ST. IGNACE, MI -- The Mackinac Bridge Authority is simplifying the crossing process for MacPass card holders.

The MacPass toll card, which are frequently used by commuters and motorists who regularly cross the Mackinac Bridge, is being replaced with an automatically recognized windshield-mounted sticker.

The new system will increase customer convenience and make for quicker times in toll lanes, according to the MBA.

"Unlike the old MacPass cards that required drivers to roll down their window and hold the card near the reader device, the new system will automatically scan the windshield sticker when drivers pull up to the toll booths," said MBA Executive Secretary Kim Nowack.

"Drivers still need to stop and wait for the gate to rise before proceeding, but the new process will speed transactions for frequent customers."

The MBA has been slowly replacing current MacPass cards with the new stickers for the past few months. Any card holders who havent can do so online. There is no charge for the sticker until July 1, 2020, when the price will be $1.

MacPass customers use toll lanes designated for MacPass by the overhead signs, or any open lane. Current MacPass cards can still be used through the end of 2020.

Passenger vehicle MacPass accounts require an initial deposit of $80 and a $7 one-time set-up fee. Commercial accounts require a $200 deposit and $7 one-time set-up fee.

More information on the MacPass is available at http://www.MackinacBridge.org/MacPass.

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Mackinac Bridge Authority replacing MacPass cards with windshield sticker - MLive.com

The Blaugrana won their Champions League group and sit top of La Liga but could try to strengthen Ernesto Valverde's squad during the winter break

Barcelona are top of La Liga at Christmas and sailed through their Champions League group to reach the last 16. So far, so good? The mood around Camp Nou would suggest otherwise.

Fans and local media are unhappy with the teams performances, if not the results, and believe they could come a cropper once again in the knock-out phases in Europe unless they sharpen up.

One way to do that would be by bringing in a top player or two in the impending transfer window.

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Its hard to imagine Barcelona making any major moves in the winter market because they need to keep the books balanced.

However, as we saw when they lavished 160 million (137m/$179m) on Philippe Coutinho in January 2018, they are sometimes willing to break the bank in order to get their man.

Barcelona experienced Lautaro Martinezs threat up close and personal in the Champions League group phase, with the Inter forward passing his 'audition' for the Catalans with flying colours by turning in a particularly impressive performance when the two sides met at San Siro.

It is no secret that the club are looking to find Luis Suarezs successor and the feisty Argentine forward looks a perfect solution.

If the club are looking for, or wish to bring in another No. 9, it would not be strange; it is the reality of football, said Suarez recently.

Lautaro has eight goals in 16 games in Serie A this season and the explosive forward would be confident of boosting those numbers alongside compatriot Messi.

Whether Barca could really persuade Inter to part company with arguably their most prized possession midway through a season in which they're challenging Juventus for the Scudetto is another story altogether.

Lautaro does seem bound for Catalunya - but perhaps not just yet.

Barca could also look to sign a left-back, given Junior Firpo has not impressed since arriving from Real Betis. However, it is unlikely that the Catalans will look to find a replacement in January and will instead give Firpo more time to settle at Camp Nou before reviewing the situation in the summer.

On the plus side, Samuel Umtitis return to form means they will not be looking for a central defender and the Frenchman seems happy to stay at the club despite falling behind Clement Lenglet in the pecking order.

Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal is closest to the exit door at Camp Nou because he is not playing as regularly as he would like.

He stormed out of training before the Clasico after learning Ernesto Valverde wasnt going to start him against Real Madrid, but was picked against Alaves in the last game before Christmas, scoring as Barcelona won 4-1.

The all-action South American offers goals and physicality in support for the attack, which is something the other players in midfield at the club dont bring to the table.

Im happy and content, well see what happens after I get back, said Vidal before jetting off for his winter break.

However, Vidal has since gone public with his frustration with Barca over alleged unpaid bonuses and a parting of the ways would appear to suit both parties, with a transfer to Inter the most likely outcome.

Carles Alena has already left, joining Betis on loan until the end of the season, which should mean more midfield starts for Arthur and Ivan Rakitic, and perhaps even Sergi Roberto, who has been shunted to right-back.

