,748 families residing in the county. The population density is 25/km² (64/mi²). There are 11,955 housing units at an average density of 9/km² (23/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 57.83% White, 29.25% Black or African American, 0.49% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 10.28% from other races, and 1.76% from two or more races. 19.42% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 10,557 households out of which 35.10% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.70% are married couples living together, 13.00% have a female householder with no husband present, and 26.60% are non-families. 21.00% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.50% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.79 and the average family size is 3.25. In the county, the population is spread out with 25.70% under the age of 18, 18.10% from 18 to 24, 26.40% from 25 to 44, 20.50% from 45 to 64, and 9.40% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 98.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 96.10 males. The median income for a household in the county is $38,136, and the median income for a family is $45,868. Males have a median income of $34,447 versus $25,583 for females. The per capita income for the county is $16,338. 16.00% of the population and 11.50% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 20.00% of those under the age of 18 and 12.30% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Cities and towns

- Brookshire
- Hempstead

- Katy †
- Pattison

- Pine Island
- Prairie View

- Waller

† Katy is incorporated in Harris County, but a small part extends into Waller County.

External links

- [http://www.co.waller.tx.us/ Waller County government’s website]
- [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/WW/hcw2.html Waller County in Handbook of Texas Online] from The University of Texas at Austin Category:Texas counties

2000

This article is about the year 2000. For other uses of 2000, see 2000 (number) or 2000 (breakdancing move). 2000 (MM) is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. Popular culture also holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. By strict interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, however, this distinction falls to the year 2001. This is due to the fact that the first century began with the year 1, and there does not exist a year zero. The first century (or first 100 years AD) was from January 1, in the year one (1 AD) through December 31, in the year one-hundred (100 AD). The second century began on January 1, in the year one-hundred and one (101 AD). The year 2000 is also marked as:
- The International Year for a Culture of Peace.
- The World Mathematical Year. See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

Events

January

- January 1 - Millennium celebrations take place throughout the world. Y2K passes without the serious, widespread computer failures and malfunctions that had been predicted.
- January 5-January 8 - The 2000 al-Qaida Summit
- January 6 - The last remaining Pyrenean Ibex is found dead.
- January 10 - America On-line announces an agreement to buy Time Warner for $162 billion. This is the largest-ever corporate merger.
- January 11 - the armed wing of Islamic Salvation Front concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria.
- January 11 - The trawler Solway Harvester sinks off the Isle of Man.
- January 14 - A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Bosnian Muslims in a Bosnian village.
- January 16 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
- January 24 - God's Army, Karen militia group led by twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, take 700 hostages at a Thai hospital near the Burmese border.
- January 30 - St. Louis Rams 23 defeat the Tennessee Titans 16 to win the Super_Bowl_XXXIV
- January 30 - Off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169. Within a day, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.
- January 31 - Dr. Harold Shipman in sentenced to life in prison for murder of at least 15 of his patients out of 365 suspected victims.

February

- February 4 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with sabotage of German railway lines.
- February 6 - Tarja Halonen is elected the first Finnish female president.
- February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published.
- February 14 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

March

- March 1 - The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.
- March 2 - Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.
- March 8 - Tokyo train disaster.
- March 9 - FBI arrests suspected purveyor of art forgeries, Ely Sakhai, in New York City.
- March 10 - The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5048. ([http://dynamic.nasdaq.com/dynamic/IndexChart.asp?symbol=IXIC&desc=NASDAQ+Composite&sec=nasdaq&site=nasdaq&months=84])
- March 18 - 2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- March 20 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
- March 21 - Pope John Paul II began the first office visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Israel.
- March 21 - US Supreme Court ruled the goverment lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative.
- March 26 - Presidential elections in Russia: Vladimir Putin elected President.
- March 30 - America's Cup 2000 retained by Team New Zealand near Auckland. Prada Challenge 2000 lost 0-5 in a "best-of-9".

April

April.]]
- April 1 - Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.
- April 3 - United States v. Microsoft: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
- April 5 - Yoshiro Mori replaces Obuchi as prime minister of Japan.
- April 7 - Attack submarine ex-Trepang completes being recycled.
- April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein.
- April 17 - Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis.
- April 22 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, DC ending one of the most publicized custody battles in US history.
- April 25 - The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples.

