Allen Jones

A development company is planning to construct Houston's first "micro-unit" condominium in east downtown and is marketing its small living spaces and customizable amenities as an affordable option for young single adults wanting to live and work in the area. As the millennial generation enters the workforce, land developers are attempting to determine where the demographic of adults between the ages of 20 and 37 want to work, live and play.

A San Leon facility's permit application to discharge treated wastewater left over from filtered petroleum and petrochemical waste into Dickinson Bayou has two local groups worried about potential effects on the already bacteria-infested waterway. But the applicant, hazardous waste recycling company Clean Harbors San Leon, 2700 Ave. S., says its request is for a type of discharge that might actually help improve the environment for aquatic life in the bayou.

Children may sing about how wheels on the bus go round and round, but those vehicles won't go anywhere if there is nobody to drive them. Many area school districts are experiencing a shortage of bus drivers, forcing transportation officials to find temporary solutions to ensure students continue to have rides to and from school. Meanwhile, districts struggle to hire and train additional drivers.

What's pickleball? It's got an odd name and is cobbled from bits and pieces of various racket sports, but the competitive sport is gaining traction in a big way locally and throughout the nation, especially among older adults.

In 2008, Lainie Diamond was living in New York and was wondering where her laughter went. She started to lose it around the time the nation began focusing on recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina ripped through Louisiana in 2005. One of the most devastating storms in U.S. history, the storm left a swath of destruction, death and depression. Diamond is also a professional mezzo-soprano who, in addition to concerts, is hired to sing at funerals. She sometimes performed for as many as four funerals a week in New York. That, she said, can take a toll on a person. "I was ready to laugh more," she said. "I think human beings often realize they need to laugh more when things are getting too serious." Diamond turned to the Internet to seek how to bring more joy to her life.

Mashing, barreling and award-winning are a few of the terms guests may hear while touring Houston's first legal whiskey distillery. Yellow Rose Distilling, 1224 N. Post Oak Road, made its public debut with an official Sept. 20 grand opening since it relocated within Houston's city limits in July 2013. "We've had a ton of people wanting to come out and see how we make our products because we've actually been producing whiskey for a couple of years," said Ryan Baird, the distillery's founding partner and president.

October is a fun month for Deer Park resident Michael Moeskau. The 70-year-old retired chemical plant analyst has incorporated his hobby of wood carving into crafting ghoulish faces in the rind of pumpkins. These are not typical jack• o' -lanterns with diamond shaped eyes, noses and mouths punched through the shells of hallowed out pumpkins. Instead, from his home on Marks Street, Moeskau shaves into the orange skin of pumpkins, exposing translucent faces in the round gourds.

Taylor Fullbright's parents have a documentary to thank for inspiring their 29-year-old son's passion for playing the guitar - except, his guitar is imaginary. Three years ago, The Woodlands resident watched "Air Guitar Nation," a feature documentary about the birth of the U.S. Air Guitar Championship and the personal stories of those who competed to become the first World Air Guitar Champion from the United States.

Texas country singer/songwriter Gary Kyle recently returned to his hometown of Kingwood to perform with his No Standards Band at the Keller Williams Concert Series at Kings Harbor. Kyle now lives in Hickory Creek, a small town just north of Dallas, and has been performing fulltime for seven years. His touring schedule often includes as many as 27 shows in a month, performing in honky-tonks and dance halls across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. His band has opened for artists such as Stony LaRue, Roger Creager, Cory Morrow, Wade Bowen and Tanya Tucker Despite his busy touring schedule, he said, "I'm home every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday," adding that he gets to see his wife of three years, Rachael, "a ton."

Wildlife rehabber Janette Winkelmann has rescued injured and orphaned animals in the Montgomery County area for decades, but she has never witnessed the struggle wildlife are enduring due to current drought conditions. "I have seen our area wildlife survive floods, hurricanes, and windstorms," she said. "But never have I seen the severe conditions our animals are trying to endure with this record-setting drought." According to U.S. Drought Monitor Index, three-fourths of the state of Texas is under what the tracking index classifies as its highest intensity levels - extreme and exceptional. The Woodlands area is listed under the index's most intense level, exceptional, meaning water and food sources are scarce for area wildlife. Mix the summer heat with a year of lower than normal precipitation and wildlife are becoming sick and are dying due to dehydration and starvation.

On the opening weekend of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” one of the comic book character’s greatest foes, Lady Deathstrike, will be walking the wings of West Oaks Mall in Houston. She won’t be looking for a fight, but she just may be looking for some bargains. Twenty-four-year-old Lana Marie will be dressed as the cyber-genetic enhanced villainess during Comicpalooza, a free comic book convention May 2-3.

Known world-wide as the character actor turned leading man and Academy award-winning screenplay writer, Billy Bob Thornton has never let a movie role box him in. He isn’t about to let the music industry limit him, either, performing his own style of music. It was music, not the big screen, that brought him to Tomball in the early 1980s. It has been nearly 26 years since Billy Bob (his legal name) hunkered down in his Tomball apartment as Hurricane Alicia blew through the Gulf Coast. Today, the self admitted bad boy of tinsel town is currently on tour as the lead singer for The Boxmasters. The band is getting ready to release its third CD, “Modbilly,” with Vanguard Records.

Erma Holiday hadn’t been inside the church she and her husband pastor since it was condemned by the city of Tomball on Oct. 3. On Nov. 18, tears welled up in the 69-year-old’s eyes as she looked around the church which suffered nature’s wrath, Hurricane Ike, on Sept. 13. The category 2 storm seems to have damaged the church building’s roof as well as caused structural damage. Inside the old white wood-frame church, blue carpet felt damp to the touch as if rain may have leaked from its ceiling. The exact extent of the damage has yet to be determined. “We don’t have insurance on the church,” Erma Holiday said.