In defence, Jean-Clair Todibo appears Italy-bound, with AC Milan interested in securing the French centre-backs services, although Manchester United have also been linked.

Valverde has a predilection for B team defender Ronaldo Araujo, meaning Todibo has barely featured. Barcelona would ask for a buy-back clause in any prospective deal.

Despite the intense interest in Lautaro, it seems unlikely that the Argentine will arrive in January. If Barca were to pull off what would be a sensational deal, he would obviously go straight into the starting line-up in place of Suarez.

Griezmann is starting to find his feet on the left flank, while Messi has been in typically fantastic form on the right.

Frenkie de Jong has been a fine addition to a midfield still anchored by Sergio Busquets but Barca will be hoping that Arthur gets back to his best sooner rather than later.

Semedo appears to be ahead of Sergi Roberto in the battle for the right-back berth, while the rest of the defence pretty much picks itself, despite Umtiti's resurgence.

Read more:
What Barcelona need in the January transfer window - Goal.com

Mackinaw City A new toll scanning method could meantravelers who frequently cross the Mackinac Bridge see shorter wait times at the bridge's toll booths, the bridge authority said.

The bridge's MacPass toll card is beingreplaced with a windshield-mounted sticker that is automatically scanned when a driver pulls up to the toll booths,Kim Nowack, Mackinac Bridge Authority Executive Secretary, said in a statement.

"Drivers still need to stop and wait for the gate to rise before proceeding, but the new process will speed transactions for frequent customers,"Nowack said.

Maintenance crews are giving the Mackinac Bridge a new coat of paint.(Photo: John L. Russell, file, Special to The Detroit News)

The new sticker can only be used by those with aMacPass account.Those who are not account holders will still have to roll down their window and pay at the toll booth each time they cross the bridge.

The MacPass sticker is currently free,and will be $1 each after July 1, 2020.Customers who already have a MacPass account can still use their cards through the end of 2020 and do not need to open a new account to get a sticker.

The stickers are part of a new tolling software system installed in the fall of 2019. Anyone can open a MacPass account, which allows for online deposits and transaction information.

Drivers interested in receiving a sticker are encouraged to visit the MacPass websiteto sign up for an account and receive stickers in the mail.

ecarter@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @EvanJamesCarter

Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/12/30/mackinac-bridge-macpass-card-replaced-with-sticker/2776506001/

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Mackinac Bridge 'MacPass' toll card to be replaced with windshield-mounted sticker - The Detroit News

Its that time of year when transfer speculation goes into overdrive, but which Premier League teams are likely to do some big business to get them through the second half of the season?

A good place to start is Chelsea, where Frank Lampard reportedly has around $200m to spend now that their transfer ban is out of the way. The Blues could probably strengthen at left-back and they are favorites to sign Leicesters Ben Chilwell. They might even try and bring Bournemouths Nathan Ake back to the club for defensive support.

But if Chelsea is to spend in January, it will probably be on a striker. Tammy Abraham is looking fatigued and both Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi are fading in relevance. RB Leipzigs Timo Werner is thought to be their number one target.

This window could also be critically important for Manchester United, who must push for the top four in order to keep some of their star players happy. Ole Gunnar Solskjaers side has a high-quality front three, but they need some quality in midfield behind them. Leicesters James Maddison and Aston Villas Jack Grealish have both been hotly tipped, while a big-money bid could also be made for Jadon Sancho, who remains unhappy in Dortmund.

Manchester City, meanwhile, has seen their title chances fall apart mainly because of a lack of cover at center-back. Aymeric Laporte should be returning in the coming weeks, but they are still paper-thin in the position.

Perhaps Napolis Kalidou Koulibaly could provide the quality they desperately need? Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho may not have a huge war chest this January, but he will have a wish list. The key position that needs covering is right-back, where Serge Aurier hasnt exactly excelled. Leicesters Ricardo Pereira would be a great replacement and his deal might be funded by the sale of want-away midfielder Christian Eriksen.