May

- May 3 - A rare conjunction occurs on the New Moon including all seven of the traditional celestial bodies known from ancient times up until 1781 with the discovery of Uranus. The May 2000 conjunction consisted of: the Sun and Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
- May 3 - Computer pioneer Datapoint Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- May 12 - The Tate Modern opens in London.
- May 13 - In Enschede a heavy fireworks explosion kills 20 and leaves an entire neighborhood in ruins.
- May 18 - Boo.com collapses due to lack of funds after six months.
- May 25 - Israel withdraws IDF troops from southern Lebanon after 22 years.
- May 28 - The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts.

June

- June 1 - Mark Mendlan, professional wrestler known by his ring name "Kid Gorgeous," is killed while wrestling at a show in New Hampshire.
- June 7 - U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the 4th circuit ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corp.
- June 10 - The New Jersey Devils defeat the Dallas Stars 4 games to 2 to win the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 10 - The 2000 European Football Championship begins, hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands.
- June 21 - Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality is repealed by the Scottish Parliament.
- June 23 - Palace Backpackers Hostel fire in Childers, Queensland, Australia, kills 15 people.
- June 30 - During a set of the band Pearl Jam at the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, 9 die and 26 are injured in the crowd.

July

July
- July 2 - France beat Italy 2-1 to win the 2000 European Football Championship with a golden goal.
- July 2 - Presidential election of Mexico. Vicente Fox wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- July 10 - In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline
- July 10 - Death of Denis O Conor Donn, died 10th July 2000, aged 88; succeded by his son, Desmond as The O Connor Donn
- July 18 - Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party
- July 25 - A Concorde carrying Air France Flight 4590 crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 5 on the ground.

August

- August 1 - The Santa Cruz Operation announced that it will sell its Server Software and Services Divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, to Caldera Systems,Inc.
- August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
- August 12 - The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
- August 14 - The first comic of Megatokyo goes online. This webcomic will later become one of the most popular comics on the web (in terms of page views) and spawn numerous imitators.
- August 25 - the Emulex hoax - wire services publish fraudulent bad news about Emulex
- August 27 - The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.

September

- September 5 - Tuvalu joins the United Nations.
- September 6 - In New York City, the United Nations Millennium Summit begins with more than 180 world leaders present.
- September 6 - The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense
- September 7–14 - The UK fuel protests take place, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.
- September 8 - Albania officially joins the World Trade Organization.
- September 15 - The 2000 Summer Olympics are opened in Sydney, Australia.
- September 16 - Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.
- September 24 - The American Family Association begins lobbying the U.S. Congress to eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts for funding the controversial book One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young
- September 26 - Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
- September 28 - Ariel Sharon leads several hundred armed Israelis in a visit to the Temple Mount. Palestinian civil disorder increases into the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
- September 29 - The Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland is closed.

October

- October 2 NBC Today Show expanded it to three hours (7:00–10:00 A.M. Eastern Time/Pacific Time; 6:00–9:00 A.M. Central Time/Mountain Time)
- October 5 - President Slobodan Milošević leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support.
- October 11 - 250 million gallons of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky. Considered a greater environmental disaster than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
- October 12 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two suicide bombers who placed a small boat laden with explosives along-side the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
- October 21 15 Arab leaders convened in Cairo, Egypt, for their first summit in four years; the Libyan delegation walked out, angry over signs the summit would stop short of calling for breaking ties with Israel.
- October 22 – Mainichi Shinbun exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises of his findings.
- October 26 - Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a persian princess in the province of Baluchistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a forgery in April 17 2001
- October 31 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport - 83 dead.
- October 31 - The last Jeremy clone has shut down.

