WEEK IN REVIEW
GEcutsback
General Electric said it planned to shut down its turbine manufacturing operations at its complex in Channelview and cut an undetermined number of jobs.
Deep-water deal
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it was planning to snap up offshore property in the Gulf of Mexico for $2 billion in a deal that doubles the company’s foothold in the Lucius deep-water field. The Woodlands-based oil explorer said it expects the transaction with the seller, Freeport-McMoran, to close in the fourth quarter.
Middle-class gains
Middle-class Americans and the poor in 2015 enjoyed their best year of economic improvement in decades, the Census Bureau reported, a spike that broke a long streak of disappointment for American workers but did not fully repair the damage inflicted by the Great Recession.
Tower has new owner
Texas Children’s Hospital announced that it had acquired the O’Quinn Medical Tower, well known for the spires atop the building often described as resembling a pair of hypodermic needles. Texas Children’s did not disclose the purchase price, but the 29-story tower cost $95 million to develop in 1990.
Noturning back
Energy Transfer Partners’ CEOtold employees that the company is committed to building the Dakota Access pipeline despite strong opposition and a federal order to voluntarily halt construction near an American Indian reservation in North Dakota.
Campus on the block
Houston oil field services company Halliburton is putting a sprawling west Houston office property up for sale amid a deep retrenchment in the global energy industry.
A bumpin home sales
The Houston Association of Realtors reported that area home sales received a late-summer boost fueled by a growing supply of residences on the market and perhaps a last-minute push to buy before the start of the school year. Buyers closed on 7,914 single-family homes during August, an 8.2 percent increase over the same month a year ago.
High deductibles
The Kaiser Family Foundation 2016 Employer Health Benefit Survey says the cost of premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose only modestly in 2016, but that low price is often now being offset by rapidly rising out-of-pocket costs as more and more workers are steered into highdeductible plans.
Bias alleged at United
Black pilots who have sued United Airlines gathered in Washington for a news conference to call on Congress and the Department of Justice to launch a federal investigation of discrimination at the carrier.
Apple Store ritual
Apple fans camped out at the technology giant’s Highland Village store as they awaited the chance to buy the iPhone 7.
Wells Fargo criticized
Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasted Wells Fargo’s top management over the aggressive sales tactics that led to a $185 million settlement with regulators.
Hints of stability
According to data released by the U.S. Labor Department, the area’s economy appeared to stabilize in August as the employment growth rate accelerated slightly. The pace of job losses in the oil and gas sector slowed.
Drones aplenty
Federal aviation officials said so many people are registering drones and applying for drone pilot licenses that they are contemplating the possibility of millions of unmanned aircraft in U.S. skies in the not-toodistant future.