And finally, lets talk about Arsenal. Mikel Artetas squad is not deep, there are plenty of injuries and the likes of Granit Xhaka look destined for the door. The Gunners could really do with some defensive strengthening, particularly at center-back, and Wilfred Ndidi is believed to be a big target to help screen the defense. But Arsenal wasted a lot of money on Pepe in the summer and it remains to be seen if they will back their new manager with cash this winter.

For more on the beautiful game - follow @FCYahoo on your favorite social channelsand stay up to date on Yahoo Sports.

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Five EPL clubs who could make big moves in the January transfer window - Yahoo Sports

Its no secret that the Brewers have lost more star power than theyve gained so far this offseason. Yasmani Grandal, Mike Moustakas, Eric Thames, and Drew Pomeranz are all gone and in to replace them are Omar Narvaez, Ryon Healy, Justin Smoak, Avisail Garcia, and Brett Anderson, among others.

Thats not quite an inspiring group of names, although they could provide similar production.

But the Milwaukee Brewers should not be happy to settle for finding players to provide similar or slightly worse production at a cheaper cost.

The end goal for this Brewers team is to win the World Series, and they fell short of it last year because their roster wasnt good enough. They shouldnt be looking just to replicate last years production. They need to improve upon it.

The best way to make that kind of improvement is to make a big move that brings in a player or players that move the needle of this roster further towards the World Series. The Ryon Healy and Eric Sogard additions are nice depth pieces, but dont really push a team from just a playoff contender to a World Series caliber team.

They should. Whether they will or not is unknown at this point. But the Brewers should be well aware of how long their contention window is open with Christian Yelich under team control for three more seasons. These next three years are the best chances they are going to have at a World Series for the foreseeable future. They have to take advantage of that.

Brewers GM David Stearns has been shedding payroll so far this offseason and they currently sit about $30 million under their 2019 payroll for next season. They have room to spend some money.

No, we shouldnt panic about the Brewers not making a big splash yet. Keep in mind, the past two offseasons, Stearns has made his biggest moves in the month of January. He got Yelich and Lorenzo Cain on January 25th, 2018 and then he signed Yasmani Grandal in early January of 2019.

The starting pitching market has been mostly picked over, and there arent any options out there that could remotely be considered a No. 1 or No. 2 starter. That leaves the trade market. Matthew Boyd and Robbie Ray seem to be the most available trade candidates and both could make sense for the Brewers to grab.

At third base, Josh Donaldson is the lone big fish remaining on that market. Reports say that Donaldson is going to get a four year deal and that might be a year too long for the Brewers, but perhaps Stearns could surprise us. On the trade market, Nolan Arenado and Kris Bryant appear to be available, but the contract for Arenado will be a sticking point and the Cubs, well, they just arent going to trade Kris Bryant to the Brewers for obvious reasons.

Of course there still is the possibility of a Josh Hader trade, which could bring back multiple good pieces to the roster, or possibly one great piece. Moving Hader would definitely count as a splash move, although not one typically a World Series contending team makes.

Theres still plenty of time to make moves, but as far as getting a big addition to the club that could actually make them more of a World Series threat, there arent that many options left.

Want your voice heard? Join the Reviewing The Brew team!

January is when Stearns has done his best work, so lets see what he can whip up this time.

Read more here:
Brewers: Will They Make A Big Splash This Offseason? - Reviewing the Brew

The Gunners sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table and have a new manager, so there could be plenty of comings and goings in north London

Mikel Arteta has only been in the job for a fortnight but he is already about to enter his first transfer window as Arsenals head coach.

Publicly, the Spaniard has stated that he hasnt made any firm plans with the club over potential January deals but he certainly discussed the club's recruitment strategy with head of football Raul Sanllehi, technicaldirector Edu and the rest of Arsenals management group during the process which led to his appointment.

Unai Emery was unable to make any permanent signings last January due to financial restrictions, meaning the only addition to the squad was Denis Suarez, who joined on loan from Barcelona.

Money will be tight once again this year, although some possible departures could allow Arsenal dip into the market if a decent opportunity presents itself.

Below, Goal takes a look at what business could be done by the north London club in January...

The big news is, of course, the imminent exit of Granit Xhaka, who looks set to return to Germany to join Hertha Berlin.

