Daily Archives: June 19, 2017

Ascension, a Dallas coffee shop with a full menu and wine list, is bringing its casually gourmet vibe to Houston next summer.

Owner Russell Hayward, originally from Sydney, Australia, brought an Aussie approach to coffee when he opened his first Ascension location in Dallas five years ago, and now hes bringing it to Houston, reports CultureMap. Since opening his first shop in Dallas, Hayward has opened two additional locations in the area, but the Houston outpost is Ascensions first major move outside of the metroplex.

The chain sources its high-quality coffee locally, but Ascension offers more than just caffeination. A large farm-to-table menu, available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, features dishes like croque madame eggs benedict, along with a selection of wines.

The caf is slated to be the first restaurant in the Heights Waterworks development, which sits at the northeast corner of 19th Street and Nicholson. Fortunately for fitness enthusiasts, Ascensions patio will be just a stones throw away from Heights Hike and a nearby bike trail. Ascension is scheduled to open in June or July of 2018.

Excerpt from:

Dallas' Ascension Coffee Hits Houston Next Year - Eater Houston

ST. AMANT Work is underway to restore St. Amant Primary, the first of the five severely flood-damaged Ascension Parish schools to see repairs begin almost a year after the devastating rains of last August.

The district is proceeding with the $3.5 million restoration of the primary school on La. 429 whose approximately 600 students attended class on a former community college campus last year without word yet of how much the school system might be reimbursed by Federal Emergency Management Agency grant money.

A FEMA spokesman said Friday the allocation of those funds should be made by July.

FEMA reimbursements for public projects come through the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOSEP), and can be as much as 90 percent of restoration costs.

The required project worksheet a vital step in the grant process for St. Amant Primary was submitted to FEMA in early January, schools Superintendent David Alexander said Friday.

With the project currently still in review by FEMA, the school district went ahead and bid and awarded the contract for the St. Amant Primary project in May, in hopes of having the campus open before the new school year.

"I don't understand why there's been such a delay" in the FEMA review process for the flood-damaged schools, Alexander said.

"We're a little confused," said Alexander, adding that the review process for other flood-related projects in the school district, such as the set-up of temporary campuses at four of the flooded schools, has moved at a faster pace.

The school district also began work in May on St. Amant Middle, which shares a campus with St. Amant Primary. The middle school was able to stay open last year, despite having some flood damage. The cost to repair it is estimated at $1.3 million.

The project worksheet for St. Amant Middle was submitted to FEMA in March, Alexander said, and is still in the review process.

FEMA spokesman Jake Conley said Friday that a grant of $3 million is expected to be allocated for the St. Amant Primary School some time in early July and a grant of $888,000 is expected to be awarded for the St. Amant Middle School in mid-July.

The process of identifying storm-related damage and associated scope of work to fix that damage can be lengthy, depending on the level of damage, Conley said.

"Additionally, items such as applicable code and standards upgrades and hazard mitigation proposals can take time to discuss and develop," he said.

Chad Calder, director of planning and construction for the Ascension Parish public school system, said plans for the restoration of three other schools that received major damage in the flood St. Amant High, Lake Elementary and Galvez Middle are close to being ready to bid, and planning for the final flood-damaged school, Galvez Primary, is close behind that.

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ST. AMANT For the past six months, St. Amant High students have carried on the school year

But, he said, "We're still awaiting obligations from FEMA. The biggest challenge is making sure we have the funding."

Conley said FEMA expects to be allocating grants for the Lake Elementary project, as well as for ancillary buildings at St. Amant High School, in July.

Walking through the St. Amant Primary campus that was busy with construction workers last week, Superintendent Alexander said, "FEMA has not delayed us yet, but if we don't get obligations on those projects pending, there could be a problem because of cash flow."

When asked if he could estimate when the remaining schools that received major damage in the flood might be restored, Alexander said, "I can't even speculate. There are too many factors to speculate."

"If cash flow and FEMA reimbursements come in a timely way they might could be finished in a timely way," he said.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

Original post:

Nearly a year after floods, work begins on damaged Ascension Parish schools despite FEMA delays - The Advocate

In a late addition to the 2017 Money in the Bank card, Breezango defeated The Ascension at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

WWE Universe showed Fandango rolling up Viktor for the victory:

The match came about after The Ascension showed themselves to be the culprits of an attack on Tyler Breeze earlier in the week:

Wrestling Inc thought the reveal fell somewhat flat:

This would've been a great time to have The Authors of Pain make their main roster debut or usher American Alpha back into the fold.

Not only did The Ascension feel like an underwhelming rival for Breezango, it couldn't even leave Money in the Bank victorious, giving essentially no payoff to the "Who attacked Breezango?" storyline.

