The YMCA of Greater Houston has launched a virtual platform called HTX+. Image via HTXplus.org

It started with a Zoom class. Shelby Saylor remembers shutting the doors to the YMCA of Greater Houston on March 17, 2020, as the threat of the coronavirus pandemic surged across the city. Like the rest of the world, the executive director of healthy living had no idea when the YMCA would reopen to its community.

"How do we reach our friends and our community in a time where they are isolated and maybe a little lost?" asked Saylor.

Using a webcam, the staff at YMCA of Greater Houston began recording videos and supportive content for members within the early days of the pandemic.

"We were more concerned with getting a product out there because it was needed, and then we iterated for quality," she says.

Over time, the concept of digital programming evolved into HTX+, the YMCA of Greater Houston's new on-demand virtual platform with fitness and wellness courses and resources for all ages.

The platform has emerged at a time when digital resources have become a necessity for people to work and live. The YMCA has been a long-held bastion of community outreach, making its resources accessible to all and working to eradicate inequalities. The virtual service emerged as a solution for addressing food insecurity, racial inequities, health disparities, social isolation, and learning gaps from afar.

"It was a two-pronged process," explains Shelby. "We had to serve the immediate needs...so we looked at the gaps in our communities as well as the gaps from closing out brick-and-mortar for a period of time," she says.

From there, the YMCA answered another question: "What gaps can we fill once we are at 100 percent capacity?"

"People are going to come back at different levels," says Saylor. She describes her own uneasiness going into a crowded grocery store and feeling her heart race. "It's going to take some time [for people] to unlearn some of that social isolation," she anticipates.

HTX+ includes fitness, mindfulness, virtual personal training, and educational resources members can access from anywhere. Saylor feels the platform, available on the Houston YMCA app and online, will help enhance the Y experience even after the pandemic. She notes the interactive platform can supplement members' in-person workouts and also provide the connection to those who are not yet comfortable returning to the facility.

"It has tremendously grown with webinars where you can ask questions and be a part of more than just the content that we're all used to consuming right now," she says.

One offering that has helped members at the YMCA handle the onslaught of pandemic stress is meditations. Saylor, who says she typically prefers to be behind the camera, was proud to step out of her comfort zone to teach a midday meditation.

Programs targeted to different age groups, from children to seniors, have helped provide resources and tools to two generations with unique needs.

"I'm really proud of our ability to find stuff for younger members because there is just not that much out there," she says. The HTX Kids program has evolved to include STEM activities, sports, crafts, and learning. "Seeing all come to fruition from one Zoom video to where it is now—I couldn't be more proud," she continued.

YMCA Virtual Personal Trainingwww.youtube.com

ForeverWell, a program for members ages 55 and up, has also expanded digital opportunities to members.

"We focus on things that maybe younger communities don't have to tackle beyond your social isolation but as well as activities of daily living, balance and things they can do that will improve how they can move around, stay healthy, and stay connected," says Saylor.

The YMCA's mission to provide health equity also helps communities that are disproportionately impacted by disasters like the pandemic and recent winter storm. The organization has set up food drives and even put warming centers in place during Winter Storm Uri.

"That's what makes us not a gym. We're going to open our facility for you to come and get a hot shower, unlike a big box gym. We're going to do that because it's not about fitness; it's about making sure basic needs are met," says Saylor.

Saylor knows that communities of color as well as the senior population, who may be on a restricted income, can benefit from the tool.

"It really helps them become stronger, healthier, and attach to something. That connectedness is worth its weight in gold," she says.

The YMCA of Greater Houston adds content to HTX+ on a weekly basis, and Saylor says programming will continue to grow long after the pandemic.

"Now that people have been exposed and have integrated digital into their life, regardless of when the pandemic ends, I believe that will always be a part of our new way of life," she says.

"Digital is never final. It's going to take our whole team and our whole community to work together to continue to meet those digital needs because it's not going anywhere," she continues.

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Oxy's $1.3B Texas carbon capture facility on track to​ launch this year

gearing up

Houston-based Occidental Petroleum is gearing up to start removing CO2 from the atmosphere at its $1.3 billion direct air capture (DAC) project in the Midland-Odessa area.