The former Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder's departure was inevitable from the moment he clashed with the Arsenal fans following his substitution against Crystal Palace in October. It was merely of question of whether he would leave in January or at the end of the season.

Xhaka is pushing for a deal with Hertha to be done immediately and although Mikel Arteta has expressed his admiration for the player, its highly likely he will leave as long as Arsenal are happy with size of the fee.

Xhaka has a contract until 2023 and Arsenal want to recoup as much of the 35 million ($46m) feethey paid for the Switzerland international in 2016.

There is also a chance that Shkodran Mustafi could move on if the right offer comes in but, as was the case in the summer, the German centre-back will not be pushed out of the club, even though it has been made clear he is free to leave.

Arsenal are unlikely to sanction any other permanent sales during January, but some youngsters, including Emile Smith Rowe, could go out on loan, as could Konstantinos Mavropanos, providing a centre-back is brought in.

Xhakas departure would make a new central midfielder a necessity. Arsenals big dilemma is, therefore, whether to try to plug the gap temporarily with a loan signing or bring in a replacement on a permanent basis.

The Gunners hold a long-standing interest in Adrien Rabiot that dates back to Arsene Wengers time in north London.

Unai Emery was also a fan of the midfielder and Arsenal tried to sign on a free transfer from Paris Saint Germain last summer only for the Frenchman to instead join Juventus.

However, things havent gone well for the 24-year-old in Turin to date and Arsenal may try to tempt Juventus into a loan deal for the remainder of the season should Xhaka complete his switch to Berlin.

Defensively, a lot depends on whether Mustafi leaves and the results on the scans which will be carried out on Calum Chambers knee following the injury he sustained against Chelsea.

Arsenal want to bring in a new centre-back but are aware they have William Saliba arriving in the summer once he finishes the season with Saint-Etienne. There is no agreement in place with the French club that could see Saliba join in January.

There was interest in Dayot Upamecano in the summer but, from an economic perspective, a deal for the RB Leipzig star would be all but impossiblethis winter.

It leaves Arsenal in a difficult situation, one that again could see them turn to a short-term loan option to see them through to the summer window, when they will have more financial clout and more of their targets are accessible.

There was some interest in Daniele Rugani during the summer and given his lack of game time this season for Juventus, he could be an option once again.

Arsenal have been decimated by injuries in recent weeks, especially in defence. where they have been without full-backs Kieran Tierney, Sead Kolasinac and Hector Bellerin.

Bukayo Saka and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have been filling in, but Artetas side will undoubtedly be stronger when the regulars return.

Arteta has set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation during his first two games at the club and that system looks to be the one the Spaniard will stick with during the second half of the campaign.

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When fit, Bellerin and Tierney will certainly fill the full-back positions and Gabriel Martinelli could well come in on the left side of attack, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moving into his preferred central striking role at the expense of Alexandre Lacazette.

The big question will be who fills Xhakas role should he leave for Germany.

Will it be Rabiot? Or will Arteta opt to wait until the summer and pair Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira together for the remainder of the season?

The rest is here:
What Arsenal need in the January transfer window - Goal.com

Every year dozens, if not hundreds, of new technological products reach the market. Some, like iPhones, Netflix, and Facebook, become overwhelming success stories, while others are ultimately deemed complete failures, sometimes even scams.

You might recall how in 2014, social networking apps promising users the ability to post anonymously began to sprout, prompting users to publish secrets, gossip, and exclusive scoops about their own friends. Perhaps the most famous was mobile app Secret, which enabled users to communicate incognito with their existing social circles on other social networks. Other apps, including Yik Yak, Whisper, and Ask.fm, soon caught on. At its prime, Yik Yak Inc. managed to raise $75 million from investors such as Sequoia Capital, while Secret Inc. raised over $35 million.

9. Magic Leaps AR glasses

Founded by Israeli entrepreneur Rony Abovitz, Plantation, Florida-headquartered Magic Leap Inc. was supposed to be the next big thing. The company claimed it could bring augmented reality technologies to the masses with capabilities that have yet to be seen outside of science fiction movies. But when its long-awaited headset was finally launched last year, tech enthusiasts were disappointed to find a less than revolutionary device, compared to existing products on the market. Earlier this month, The Information reported that Magic Leap was only able to sell about 6,000 pieces of its $2,300 device in the first six months following its launch, quite a disappointing figure for a company that managed to raise several billion dollars from investors including Google and JP Morgan.