November

November
- November - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals
- November 1 - Yugoslavia's new democratic government joined the United Nations after eight years of U.N. ostracism under former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
- November 3 - Widespread flooding throughout England and Wales after days of heavy rain
- November 4 - President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the leaking of government secrets.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 2000: Republican challenger George W. Bush defeats Democrat Vice President Al Gore, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
- November 7 - Criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal The Millennium Star diamond but police surveillance catches them in the act
- November 7 - Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office
- November 11 - Kaprun disaster, Austria, where 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
- November 13 - Richard C. Duncan presents his paper, "The Peak Of World Oil Production And The Road To The Olduvai Gorge", on the Olduvai theory (about the collapse of the industrial civilization), at the Summit 2000 Pardee Keynote Symposia of the Geological Society of America)
- November 14 - Netscape version 6.0 is launched following two years of open source development creating a stable Mozilla web browser upon which it is based
- November 16 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam
- November 17 - Catastrophical landslide in Log pod Mangartom,Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophies in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
- November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru
- November 27 - Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chrétien re-elected as Prime Minister as Liberal Party increases majority in House of Commons
- November 28 - Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz touches off the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

December

- December 1 - Mexico - Vicente Fox becomes the first opposition President to take office since Francisco I. Madero in 1911. He wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- December 28 - U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
- December 30 - Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines, within a span of a few hours killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.

Unknown Date

- Limited reintroduction of routinely armed police in the UK for the first time since 1936.
- Scientists at University of Szeged's laboratory were first in the world to produce artificial heredity material.
- Millie I. Webb elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Births

- February 23 - Max & Sam Christy, American actors
- March 15- Amy and Emily Walton, English actresses
- April 25 - Jacob & Joshua Rips, American actors
- October 6 - Amanda Pace, American actress
- October 20 - Cooper and Oliver Guynes, American actors
- November 8 - Madison and Marissa Poer, actresses

Deaths

January

- January 2 - Patrick O'Brian, English writer (b. 1914)
- January 15 - Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)
- January 19 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
- January 19 - Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (b. 1913)

February

- February 9 - Beau Jack, American boxer (b. 1921)
- February 11 - Roger Vadim, French film director (b. 1928)
- February 12 - Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
- February 12 - Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
- February 12 - Charles M. Schulz, American comic strip artist (b. 1921)
- February 23 - Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)

April

- April 6 - Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
- April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, King of Malaysia (b. 1920)
- April 25 - David Merrick, American stage producer (b. 1911)
- April 29 - Phạm Văn Ðồng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)

May

- May 11 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
- May 12 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
- May 14 - Keizo Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
- May 17 - Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1909)
- May 19 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut

Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad

:For other meanings of MKT see MKT (disambiguation) The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (known as the MKT, or Katy) began as the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch (unrelated to the Union Pacific Railroad) in 1865. It was the first railroad to enter Texas from the north. Its purchase by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company (MoPac) and the MoPac's owner, the Union Pacific, was approved in 1988. The M-K-T is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad system. On December 1 1989, the Katy was merged into the MoPac. A large portion of the Missouri track has been converted into a Missouri State Park: the Katy Trail. A 3.5 mile long section is being converted into a multi-use trail through downtown Dallas, linking White Rock lake to the American Airlines Center. The large, aesthetically pleasing Houston suburb of Katy, Texas, is named after the railroad's nickname. A blues song, "She Caught the Katy," makes mention of the MKT. The song was prominently featured in the 1980 movie Blues Brothers In July 2005, Union Pacific unveiled a brand new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1988, in MKT colors as part of a new heritage program. Union Pacific 1988

Company officers

Presidents of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad:
- Matthew S. Sloan (1933–1945)
- William N. Deramus III (1957–1965)
- John W. Barriger III (1965–1970)
- Reginald N. Whitman (1970– ) 1970, 2004]]

External links

- [http://www.bikekatytrail.com/ Katy Trail State Park]
- [http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/railroad/MISSOURI.cfm History of the Katy]
- [http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-2440 Map of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway], published 1877, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- [http://www.katyrailroad.org/ Official site of the Katy Railroad Historical Society] - Lots of info.
- [http://www.katytraildallas.org/home.htm/ Dallas Freinds of the Katy Trail]
- [http://www.missouri-central.railfan.net/mkt.html The "M" in the MKT] - A detailed history of the MKT.
- [http://www.kingswayrc.com/gcst/roster/1205.html Info on the Texas Special.]
- [http://www.edisaurus.com/trains/mkt_roster.htm The locomotive roster at "edisaurus.com".]