Vicki Hollub, president and CEO of Occidental, said during the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call that the Stratos project — being developed by carbon capture and sequestration subsidiary 1PointFive — is on track to begin capturing CO2 later this year.

“We are immensely proud of the achievements to date and the exceptional record of safety performance as we advance towards commercial startup,” Hollub said of Stratos.

Carbon dioxide captured by Stratos will be stored underground or be used for enhanced oil recovery.

Oxy says Stratos is the world’s largest DAC facility. It’s designed to pull 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air and either store it underground or use it for enhanced oil recovery. Enhanced oil recovery extracts oil from unproductive reservoirs.

Most of the carbon credits that’ll be generated by Stratos through 2030 have already been sold to organizations such as Airbus, AT&T, All Nippon Airways, Amazon, the Houston Astros, the Houston Texans, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and TD Bank.

The infrastructure business of investment manager BlackRock has pumped $550 million into Stratos through a joint venture with 1PointFive.

As it gears up to kick off operations at Stratos, Occidental is also in talks with XRG, the energy investment arm of the United Arab Emirates-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., to form a joint venture for the development of a DAC facility in South Texas. Occidental has been awarded up to $650 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the South Texas DAC hub.

The South Texas project, to be located on the storied King Ranch, will be close to industrial facilities and energy infrastructure along the Gulf Coast. Initially, the roughly 165-square-mile site is expected to capture 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, with the potential to store up to 3 billion metric tons of CO2 per year.

“We believe that carbon capture and DAC, in particular, will be instrumental in shaping the future energy landscape,” Hollub said.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

New app by Sports Illustrated grants access to 700 sports courts in Houston

Goal!

A new sports center booking app CatchCorner, powered by Sports Illustrated, enables sports enthusiasts in Houston to seamlessly secure a spot for a quick game without membership fees.

It soft-launched in Houston this spring and, according to co-founder and chief operating officer Maya Azouri, has been a huge success.

"The Houston expansion has been jaw-dropping," she said. "Up until now, CatchCorner’s launch in New York City had been our most successful market, but Houston has launched on par with it."

Within a 30-day period this summer, over 30,000 users join the app, Azouri noted, adding that the app would include 700 unique recreational spaces users can choose from in the city.

"There’s a real sports culture here, with athletes of all levels from casual weekend players to competitive amateurs and even pros. The diversity of the sports community, combined with the number of high-quality facilities across the city, makes it a perfect fit for CatchCorner," she said.

CatchCorner in Houston offers bookings for basketball, volleyball, soccer, pickleball, padel, baseball, badminton, and tennis, with plans to include golf simulators and ice rink sports soon. The Zone Sports, Toros HTX, PAC Gym, and Houston Pickleball Center are among the most popular venues.

Using the app is a snap. Once you pick your sport, venues with available slots are listed including distance from you with the booking schedules in the results so there are no surprises. The slots can go fast, so occasional error messages pop up when trying to book, but it's otherwise a three-click process. CatchCorner also helpfully includes a picture of the facilities while booking.

CatchCorner announced Google integration in June that lets users book through the app directly from searches when they look up specific venues. This is slightly less intuitive to use than the app, but it does ultimately work in both mobile and desktops versions. Either way, it greatly streamlines the booking process for people who just want to schedule a quick pickup game somewhere.

"It’s especially useful for casual players or people who want to organize something on short notice," said Azouri. "Whether it’s a weekend basketball run, a weekday futsal match, or a spontaneous pickleball game with friends, CatchCorner makes it easy to coordinate without the usual logistical headaches.

"Some feedback here has been that we’re like 'Expedia for sports.' It’s because booking a flight online is that easy, booking your next game or workout should be just as simple."

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

10 Houston billionaires make Forbes' list of richest Americans in 2025

The Rich List

America's wealthiest billionaires are $1.2 trillion richer in 2025, bringing their collective worth to a staggering $6.6 trillion. And Houston's own Richard Kinder has become the richest billionaire in the city, according to the new Forbes 400.

The Kinder Morgan chairman is the 11th richest Texas resident and ranks as the 108th richest American. Kinder also dethroned Tilman Fertitta to claim the title as the wealthiest Houstonian.