About 18 months ago, rumors began to surface that Samsung was reviving its plans to produce a mobile device with a flexible screen. Such screens have been around for several years and were exhibited at leading tech conventions but have yet to be implemented in an actual product until Samsung took on the challenge and work on the first foldable smartphone began. The Galaxy Fold was launched in February this year but was soon christened a catastrophe.

The funny thing about Google is that while it is among the internets undisputed rulers, it has yet to gain a substantial hold on the webs three main innovative fields: social media, instant messaging, and enterprise cloud computing services. Most prominent of all is its failure in the realm of social networks, driving it to decommission all of its attempts, four so far, in the past 10 years.

6. Uber and Lyft

Ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft gained much public attention since their launch, but their failure revealed itself fully once they decided to go public. Uber had a valuation of $120 billion before its Nasdaq initial public offering (IPO) in May, which brought its market capitalization down to just $75 billion. Since then, Ubers stock has further devalued, from $45 per share at the time of the IPO to $30.67 at market close Friday, losing nearly 40% of its worth. Ubers massive losses amounted to over $5 billion in the second quarter of 2019. Its rival Lyft is in slightly better shape with $644 million in losses for the quarter but has also seen a devaluation of over 30% since its March IPO. Both companies are unlikely to become profitable before 2021.

Early in the decade, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg believed his social network should become the internets main source of information. To achieve this goal, it was not enough to have its app at the top of every mobile phone application store, and in 2013, Facebook tried to make its own Android-based smartphone to further control users content consumption. Three models were eventually manufactured by HTC, all of them shelved after failing to meet sales expectations.

Alongside his relatively successful companies, Tesla and Space X, Elon Musk also tried his hand at mass transport, with Hyperloopa sealed system of air-free tubes through which a passenger pod would travel at high speeds without resistance or friction, saving on fuel. Experiments began in 2014 but not a single kilometer of active hyperloop tunnel has yet to be built. Even Musk has seemingly moved on to standard, boring, car tunnels, founding The Boring Company in 2016.

More of a hoax than a business failure, Juicero Inc. is one of the best examples of how investors can get temporarily side blinded and waste money on fake tech. Juicero sold a $400 kitchen counter device that supposedly produced fresh, cold-pressed juice from vacuum-sealed bags sold separately. In 2017, Bloomberg called Juiceros bluff, showing readers the bags can be squeezed manually to receive the same result as the presser. A day after the story was published, The Verge reported Juicero was offering all of its customers a full refund. The company went out of business five months later.

1. Samsung Galaxy Note 7

First place had a lot of worthy contenderssome more infuriating such as Apples butterfly keyboard, malicious joy invoking such as Amazons smartphone, or hopeful as to the fate of humanity, such as the death of Googles smart glassesbut none more impressive a failure than Samsungs Galaxy Note 7. Launched in 2016, Samsungs flagship smartphone received high praise for its advanced technological capabilities and large screen but less than a year later, the company had to recall it. The reason: its batterys tendency to spontaneously combust, at one time on a plane mid-flight. Credit Suisse analysts estimated the damages suffered by Samsung as a result at $17 billion.

Link:
10 Biggest Tech Fails of the Decade - CTech

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has told club chief Ed Woodward to improve on last summers recruitment drive and has given the clubs executive vice-chairman a three-man shortlist of players he wants.

United have had an unimpressive start to the season but after their 2-1 win over Tottenham on Wednesday night they currently sit sixth in table after 15 games.

However, they are still eight points off the top-four and 22 points off league leaders and bitter rivals Liverpool.

Solskjaer has identified where he wants the board to strengthen his side over the next two transfer windows and according to the Evening Standard, he has Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho, Red Bull Salzburg striker Erling Haaland and at least one other midfielder on his wanted list.

The report also claims that while any major business is likely to be conducted in the summer, if any of his targets become available in January the club will look to sign the players on his wish-list.