References

- Katy Railroad Historical Society, [http://www.katyrailroad.org/faq.htm M-K-T / Katy Frequently Asked Questions]. Retrieved February 22 2005. Category:Kansas railroads Category:Missouri railroads Category:Oklahoma railroads Category:Texas railroads Category:Former Class I railroads in the United States

Houston, Texas

Houston is the largest city in Texas, the fourth largest in the United States, and the second-largest economic area of the U.S. Gulf Coast region. The city is the county seat of Harris County, the third most populous county in the country. A portion of southwest Houston extends into Fort Bend County and a small portion in the northeast extends into Montgomery County. Houston actually ends at Grant Road approximately 1 mile North of FM 1960. Founded in 1836, Houston is one of the fastest growing major cities in the United States and the largest without zoning laws. In 1900, Houston's population was about 45,000, making it the 85th largest city in the United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 1.9 million (though a July 1, 2004 U.S. Census estimate placed the city's population at more than 2 million). Houston is the main cultural and economic center of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area, which is the seventh largest metropolitan area in the United States with a population of about 5.2 million in ten counties. (Note: Hurricane Katrina evacuees have swelled the city proper's population past 2.5 million. It is unclear how that variable will fluctuate in the coming months.) Houston is world renowned for its energy (particularly oil) and aeronautics industries and for its ship channel. The Port of Houston is the sixth largest port in the world. It is the busiest port in the United States in foreign tonnage and second in overall tonnage. Second only to New York City in Fortune 500 headquarters, Houston is home to the Texas Medical Center — the world's largest and most important concentration of research and health care institutions. Houston has much to offer, including the lowest cost of living and the least-expensive housing among 27 major U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1.7 million. Houston was named a "Gamma World City" (Global City) by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC). Officially, Houston is nicknamed the Space City as it is home to NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, where Mission Control Center is located (because of this, "Houston" was the first word spoken on the moon). Many locals, however, prefer to call it the Bayou City. Other nicknames include H-Town, Clutch City, and Magnolia City. The city offers a wide range of business, entertainment and cultural opportunities, including a respected and thriving theater district. Less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico, Houston is close to sunny beaches, one of the United States' largest concentrations of pleasure boats and tourist attractions such as the Kemah Boardwalk and Galveston Island.

History

Main article: History of Houston
See also: Historical events of Houston

Houston's founding

In the mid-1800s, two brothers who were New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, sought a location where they could begin building "a great center of government and commerce." In August 1836, they purchased 6,642 acres (27 km²) of land from T. F. L. Parrot, John Austin's widow, for $9,428. The Allen brothers named their town after Sam Houston and eventually persuaded the Texas Legislature to designate the site as the temporary capital of the new Republic of Texas. Houston started out as a hamlet. Gail and Thomas H. Borden surveyed and mapped the town in typical grid fashion, with wide streets running parallel and perpendicular to the area's system of bayous. The city was granted incorporation on June 5, 1837, and James S. Holman became the first mayor. That same year, Houston also became the county seat of Harrisburg County, which was renamed Harris County in 1839. Houston was then made temporary capital of the Republic of Texas. On January 14, 1839, the capital was moved to Austin, then known as Waterloo.

19th century

Waterloo Early settlers used lumber to build frame houses, ditches for drainage, and pigs to clean the streets. Lawlessness, epidemics and financial problems prompted the people of the community to attempt to improve their living conditions, including establishing a Chamber of Commerce. Spurred by that desire, state Senator Robert Wilson introduced a bill in the Congress of the Republic on November 26, 1838, to charter the Houston Chamber of Commerce. Because many of the first settlers were from the South, they endorsed the slavery-plantation system. Slaves lived scattered through the neighborhoods,though there were few free blacks in the city. Yellow fever struck periodically, but in 1839 the disease devastated the fledgling city, killing about 12 percent of its population. In 1840, the city was divided into four wards, each with different community functions. The wards are no longer political divisions today, though their names are still used to refer to geographic areas. The Allen brothers began to promote Houston as a place to live at the same time the Republic of Texas started promoting colonization of Texas. By 1860 Houston began to emerge as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton. Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont. During the Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for General John Bankhead Magruder, which he used as his organizing point for the Battle of Galveston. Houston saloon keeper Dick Dowling became the city's first famous personality after his victory at the battle of Sabine Pass in 1863. After the Civil War, Houston businessmen initiated efforts to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the city could accept more commerce between downtown and the nearby Port of Galveston. After several privately-financed dredging projects in the 1860's and 1870's, the United States government took over the Houston Ship Channel project in 1881. By 1914, the Houston Ship Channel was dredged to give Houston a deep-water port, replacing Galveston's port which was destroyed in the Great Hurricane of 1900.

