2 big companies team up with Houston nonprofit to feed unemployed hospitality workers

food for thought

Second Servings of Houston has amped up its cause to feed unemployed hospitality workers. Courtesy of Second Servings

Two companies have stepped up in a big way to help a local nonprofit distribute thousands of meals to unemployed hospitality workers who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus shutdown.

By partnering with energy company Hess Corporation and food distribution giant Sysco, Second Servings of Houston will distribute 10,000 meals each week to unemployed hospitality workers through its newly established the "Dinner's On Us" program.

Hess' staff prepares the meals, which are available both fresh and frozen, utilized ingredients supplied by Sysco. Designed to provide approximately eight servings, the meals consist of hearty, classic fare such as chicken 'n biscuits, red beans and rice, and penne pasta with sausage.

Meals are distributed every Tuesday and Thursday from 10 am to noon in the LAM parking lot at 702 Avenida De Las Americas. A drive-thru setup allows for contact-free distribution, and Second Servings volunteers wear masks and gloves. To receive a meal, people should demonstrate eligibility with a recent paystub from a restaurant, caterer, hotel, sports stadium, or other hospitality-related business.

Typically, Second Servings works with restaurants, hotels, caterers, and others to rescue surplus food that would otherwise go to waste; it is also the beneficiary of the 2020 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards. Now, the organization is aiding the people who usually assist its mission.

"We saw the impact first-hand last month, when we rescued valuable perishable food from hotels, event venues, business cafeterias, schools and restaurant kitchens that were forced to close," Second Servings founder Barbara Bronstein says in a statement. "We created this program because we wanted to help the people who serve the community and donate surplus food to us all year long."

Second Servings will continue the program for as long as it has the funding to do so. In addition to Hess an Sysco, sponsors include real estate firm BHW Capital, ACME Party & Tent Rental, and Mucasey & Associates Architects. Those interested in making a contribution to continue the program may do so via the Second Servings website.

The meal options include chicken and biscuits. Courtesy of Second Servings

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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This Houston airport saw sharp passenger decline in 2025, study shows

Travel Talk

A new global airport travel study has revealed passenger traffic at Houston's William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) sharply decreased from 2024 to 2025.

The analysis from travel magazine LocalsInsider examined recently released data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the U.S. International Trade Association, and a nationwide survey to determine the following American traveler habits: The most popular U.S. and international destinations, emerging hotspots, and destinations on the decline. The study covered passenger travel trends from January through July 2025.

In the report's ranking of the 40 U.S. airports with the sharpest declines in passenger traffic, HOU ranked 13th on the list.

About 4.26 million arrivals were reported at HOU from January through July 2024, compared to about 3.96 million during the same seven-month period in 2025. According to the data, that's a significant 7.1 percent drop in passenger traffic year-over-year, or a loss of 300,974 passengers.

"As travelers chase new hotspots, some destinations are seeing reduced passenger traffic whether due to rising costs, shifting airline schedules, or evolving traveler preferences, some destinations are seeing a decrease in visitors," the report's author wrote.

It appears most major Texas airports had drops in passenger traffic from 2024 to 2025. Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) saw the worst in the state, with a dramatic 7.4 percent dip in arrivals. DAL also ranked 11th on the list of U.S. airports with the steepest declines in passenger traffic.

More than 5.13 million arrivals were reported at DAL from January through July 2024, compared to over 4.75 million during the same seven-month period in 2025.

This is how passenger traffic has fallen at other major Texas airports from 2024 to 2025:

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS):

  • 6,107,597 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2024
  • 5,828,396 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2025
  • -4.6 percent – Year-over-year passenger change
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW):
  • 23,830,017 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2024
  • 23,251,302 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2025
  • -2.4 percent – Year-over-year passenger change

San Antonio International Airport (SAT):

  • 2,937,870 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2024
  • 2,836,774 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2025
  • -3.4 percent – Year-over-year passenger change
El Paso International Airport (ELP):
  • 1,094,431 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2024
  • 1,076,845 – Passenger arrivals from January to July 2025
  • -1.6 percent – Year-over-year passenger change
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This story originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

NASA names new chief astronaut based in Houston

new hire

NASA has a new chief astronaut. Scott Tingle, stationed at the space agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, assumed the post Nov. 10.

Tingle succeeds NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who had been chief astronaut since February 2023. Acaba now works on the staff of the Johnson Space Center’s director.

As chief astronaut, Tingle runs NASA’s Astronaut Office. His job includes developing astronauts’ flight crew operations and assigning crews for space missions, such as Artemis missions to the moon.

Tingle, a former captain in the Navy, was named a NASA astronaut candidate in 2009. He has logged over 4,500 flight hours in more than 50 aircraft.

Tingle was a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station, where he spent 168 days in orbit during two expeditions that launched in December 2017. Since returning to Earth, he has held various roles in the Astronaut Office, including mission support, technical leadership and crew readiness.

Before joining NASA, Tingle worked in El Segundo, California, on the technical staff of The Aerospace Corp., a nonprofit that supports U.S. space programs.

Tingle recalls expressing his desire to be an astronaut when he was 10 years old. It took him four tries to be accepted by NASA as an astronaut candidate.

“The first time I figured it was kind of too early. The second application, they sent out some feelers, and that was about it. Put in my third application, and got a couple of calls, but it didn’t quite happen,” Tingle said in an article published on the website of Purdue University, his alma mater.

ExxonMobil officially pauses plans for $7B Baytown hydrogen plant

Change of Plans

As anticipated, Spring-based oil and gas giant ExxonMobil has officially paused plans to build a low-hydrogen plant in Baytown, Chairman and CEO Darren Woods told Reuters in late November.

“The suspension of the project, which had already experienced delays, reflects a wider slowdown in efforts by traditional oil and gas firms to transition to cleaner energy sources as many of the initiatives struggle to turn a profit,” Reuters reported.

Woods signaled during ExxonMobil’s second-quarter earnings call that the company was weighing whether it would move forward with the proposed $7 billion plant.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act created a new 10-year incentive, the 45V tax credit, for production of clean hydrogen. But under President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the window for starting construction of low-carbon hydrogen projects that qualify for the tax credit has narrowed. The Inflation Reduction Act mandated that construction start by 2033. But the Big Beautiful Bill switched the construction start time to early 2028.

“While our project can meet this timeline, we’re concerned about the development of a broader market, which is critical to transition from government incentives,” ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Woods had said ExxonMobil was figuring out whether a combination of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture projects and the revised 45V tax credit would enable a broader market for low-carbon hydrogen.

“If we can’t see an eventual path to a market-driven business, we won’t move forward with the [Baytown] project,” Woods said.

“We knew that helping to establish a brand-new product and a brand-new market initially driven by government policy would not be easy or advance in a straight line,” he added.

ExxonMobil announced in 2022 that it would build the low-carbon hydrogen plant at its refining and petrochemical complex in Baytown. The company has said the plant is slated to go online in 2027 and 2028.

ExxonMobil had said the Baytown plant would produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day made from natural gas, and capture and store more than 98 percent of the associated carbon dioxide. The plant would have been capable of storing as much as 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com; it was updated to include new information about the plant in December 2025.

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