JUST IN: Why Arsenal may be stopped from appointing Brendan Rodgers or Nuno as next manager [TEAM NEWS]

United have been monitoring Jadon Sancho for quite some time but will likely face competition from several clubs across Europe for the England international.

The 19-year-old, who left Manchester City to join Dortmund in 2017, has been unsettled recently by several incidents at the Bundesliga club this season and is thought to be open to a move away from Germany.

He had a breakout year last season as he scored 13 goals and provided 19 assists in 43 appearances for the club, however, he has yet to produce that same form this season.

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After making an impressive start to the league campaign he then went two months without a goal before managing to find the back of the net again at the end of November.

If United do convince Sancho to make the switch to Old Trafford it will likely cost them a lot as the youngster is under contract until 2022.

One of Uniteds main priorities is to sign another striker.

The club sold Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan in the summer and decided against signing a replacement in that window.

Haaland could be the answer to Uniteds troubles in front of goal and the youngster has been in sensational form this season.

The 19-year-old has scored 27 goals in 20 appearances in all competitions, including eight goals in just five Champions League matches.

Although Haaland, who is the son of former Manchester City and Leeds United player Alf-Inge Haaland, will not be cheap.

And while RB Salzburg only signed the youngster themselves at the beginning of the year, the Austrian club are reportedly looking for at least 100million (85m) for the striker.

As for the other midfielder, several players have been linked with United including Leicester Citys James Maddison. However, given the large transfer fees that would be required to bring in Sancho and Haaland, Tottenhams Christen Eriksen could be a more attractive option.

Spurs are looking to offload the Dane, who is in the final year of his contract, in the January window and according to reports the club have slashed their asking price from 80m and are willing to consider bids of under 40m for the playmaker.

However, lot of teams are monitoring his situation at the north London club and they are all aware he will be able to leave on a free in the summer.

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Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has three-man transfer wish list ahead of January window - Express

Two years after Hurricane Harvey left more than five feet of water sloshing through Kingwood High School, FEMA has approved $25 million in funding to construct flood gates and waterproof the buildings brick exterior to fend off future storms.

The flood gates will protect the schools doors and windows, offering what Humble ISD Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen hopes will be peace of mind for Kingwood High students who were displaced from the campus for months after Harvey.

Now, every time that the students experience a water event, they are wondering and worrying Will this mean well be displaced, well have to share facilities, all these things, Fagen said Wednesday. We believe in letting them know that we put measures in place so their school will not be inoperable.

The $25 million from FEMA will cover about 90 percent of the cost to build the flood control system. The school district will pay the remaining $3 million. The flood mitigation systems will not be ready until 2022, Fagen said.

While the 2,700-student Kingwood High may be the first K-12 school in Greater Houston to use flood gates, it is not the first to make itself more flood and storm resistant.

After Hurricane Ike crashed onto Galvestons shore and flattened schools across that district in 2008, architecture firm PBK worked with Galveston ISD to rebuild and reinforce its campuses from future storms.

Dan Boggio, CEO of PBK, said the process to rebuild the schools into more resilient facilities took years. Construction workers built a series of levies, or berms, around many. Others were raised off the ground. One, the Crenshaw School of Environmental Studies, now sits atop stilts on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Flood gates have proven a popular flood control technique at other Houston-area institutions. The Texas Medical Center and the University of Houstons main campus installed gates in and around their buildings after Tropical Storm Allison caused hundreds of millions of dollars damage at both in 2001.

At the University of Houston, 90 of the campus then 105 buildings were damaged by Allison, costing more than $100 million to repair. Flood waters gushed into the universitys tunnel system, drowning critical utilities, and water levels reached 10 to 12 feet high in six buildings, including the Law Center, the Fine Arts Building and the Student Center Satellite.

David Oliver, now UHs associate vice president for facility and construction management, said the damage from Allison led the university to invest in flooding infrastructure, especially for its lower lying buildings.

That proved fortuitous during Hurricane Harvey, when only a handful of buildings suffered damage mainly from seepage of flood water during the record-breaking storm that dumped as much as 60 inches of rain on parts of the Houston area. One building got six inches of water inside, but that mostly was due to a pump failure.