20th century

1881 Shipbuilding during World War II spurred Houston's growth, as well as the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973), which created the city's aerospace industry. In 1948, several suburbs were incorporated into the city limits, and Houston proper began to spread across the prairie. Houston benefited from high oil prices in the 1970s, but its reliance on petroleum as the base of its industry led to its downfall when oil prices collapsed in the 1980s. Since then, Houston has made efforts to diversify its economy, focusing on aerospace and biotechnology, and reducing its dependence on petroleum. In 1981, Kathryn J. Whitmire became the city's first female mayor. Its first African American mayor, Lee P. Brown, was elected in 1997.

Current events

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina (August 2005), Houston provided shelter to more than 25,000 evacuees from New Orleans, Louisiana in various facilities around the city, including the infrequently-used Reliant Astrodome stadium. This unprecedented situation has lasted several months, and involves Houston's public school system, which is providing education for child evacuees. According to CNN, around 230,000 people from the New Orleans metropolitan area are now living in Houston, whether in shelters or elsewhere. Some have speculated that, because of a variety of social and economic factors, the enormous population shift could — at least in part — be permanent. Many residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast. Rita left little damage in the Houston area, hitting Beaumont, Texas, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and areas surrounding the two cities the hardest. The city's baseball team, the Houston Astros, advanced to the World Series for the first time in the team's history on October 19, 2005, when the team won game six of the Playoffs against their traditional rival the St. Louis Cardinals, but the Astros subsequently lost the World Series to the Chicago White Sox, who swept the series four to zero.

Geography and climate

Geography

Chicago White Sox satellite]] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1,558.4 km² (601.7 mi²). 1,500.7 km² (579.4 mi²) of it is land and 57.7 km² (22.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 3.7 percent water. Houston has four major bayous passing through the city: Buffalo Bayou, which runs into downtown; Brays Bayou, which runs along the Texas Medical Center; White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Heights and near the northwest area; and Sims Bayou, which runs through the south of Houston and downtown Houston, merging into the ship channel. The ship channel goes past Galveston and into the Gulf of Mexico. Much of Houston is very flat, making flooding a recurring problem for its residents. The city stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level; the Houston Heights area has the highest elevation in the city. The city once relied on groundwater for its water needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as Lake Houston.

Urban layout

Main article: Disticts and communities of Houston When Houston was established in 1837, the city's founders divided it into political geographic districts called "wards." The ward designation is the progenitor of the current-day Houston City Council districts — there are nine in all. Locations in Houston are generally classified as either being inside or outside Interstate 610, known as the "610 Loop" or "The Loop". Inside the loop generally encompasses the central business district, and has come to define an urban lifestyle and state of mind. The appellation “inner looper” carries with it the expectation of someone who appreciates cosmopolitan-style city life. The outlying areas of Houston, the airports and the city's suburbs and enclaves are outside the loop. Another ring road, Texas Beltway 8 (also known simply as the "Beltway"), encircles the city another 5 miles (8 km) further out. Another ring road, Texas Highway 99 (also known as the Grand Parkway), is under construction. Houston, being the largest city in the United States without zoning laws, has grown in an unusual manner. Rather than a single “downtown” as the center of the city's employment, five additional business districts have grown thro

Katy, Texas

List Of Mayors

Geography

City of Katy vs. Katy Area

Hurricane Katrina Evacuees

Sports

Demographics

Education

External links

U.S. state

Legal relationship

List of states

Trivia

Names

Geography

Grouping of the states in regions

State lists

See also

References

External links

Houston Metropolitan Area

Economic activities

Counties

Cities and towns

Principal cities

Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants

Cities and towns with 10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants

Cities and towns with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants

See also

Waller County, Texas

Geography

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Cities and towns

External links

2000

Events

Unknown Date

Births

Deaths

January

February

April

May

Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad

Company officers

External links

References

Houston, Texas

History

Houston's founding

19th century

20th century

Current events

Geography and climate

Geography

Urban layout