On one hand, it's good to see Breezango getting a pay-per-view win. Not only are Tyler Breeze and Fandango an entertaining duo, they're also capable in-ring workers. They'd make great champions in the event they captured the SmackDown Live tag team titles.

On the other hand, beating The Ascension does little to raise Breezango's profilesuch is The Ascension's current state in WWEultimately changing very little in the tag team division.

Link:

Breezango Beats The Ascension at WWE Money in the Bank 2017 - Bleacher Report

SORRENTO A parish project to replace an aging drainage culvert under Main Street in Sorrento is set to begin Tuesday, depending on the weather.

But with the tropical activity in the Gulf, the project will be taken on a day-by-day basis, Sorrento Mayor Mike Lambertsaid.

"We're not going to take one of our main (street) arteries out" in the face of possible severe weather, Lambert said."We'll monitor the progress of the storm and see what happens."

Once the project begins, the work at the Main Street/Lee Street intersection is expected to take six weeks to complete, he said.

The old culvert will be replaced with a big box culvert to improve drainage, saidMartin McConnell, public information officer with Ascension Parish government.

The work in Sorrento is part of an initiative to gradually replace old culverts "all over the parish," McConnell said.

All residents in East Ascension pay a half-cent sales tax for drainage. Parish government handles most drainage problems inside and outside the corporate limits of the east bank's municipalities.

On Tuesday, the parish is expected to be mobilizing equipment and putting materials in place at the site, the mayor said.

The project was scheduled for the summer, so it wouldn't interfere with school buses, he said.

If the weather doesn't impede the culvert project this week, drivers in Sorrento should expect to detour on John LeBlanc Boulevard. Lambert said small-vehicle, local traffic can also detour from Railroad Street to Braud Street.

Other drainage culverts crossing under Main Street are also due to be replaced in the future, Lambert said.

"This is a maintenance project, being proactive," Lambert said of the parish's drainage work.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

Read more from the original source:

Sorrento to see start of Main Street drainage project, watching weather - The Advocate

GONZALES A state district judge found Monday that an Orlando, Florida, man is competent to stand trial in the January 2015 shooting of an Ascension Parish sheriff's deputy.

Judge Jessie LeBlanc of the 23rd Judicial District made the ruling after Chadwik Schwender, 30, 3217 Sutton Drive, agreed to accept the written findings of three mental health professionals that he understood the charges against him and could assist in his defense.

Prosecutors have accused Schwender of shooting then-Deputy James Atkins II on Jan. 20, 2015, after he pulled over a stolen car that Schwender and two others were riding in.

Atkins, who was shot in the hand and survived his wounds, suspected Schwender and the others of stealing bullets from the Walmart in Donaldsonville minutes earlier, sheriff's deputies have said.

At the time of the shooting, Schwender's two co-defendants were on the run from an attempted murder in Florida days earlier. They had picked up Schwender on their way to Louisiana, prosecutors have alleged.

Prosecutors charged Schwender and his co-defendants with counts of attempted second-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated burglary, being convicted felons in possession of firearms and other counts. One of them,Jennifer McGhee, 30, no address, agreed to testify against Schwender and another man as part of a guilty plea May 15 to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. She was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

Schwender had the option on Monday of requesting a hearing on the written findings of the three medical professionals but he agreed to have LeBlanc rule based solely on their reports to the court. After ruling, she filed the reports under seal.

LeBlanc had appointed the sanity commission in November at the request of Schwender's former public defender. That attorney brought up Schwender's history a special education student with learning disabilities and a substance abuse history who had no memory of the facts surrounding his arrest in Ascension, a motion shows.

While LeBlanc found Schwender competent to stand trial, she did not rule on whether Schwender was sane at the time of the shooting. LeBlanc said all the reports from the medical professionals did not address that question.

She said that while one found Schwender was sane during the time of the shooting, a second gave no opinion and a third needed more information.

Schwender's current public defender, attorney Tiffany Myles Crosby, told LeBlanc that her client may want to raise issues of intoxication but may do it as a defense at trial rather than as the basis of changing his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Leblanc set a hearing for July 25 when the third co-defendant, John McMullen, 37, is expected to argue on motions as well. He has pleaded not guilty the charges.

Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.

See the original post here:

Man accused in shooting of former Ascension deputy can stand trial but sanity still question - The Advocate

AP photo

Justin Thomas and his Pepto-Bismol slacks have not yet committed to play at the upcoming Greenbrier Classic, but he could possibly be the highest-ranked player in the field if he does.

Seeing colleague Mitch Vingle map out Don Nehlens coaching tree got me to thinking about A.W. Hamiltons ascension to his first full-time Division I basketball job.