The schools tunnels, now sealed with submarine doors during floods, stayed dry. Overall, the university sustained about $20 million in damage from Harvey, most of it from a broken steam system at one of its buildings in the Texas Medical Center, which officials were unable to address due to the high water surrounding the area.

Harvey was a very similar event to Allison not a lot of wind but tons and tons of rain, Oliver said. The difference in how the buildings performed was huge. The damage was minimal compared to Allison.

The UH flood gates are almost unnoticeable, buried so they are flush with sidewalks and roads. When water begins to soak the ground around the gates, it flows into a gap that surround the metal barriers. The water causes the flood gates to float upward gradually, eventually topping out if the water gets that high.

Kingwood has been a repeat victim of flooding in recent years. After Harvey, Fagen and her administrative team at Humble ISD began thinking of ways to prevent flood damage to the high school from future storms.

They thought about demolishing the whole building and rebuilding it on raised land retrofitted with an underground water retention system, a proposal that could have cost more than $260 million. They also considered building walls or levies around the school to keep it dry

The district ended up working with FEMA to devise the series of flood gates and waterproofing plan for the building exterior.

Preliminary designs for the Kingwood High project include the same type of flood gates used at UH, although district CFO Mike Seale said that could change. The goal is to make the gates largely invisible during dry times, but rise as high as eight feet when needed.

When it comes to waterproofing the buildings exterior, Boggio at PBK said there are two options: remove the outside brick so waterproofing can be added between the exterior walls and interior insulation; or build another wall inches away from the existing brick exterior and inserting waterproofing material in the newly created gap.

Were basically going to design the building like an inverted bathtub, Boggio said. We want to keep the water out.

It cost $63 million to restore Kingwood High after Harvey. In the six months it took to fix the building, Humble ISD sent Kingwood students to Summer Creek High School, cutting class days in half to accommodate both schools: Summer Creek students took their classes in the mornings, and Kingwood students arrived on campus in the afternoon.

Successful implementation of the flood control measures could help eliminate anxiety for parents, students and staff at the high school.

Tracey Wright, a Kingwood alumna whose 16-year-old son now attends the school, said they were uneasy before his freshman year because of the amount of damage at the school from Harvey, but now is hopeful the gates and waterproofing will keep the building dry.

If it saves them from repeatedly having to replace flooring, replace things, displace the kids, they should do it, Wright said.

shelby.webb@chron.com

Link:
FEMA to pay $25M to help build flood gates and waterproof Kingwood High School - Houston Chronicle

Pep Guardiola insists he will not be adding to his Manchester City squad in January.

The champions' faltering start in the Premier League this season has led to speculation they may seek to address their defensive problems in next month's transfer window.

The departure of Vincent Kompany at the end of last term and a serious injury to Aymeric Laporte has left City boss Guardiola short of specialist centre-backs.

Midfielder Fernandinho has been operating in the back four as a result but, with City having fallen 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, may need to strengthen to meet their ambitions.

Yet while Guardiola acknowledges a need to regenerate his squad, he is not intending to do it mid-season.

"I don't want any players in January," the former Barcelona boss said.

"If we cannot do it in summer, we cannot do it in January."

The chief reason for this is because Guardiola wants long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes, and January options are likely to be limited.

He said: "When they come in January for the next four, five, six years maybe we could think about it, but that is not possible.

"Normally the players we could think would be interesting and add something to our squad - they are not going to be sold."

A refresh is likely in the summer, however, with one departure confirmed already as veteran David Silva moves on. There is also uncertainty about the future of 34-year-old Fernandinho, who is out of contract at the end of the campaign.

Guardiola said: "Yes, David's confirmed he's leaving. Fernandinho doesn't know but it's normal for players that arrive at his age and this stage of their lives.

"Of course we have to replace them but we don't have to rebuild too much.

"Three players is not rebuilding the team. Rebuilding the team is seven or eight, as we did in the second season.

"I think at the end of the season we are going to decide on the situation - the players who finished their contracts, the players with full contracts, what we have to do, what we believe is the best for the club and organisation for next season."

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Guardiola rules out City spending in January window - RTE.ie