The annual Forbes 400 list is a definitive ranking of the wealthiest Americans, using interviews, financial data, and documentation provided by billionaires and their companies.

Kinder's wealth

The publication estimates Kinder's net worth at $10.6 billion, up from $8.1 billion last year. He also appears among Forbes' separate list of the richest billionaires in the world.

"It’s been a year unlike any we’ve seen in the four decades we’ve tracked America’s billionaire class,” said Forbes senior editor Chase Peterson-Withorn in a press release. "The super-rich at the very top are richer than ever — and between the White House and the booming stock market, they’re as powerful as they’ve ever been."

Kinder, 80, co-founded oil and gas pipeline firm Kinder Morgan in 1997, which is now known as one of the largest American energy infrastructure companies. He stepped down as CEO in 2015, though he still chairs the board of directors.

Kinder and his wife, Nancy, also founded Houston-based nonprofit the Kinder Foundation in 1997. The organization provides "major gifts to public causes with the intention of helping people realize healthy and rewarding lives," according to its website.

In May 2025, the Kinders pledged $150 million to Texas Children's Hospital and MD Anderson to create the Kinder Children's Cancer Center.

"Our philanthropic efforts center on supporting transformational projects in Houston, and this initiative exemplifies that mission in every way," said Kinder in a press release. "We were deeply impressed by the extraordinary leadership and unwavering commitment of both UT MD Anderson and Texas Children’s to pursue a bold, collaborative model of care. It is a rare and powerful moment when two leading organizations come together to create something entirely new – something capable of reshaping the future of pediatric cancer care."

The richest Houstonians

In all, 43 Texas billionaires made it on the 2025 Forbes 400 list, and 10 are based in the Houston metro.

Hospitality honcho Fertitta, 68, is the second-richest billionaire in Houston, and his net worth has jumped from $10.1 billion last year to $11 billion in 2025. He owns the Golden Nugget Casinos, the Houston Rockets, Texas-based restaurant and entertainment company Landry's, and also serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Italy.

"Serving as President Trump's ambassador to Italy 'is a real job,' says Fertitta, who personally oversaw the renovation of Villa Taverna, the ambassador's residence in Rome," Forbes wrote in his profile.

Fertitta most recently put his ritzy 250-foot-long superyacht on the market for about $192 million, with Forbes saying he "has a bigger one on order."

Here's how the rest of Houston's billionaires fared on this year's list:

  • Oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand ties for No. 123 nationally with an estimated net worth of $10 billion. Last year: $7.6 billion.
  • Toyota mega-dealer Dan Friedkin ranks 128th nationally with an estimated net worth of $9.7 billion. Last year: $7.6 billion.
  • Houston pipeline heir Randa Duncan Williams ranks 130th with an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion. Fellow pipeline heirs Dannine Avara and Milane Frantz tie for 135th nationally. Each has an estimated net worth of $9.4 billion. Scott Duncan ranks No. 141 with a $9.2 billion estimated net worth.
  • Houston Texans owner Janice McNair ranks 201st nationally with an estimated net worth of $7.3 billion. Last year: $6.2 billion.
  • Energy exploration chief exec George Bishop of The Woodlands ranks No. 325 with an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion. Last year: $5 billion.

Richest billionaires elsewhere in Texas

The richest person in America in 2025 is none other than Austin-based Elon Musk. Musk, 54, saw his net worth skyrocket to $428 billion this year, or $184 billion more than his 2024 net worth. He claimed the No. 1 spot for the fourth time.

Walmart heiress Alice Walton of Fort Worth was dubbed the wealthiest woman in America for 2025. Walton, 75, simultaneously holds the title as the richest woman in the world. Forbes estimates Walton's net worth at $106 billion (up from $89.2 billion last year) and proclaims her as the first female centibillionaire (a person with a 12-digit fortune) in America. Now that's wealth.

"Tariffs. Inflation. Slowing employment. None of it has hit the fortunes of America’s billionaires," Forbes said. "A decade ago, when it took $1.7 billion to make The Forbes 400, a net worth of $3.8 billion was comfortably within the top half of the ranking — now that lofty sum is the minimum required."

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.