Earlier this month, the former Marshall point guard joined the staff of Kevin Keatts at North Carolina State. Keatts is in his first year in Raleigh after going 72-28 in three seasons at North Carolina-Wilmington.

As you may know, Hamilton played for Keatts at Hargrave Military Academy for a postgraduate season before heading to Wake Forest. Hamilton later transferred to Marshall and played for coach Greg White, then Ron Jirsa.

I recall Whites strategy of continuing to recruit a player or two the Thundering Herd had no chance of landing, just in case that player considered a change of course. Hamilton was a successful example.

Keatts coached on Whites bench for two years before running the Hargrave talent machine. Hamilton coached for Keatts before taking over for six seasons. In the 2015-16 season, Hamiltons Tigers went 47-1, winning the national prep-school national championship and landing NCAA scholarships for all 16 players.

Those two have solidified a branch of Whites coaching tree, which already boasts Wichita State icon Gregg Marshall, West Virginia States Bryan Poore, West Floridas Jeff Burkhamer and Stony Brooks Jeff Boals.

Burkhamer deserves a special mention, as he took the Division II Argonauts of Pensacola from seven wins to 20-9 this past season. Boals squad finished 18-14, reaching the College Basketball Invitational.

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Thanks to Thomas Frazier, I can make a seamless transition from Marshall sports to golf.

As I covered the West Virginia Amateur last week, that name was under my radar until I listed the top 15 and ties, those who won exemptions into this summers West Virginia Open and the 2018 State Am.

Frazier, who began his college career at Concord, just finished his sophomore season at Marshall and emerged as one of the teams top players in the spring.

He started all five of the Herds spring tournaments, finishing as high as fourth.

He played at Concord for a year, played really good down there, was their No. 1 player, said MU coach Matt Grobe. He came to me after that year at Concord, left Concord and enrolled at Marshall and said, I dont know if youve got a spot, but Id like to play for your team.

At the time, our numbers were too much and we really didnt have room for him. He basically sat last year, and this year we went through the fall and our numbers were still kind of high, but after fall I decided I was going to redshirt some kids, so I had some room.

So really, what I did was bring him in in the spring and he came to be part of the team, thinking that this year he had two years left, and that one semester he practiced with us he shot himself right into the lineup.

Frazier, a Huntington High grad, has played in several State Ams, finishing 18th in 2015. He won medalist honors in the qualifier at Sleepy Hollow, a feat he wont repeat next year.

He doesnt have to.

I think it was one of those things where Thomas, maybe he had the ability, and just didnt have a chance to play in a lot of tournament golf, Grobe said.

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Fathers Day was a success because I received the few things I want: (a) a silly shirt, (b) a good dinner and (c) the ability to watch the U.S. Open in peace.

It was great to see Justin Thomas on the leaderboard, shooting that 63 in his Pepto-Bismol slacks on Saturday. (Man, were they pink!) Back at the 2015 Greenbrier Classic, he led on the front nine before collapsing on the back.

He left that tournament 99th in the world. He entered this U.S. Open 13th, thanks to four wins and 15 top-10s in that two-year stretch.

Having also played here in 2012 as an amateur, Ill put the Kentucky native on my short wish list for the return of the Classic, which reopens the Old White TPC July 3-9. Should he commit, Id say he would be the fields highest-ranked player.

Unless the Classic finally lands No. 3 Jason Day. A long shot, but he did enter the 2014 Classic and appeared at its media day, but withdrew because of a nagging thumb injury. As long as he lives in the Columbus area, tournament officials should pursue him.

As for the characters of the game, the Classic has a much better shot at Andrew Beef Johnston. The bearded Englishman burst onto the scene last year by winning the Spanish Open and breaking into the top 10 at the British Open.

Its usually tough for the Classic to land a European because of the place on the schedule and Beef is already exempt into the Open, but hes also a PGA Tour rookie and has to pedal hard to hang onto his card. I expect him in White Sulphur Springs.

I dont know where to start with this guy, but Ill keep it relatively tame. At the PGA Championship, the Wall Street Journal took him on a tour of Manhattan burger joints and asked him to rate them. He signs autographs Beef, with a smiley face.

He told Golf Digest last September: The kinds of golfers I like to hang out with are the ones who can spend a night at the pub conversing almost entirely in lines from Caddyshack.

And finally, this note: He earned his PGA Tour card on National Cheeseburger Day. (Sept. 18, if youre curious.)

Give me a threesome of Johnston, Andres Gonzales and John Daly, and Ill follow them for at least nine holes.

Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.

Read the original:

Doug Smock: AW Hamilton's ascension, Thomas Frazier and the US Open - Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription)